Bars & Pubs

Skylon

There can't be many better transport views than this in all of London. Sit at the cocktail bar (in between the two restaurant areas), and gaze out of what seems like a...

Waterloo: Royal Festival Hall, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

Distance: 0.2 mls

White Hart

Popular with employees from South Bank media offices, this bustling corner pub has big windows looking onto the short cut to Waterloo station. As well as several wheat...

Waterloo: 29-30 Cornwall Road, SE1 8TJ

Distance: 0.2 mls

Hole in the Wall

Better than an ATM, the HITW is an unreconstructed drinking hole in 'the wall' of the old South Eastern Railway's line into Charing Cross. In a calculated snub to the...

Waterloo: 5 Mepham Street, SE1 8SQ

Distance: 0.2 mls

King's Arms

On one of central London’s last remaining terraces of Victorian workers’ cottages, this corner pub is now firmly on the tourist map, but also remains a firm...

Waterloo: 25 Roupell Street, SE1 8TB

Distance: 0.2 mls

Waterloo Brasserie

Like a true brasserie, this one is open all day, covering breakfast, supper and everything in between. Segregated bar and restaurant areas have a self-consciously...

Waterloo: 119 Waterloo Road, SE1 8UL

Distance: 0.3 mls

Fire Station

The London County Council's grand Edwardian fire station on Waterloo Road was converted into one of the city's early gastrobars in the 1990s. The restaurant's in the...

Waterloo: 150 Waterloo Road, SE1 8SB

Distance: 0.3 mls

Rose & Crown

Probably the oldest pub in the area, oddly marooned by World War II bomb damage to the surrounding houses and their subsequent redevelopment into offices, the Rose...

Waterloo: 47 Columbo Street, SE1 8DP

Distance: 0.4 mls

Edgar Wallace

His bust sitting attentively on the bar counter, the pre-war penman would have appreciated this neat, well-run pub serving handpump ales and decent wines to a mainly...

Aldwych: 40 Essex Street, WC2R 3JE

Distance: 0.4 mls

The Anchor & Hope

Waterloo's most famous gastropub remains a good place for a drink, though dining is certainly the main event, and it can become impossibly busy. Nibbles such as polish...

Waterloo: 36 The Cut, SE1 8LP

Distance: 0.4 mls

CellarDoor

Public convenience turned public bar

Covent Garden: Zero Aldwych, WC2E 7DN

Distance: 0.4 mls

Gordon's

One of London’s oldest bars, Gordon’s is adorned with sweaty, stained alcoves and cobwebs. Surprisingly this appeals to a young, trendy crowd, but you’re still...

Strand: 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE

Distance: 0.4 mls

Christopher's Martini Bar

Christopher's rightly calls itself the American Bar, not only because the original at the nearby Savoy is closed for refurbishment, but because the quality of its...

Covent Garden: 18 Wellington Street, WC2E 7DD

Distance: 0.4 mls

Retro Bar

Hidden down a quaint alley, and seemingly frozen in 1984, the Retro Bar is one of London's most eccentric gay bars. A framed black and white photograph of Boy George,...

Trafalgar Square: 2 George Court, WC2N 6HH

Distance: 0.4 mls

Champagne Charlies (branch of Davy's)

Strand: 17 The Arches, off Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG

Distance: 0.5 mls

Island

Fancy splashing your cash? Gorgeous to a fault - all bare brick walls, slick 1970s wallpaper and cream sofas - with a mezzanine to pose on, this new West End...

Strand: Hungerford Lane, WC2N 6NG

Distance: 0.5 mls

Opera Quarter

Glamorous pop-up operation in Covent Garden

Covent Garden: 13-15 Tavistock St, WC2E 7PA

Distance: 3562.8 mls

Baltic

An unlikely find on Blackfriars Road, the Baltic is sleek, chic and discreet. The exceptional north-east European restaurant is a bright and airy Grade II-listed...

Waterloo: 74 Blackfriars Road, SE1 8HA

Distance: 0.5 mls

Porterhouse

Irish by nationality but remarkably global by nature, this gleaming, multi-spaced hostelry has a gregarious, no-nonsense vibe. Underpinning it all are draught stouts...

Covent Garden: 21-22 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NA

Distance: 0.5 mls

Bedford & Strand

With its glass-topped wood dividers, B&S looks more like a Yates’s wine lodge than a hip bar, but it’s one of the few non-touristy places in this part of town and...

Covent Garden: 1A Bedford Street, WC2E 9HH

Distance: 0.5 mls

Maple Leaf

'This public house is dedicated to the friendship between Britons and Canadians', says the sign. Inside, a recent refurb has kept the log-cabin atmosphere which, with...

Covent Garden: 41 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7LJ

Distance: 0.5 mls

Ship & Shovell

Sir Cloudesley Shovell is a strange enough character to name a pub after, let alone two facing each other prow to prow at the Thames end of the Arches. Both taverns...

Trafalgar Square: 1-3 Craven Passage, WC2N 5PH

Distance: 0.5 mls

El Vino

The ultimate old-fashioned wine bar, in the heart of London legal land. Many a barrister finds a way here from the Courts of Justice opposite, and you’ll hear plenty...

City: 47 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1BJ

Distance: 0.5 mls

Crusting Pipe (branch of Davy's)

Covent Garden: 27 The Market, WC2E 8RD

Distance: 0.5 mls

Segar & Snuff Parlour (branch of Davy's)

Covent Garden: 27A The Market, WC2E 8RD

Distance: 0.5 mls

Terroirs

Artisan-made food and ‘natural’ wines

Strand: 5 William IV St, WC2N 4DW

Distance: 0.5 mls

George IV

Set on an unassuming, traffic-free junction of three streets, the spruce George IV attracts orderly students and staff from the London School of Economics opposite....

Aldwych: 26-28 Portugal Street, WC2A 2HE

Distance: 0.5 mls

Crown

A thoroughly successful pub renovation, the Crown is worth the walk down bleak Blackfriars Road. Often less crowded than nearby locals, it's a comfortable, vaguely...

Waterloo: 108 Blackfriars Road, SE1 8HW

Distance: 0.5 mls

Black Friar

This curiously wedge-shaped pub at the north end of Blackfriars Bridge lures significant numbers of people away from their desks at 6pm - particularly in summer, when...

City: 174 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4EG

Distance: 0.5 mls

Seven Stars

The TV career of landlady Roxy Beaujolais may have stuttered, but her flagship pub goes from strength to strength. People pile down here on weekday evenings, knowing...

Holborn: 53 Carey Street, WC2A 2JB

Distance: 0.5 mls