London’s best bars and pubs with open fires

This welcoming Dickensian pub in Hampstead has an ancient interior, reasonably priced food and wooden booths to slide into. Its two wood and coal-burning fires make the pub the perfect place to head following a stirring walk across the heath – or at least up the steep road to the pub.

Kentish Town locals adore this pub, so good luck getting a seat near the coal fire in colder months. The shelf just by the fire is stacked with books and board games to keep you occupied while you warm up your toes. Essential after a walk on nearby Hampstead Heath.

This carpeted pub is a bit of a relic, with a character rather than an image. But its fire is pretty as a picture when you're feeling the winter chill. Sadly, the cat pictured here, Lenny, passed away in 2019 – he loved curling up by the fire. Pay your respects over a pint.

More of a pub with food than a gastropub, the Rose has seen a few name-changes over the years, including the Legless Ladder and, most recently, the Fulham Tup. The muted walls are dotted with prints of ladies in various states of undress (more tasteful than it sounds). Candles twinkle and locals lounge on church pews and leather sofas. Eat, drink and get cosy on one of the armchairs surrounding the fire.

In this grand old building at the north end of Green Lanes you barely have to share bar staff: it's absolutely massive. You may have to fight for those fireside armchairs, though! Taxidermy cases and ornate cornicing decorate the central, beer-focused bar, a jukebox plays music in the main room and a projector plays sport in the second.

The bulbs are bare and the floorboards worn at this Kentish Town pub. It’s sparse, it’s simple and it’s really rather splendid. The regulars are more mature than in most pubs, and some bring along their canine companions. Purchase some traditional snacks, a pint of scrumpy (this is a cider and ale house, after all) and seat yourself and your dog beside the wood-burning fire.

This craft beer haven is operated by Big Smoke Brew Co, and if we know anything, it's that there's no smoke without fire. An adorable ornate fireplace is well stocked with logs and decked by two comfortable leather armchairs. A great position from which to sample the brewery's range.

This popular Hammersmith gastropub reopened in July 2014 and continues to keep punters cosy with its open fire in the winter months. They've added a gastropub menu and a friendly cat roams the pub for even more of the cosy factor.

There’s lots to like about the Antelope in Tooting, not least its good gastropub food. With three fires to choose from (two coal-burning options in the bar and dining room, and a wood fire in the games room) there’s every chance you’ll find a spot near the hearth – just be prepared to do battle for one of the pub’s fireside chesterfield armchairs.

A perfect local if ever there was one, The Eagle is dark and cosy come winter, with dark wood floors and those all-important comfy seats by the fireplace. An island bar topped with two big, bold tanks (the traditional, ‘bright’ kind), holds the brewery’s Raw lager if you’re in need of cooling off.

If you're wondering what the Thames docks might have felt like before their Disneyfication into Docklands, these narrow, ivy-covered and etched-glass premises aren't a bad place to start. Come in out of the cold and huddle up in front of their fire.

This pub had a 2016 reboot and now boasts a shiny new look and a recommissioned fireplace. And it's a grand-looking wood-burning one, to boot. To warm you further, expect footie screenings and a pun-filled menu of tasty pub grub.

Don't let the name put you off, Soho's Old Coffee House is a pub through-and-through. If its dark, worn and dated features and old man-ish clientele aren't comfort enough for you, make a beeline for the coal-effect fire in a rear corner and rejoice in the fact that 'proper' pubs like this still exist in the capital.

Victoria Park's most handsome pooches hang out with their owners in this welcoming and somewhat sprawling boozer. Lucky them, as they curl up by a log burner on nearby sofas while their masters work their way through the papers or gaze on at the big screens showing match day highlights.

Make merry in Dalston with Czech beer and real ale (Pride, Brakspear, Woodforde’s Wherry) – there are plenty of good wines by the glass too. The Geroge's free jukebox (one of the best in London) means there’s always a party going on, so don’t go expecting to take a quiet nap alongside the wood- and coal-burning fires.

This artfully distressed and faded pub and bar suits winter time very well indeed. Royal blue walls, feature tiles and wooden floorboards set an absolute mood for posh pints and affordable cocktails. And then there’s a rear snug with its own wood-burning stove. If you’re lucky enough to bag an armchair in here, you better settle in for one of the cosiest sessions going in London.