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Best pubs in London

From gastropubs to capital boozers, Time Out recommends 50 great pubs in London

Map of London's best bars and pubs

  • Wherever you are in the capital, you can find the best bars and pubs nearby.

See map of London's best bars and pubs

Drinking in London by area

  • From drinking dens in Soho to trendy bars in Camden - find great places to drink in the capital wherever you are. Check out our guide to pubs and bars in London by area.

Find bars and pubs in London by area

50 best bars in London

  • From cocktail bars to hotel bars, cool hangouts to wine bars, our critics have rounded up their 50 favourite bars in the capital.

Discover the best bars in London

More pubs in London

See more pubs in London

Fancy a pint? Glass of wine? Gin and tonic? Of course you do, and living in London you're not short of places to find them. If you're looking for a great pub in London check out our critics' top 50 picks.



Pubs in Soho

  • Dog & Duck

    18 Bateman Street, London, W1D 3AJ

    A reliable Soho standard for decades, with pleasingly unmolested decor and interesting, well-kept beer. It’s a survivor of the literary Soho of old.
    Read Dog & Duck review

  • The French House

    French House

    49 Dean Street, London, W1D 5BG

    As Gallic as a damp baguette, this famous Dean Street wine shop, from where General de Gaulle hosted the Free French fight against Hitler/a four-year lunch, is long on beer in halves and les vins Français but, nonetheless, the best pub in Soho.
    Read French House review

See more pubs in Soho

Pubs in Covent Garden

  • Harp

    47 Chandos Place, London, WC2N 4HS

    Last year’s Camra Pub of the Year isn’t much on paper – a bar and a corridor with a back alley for smokers. But get inside in the late morning before it fills and wander through the incredible selection of beer and ciders, served by friendly, knowledgeable staff, and you’ll soon see why it made our list.
    Read Harp review

See more pubs in Covent Garden

Pubs in Fitzrovia

  • Bradley's Spanish Bar

    Bradley's Spanish Bar

    42-44 Hanway Street, London, W1T 1UT

    Bradley’s may call itself a bar, but it’s indisputably one of the West End’s few great pubs, and home to London’s most appealing jukebox, a vinyl-driven, genre-spanning monster. The Spanish lager is pricy, but Londoners still love this place and spill on to the road outside in summer months, inevitably angering cab drivers.
    Read Bradley's Spanish Bar review

  • Newman Arms

    23 Rathbone Street, London, W1T 1NG

    There's been a business located at this gateway to a cobbled alleyway since 1730 – see the red sign outside and etched writing over the bar – but as a pub it had its heyday in the mid 20th century, when George Orwell was a regular and Michael Powell filmed here. Both men get a decorative look-in, the pub's 101 minutes of movie fame marked by an Italian poster (1960's L'Occhio che uccide, aka Peeping Tom).
    Read Newman Arms review

See more pubs in Fitzrovia

Pubs in Clerkenwell

  • Craft Beer Company

    82 Leather Lane, London, EC1N 7TR

    One of the most exciting beer selections in the city sees 37 of them on draught and a doorstopper of a list that includes rarely seen brews from the world over.
    Read Craft Beer Company review

  • Fox & Anchor

    115 Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M 6AA

    Outstanding British food, interesting real ales and a sympathetic restoration make this Smithfield stalwart a real treasure; pints in pewter tankards add to the cordiality.
    Read Fox & Anchor review

  • Jerusalem Tavern

    55 Britton Street, London, EC1M 5UQ

    Dark, interesting and unique, this pub isn’t big but it is still possible to get lost in its two rooms. That might be down to the oddly green colour scheme or the cracking beer from St Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk. Either way, a strange and wonderful place.
    Read Jerusalem Tavern review

  • Rugby Tavern

    19 Great James St, WC1N 3ES

    In its favour: a Shepherd Neame pub with well-kept ale and the welcome of a proper local in the back streets of Bloomsbury. The downside: it’s closed at weekends.
    Read Rugby Tavern review

  • The Yorkshire Grey

    29-33 , Grays Inn Rd, London, WC1X 8PN

    If George Orwell drank at every pub that claims him, he wouldn’t have made it to Wigan Pier, let alone Catalonia. But as the Grey is just around the corner from the BBC, we can assume he did take advantage of what is the best fireside snug in Fitzrovia.
    Read The Yorkshire Grey review

  • Ye Olde Mitre Tavern

    1 Ely Court, Ely Place side of 8 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 6SJ

    This spooky ancient tavern is where Dan Brown would buy a beer if he was in town. Shadowy alleys lead into a medieval courtyard where a sign reveals Ye Olde Mitre was built by Bishop Goodrich in 1546.
    Read Ye Olde Mitre Tavern review

See more pubs in Clerkenwell

Pubs in the City

  • Jamaica Wine House

    St Michael's Alley, Cornhill, London, EC3V 9DS

    A secretive drinking den in an alley that manages to evoke memories of countless handshakes, tip-offs and clandestine collusions.
    Read Jamaica Wine House review

  • Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

    145 Fleet Street, London, EC4A 2BU

    This Fleet Street landmark was rebuilt back in 1667 ('in the reign of King Charles II'), and its seventeenth-century history is in large part responsible for its twenty-first-century appeal. The royals to have been served thereafter are painstakingly listed outside in a higgledy-piggledy passageway, drawing in dozens of tourists a day to the pub's baffling labyrinth of rooms.
    Read Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese review

See more pubs in the City

Pubs in Holborn and Bloomsbury

  • Princess Louise

    208-209 High Holborn, London, WC1V 7BW

    This princess is actually the queen of Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith’s collection of central London pubs. With half-a-dozen ornately-carved, sumptuously-tiled bar areas under one high stucco ceiling, it’s a sensational building, selling, of course, Smith’s array of sanely priced pints.
    Read Princess Louise review

  • Queen's Head

    66 Acton St , London, WC1X 9NB

    A super little neighbourhood pub in Bloomsbury with an inspired beer selection, cheese and meat boards, and thoughtful design touches. There’s live music, comedy and a regular quiz.
    Read Queen's Head review

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