Bars & Pubs

Speaker

It's a while since we've heard such compelling bar banter as here, where the Friday lunch barflies - some suited, some in high-visibility vests - kept up an...

Westminster: 46 Great Peter Street, SW1P 2HA

Distance: 0.4 mls

Zeitgeist at The Jolly Gardeners

German pub grub near Lambeth Wall

Vauxhall: 49-51 Black Prince Road, SE11 6AB

Distance: 0.4 mls

Albert

The former Blue Coat Boy was rebuilt in ornate Victorian style in the mid-19th century, its parliamentary connections illustrated by the portraits of past PMs up the...

Victoria: 52 Victoria Street, SW1H 0NP

Distance: 0.5 mls

Tapster (branch of Davy's)

Victoria: 3 Brewers Green, Buckingham Gate, SW1H 0RH

Distance: 0.5 mls

Royal Vauxhall Tavern

The grand dame of this so-called 'gay village', the RVT is a true icon. Gloriously faded, a bit louche and with a colourful past (the gay Kray used to drink here, and...

Vauxhall: 372 Kennington Lane, SE11 5HY

Distance: 0.6 mls

Zander Bar

Sister to the Bank Aldwych restaurant, this cocktail bar was all the rage in the early 1990s. Times have changed but not the long, gleaming zinc counter and service...

Victoria: 45 Buckingham Gate, SW1E 6BS

Distance: 0.6 mls

Red Lion

'A Great British Tradition' runs the wording around this 600-year-old pub between the Cenotaph and Big Ben. And with Spitfire, Courage Directors, Fuller's London...

Westminster: 48 Parliament Street, SW1A 2NH

Distance: 0.6 mls

Cask & Glass

Hanging baskets of flowers and the kind of pub frontage usually associated with villages in Kent compose a very pretty picture here, especially when incongruously...

Victoria: 39-41 Palace Street, SW1E 5HN

Distance: 0.7 mls

Three Stags

The Three Stags has been through a turbulent period of late. Following an ill-advised flirtation with admitting diners only, new ownership has seen it recapture its...

Waterloo: 67-69 Kennington Road, SE1 7PZ

Distance: 0.7 mls

Dog House

Depressed by the dominance of identikit chain pubs? Fed up with ubiquitous refurbishments? Want cod and chips not pan-fried sea bass with curly fries? Has it all gone...

Kennington: 293 Kennington Road, SE11 6BY

Distance: 0.7 mls

White Hart

In stark contrast to the endearingly dishevelled Dog House across the road (see left) is the smarter, trendier but less characterful White Hart, with its office crowd,...

Kennington: 185 Kennington Lane, SE11 4EZ

Distance: 0.8 mls

Pacha

There's been talk of refurbishing this club by the Victoria bus depot, but nothing looks likely to happen until the new Pacha Terrace (a five-floored members' club...

Victoria: Terminus Place, SW1E 5NE

Distance: 0.8 mls

bbar

The choice at this South African bar is staggering. Some 75 cocktails, more than 100 wines (a third of which are available by the glass) and 20 beers (nearly all...

Victoria: 43 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 0PP

Distance: 0.8 mls

Balls Brothers

Victoria: 50 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 0RN

Distance: 0.8 mls

Prince of Wales

Tucked away in the corner of an archetypal, residential Georgian square is this delightful, traditional, Shepherd Neame pub, which wouldn't be out of place on the edge...

Kennington: 48 Cleaver Square, SE11 4EA

Distance: 0.8 mls

Fentiman Arms

This gastropub has got it covered whatever the season, with lots of snug corners for winter boozing sessions and a compact back garden, brimming with potted and...

Vauxhall: 64 Fentiman Road, SW8 1LA

Distance: 0.9 mls

Boisdale

From the labyrinthine variety of bar and restaurant spaces to the overstated tartan accents, there's something faintly preposterous about this entire operation. Rest...

Victoria: 13 Eccleston Street, SW1W 9LX

Distance: 0.9 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: 0.9 mls

ICA Bar

Having paid the £2 day membership fee (and thus skirting a local law concerning alcohol sales and nearby Buckingham Palace), walk through the ICA gallery to what at...

Trafalgar Square: The Mall, SW1Y 5AH

Distance: 0.9 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: 0.9 mls

Plumbers Arms

Good ales attract a slew of regulars to this unassuming pub in a quiet Victoria street. Quiet, that is, except for one night in 1974 when Lady Lucan burst in to tell...

Victoria: 14 Lower Belgrave Street, SW1W 0LN

Distance: 0.9 mls

Concrete

Thank the Lord. Starbucks has gone and in its place is a classy little bar/café with the tongue-in-cheek name of Concrete (set, as it is, in the vast Brutalist...

Waterloo: The Hayward, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX

Distance: 1 mls

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: 1 mls

Albannach

Impressively located slap on Trafalgar Square, Albannach (as opposed to 'sassanach') specialises in Scotch whiskies and cocktails thereof. A map in the menu explains...

Trafalgar Square: 66 Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS

Distance: 1 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: 1 mls

Ebury Wine Bar & Restaurant

Not to be confused with the Ebury gastropub in nearby Pimlico, this slick, continental-style place has charms aplenty. Chief among these is the well-made dishes – a...

Victoria: 139 Ebury Street, SW1W 9QU

Distance: 1 mls

Bar Estrela

If it wasn't for the trouble that wearing a bikini and sarong on the mean streets of Stockwell could cause, a sunny afternoon spent at one of the pavement tables...

Stockwell: 111-115 South Lambeth Road, SW8 1UZ

Distance: 1 mls

Rockwell

Sleek whisky bar

Trafalgar Square: The Trafalgar Hilton Hotel, 2 Spring Gardens, SW1A 2TS

Distance: 1 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: 1 mls