The most-loved bars and pubs in London

This freshly spruced-up Notting Hill boozer has been given the gastropub treatment. Its stripped-back but still welcoming interior houses diners tucking into a modern British menu laden with eclectic delights including mince on toast, potted shrimp, and tomahawk steak. 

It might look like a classic London pub from the outside, all Britain in Bloom-worthy hanging baskets and an extremely pub-like name picked out in gold lettering, but the Camberwell Arms is not a place to watch the footie or sink eight pints and waddle home semi-conscious (maybe try the Hermits Cave across the road for such tomfoolery). Locals have known this for the past decade, ever since the grand Victorian boozer was given a serious sprucing up in 2014 under the auspices of chef director Mike Davies. Mike had form; starting out at one of south London’s original gastropubs, the Anchor & Hope in Waterloo, before setting up another south London institution, the much-loved hipster HQ that is Frank’s rooftop bar in Peckham.  ‘Sublime’ doesn’t even begin to do it justice. It is nothing less than art Since then, the Camberwell Arms has remained the very picture of modesty. Settle into the spacious back room, an airy but still-intimate space, and the lack of fanfare (stripped wooden floorboards and the occasional stylish print is about as close to grandiose design as it gets here) only goes to prove how confident they are in the quality of the food. Who needs jazzed-up interiors when the cooking is this compelling?  The menu is short but not too short, seasonal without being smug, and features a wry nod to the room’s pub past; a starter of beer onions on toast with aged gruyère. It’s a frankly indecent snack, snaked with sloppy boozed-up ribbons of onions, the particularly...

In recent years this brick and timber 1930s boozer has become south east London’s favourite unofficial queer venue, thanks to an array of campy entertainment including drag and cabaret, plus queer speed-dating events and nights like Flapjack and Pop-Up Dyke Bar. Drinkers and diners are also all happy here; the former get a sterling selection of cask and craft ales, plus cocktails and an acceptable wine list. The latter get a menu that changes regularly, depending on the pop-up kitchen – at the moment its some of the best pizza in London, courtesy of Dough Hands – plus hefty Sunday roasts. There’s plenty of seating: at large wooden tables next to the central bar, in the back garden and in the front yard facing Nunhead Green. It might also be the only pub in London with a shrine to Britney Spears. And the name? A nunnery once occuped this site; the rebellious Mother Superior was murdered during the Reformation and her head stuck on a pikestaff on the green. Lovely stuff!

Once there was just St John, then former St John chefs started to create their own restaurants using the same template of head-to-tail cooking. Open for more than a decade, the Anchor & Hope is still a leading exponent of using offal and unusual cuts of meat in simple but artful combinations, served in a relaxed setting. Handy for both the Young and Old Vic Theatres, it consists of a straightforward pub divided by a heavy central curtain from a dining room. Bookings aren’t taken, so most evenings you join the waiting list for a table (45 minutes midweek is typical) and hover at the crammed bar enjoying a glass of wine or a pint. Unlike some gussied-up gastros, the dining area retains the atmosphere of a pub, in a low-lit, art-festooned room, and the food is terrific. textured venison kofte served on perkily dressed little gem lettuce, for example, or rabbit served savagely red with salty jus, fat chips and a big pot of béarnaise sauce.   

Rare is the pub that opens at 8am and isn’t around the corner from an early morning meat market (or a Wetherspoons). The Angel – which is from the same team as Highgate’s primo gastropub the Red Lion & Sun – is bucking the trend with a classy breakfast bistro offering, before easing punters into lunchtime wine and evening feasts (though not on Sun-Tue, when it shuts up shop at 6pm - they’re not maniacs). Booze begins at 10am, if you’re wondering, with a kimchi bloody mary one of the more acceptable pre-lunch libations on offer.  Formerly the unremarkable Angel Inn, the Angel relaunched in 2025 on a prominent corner of the quaint Highgate High Street, well aware that it needed to offer something different in an area already packed with exceptional pubs. Despite being super close to the aforementioned Red Lion & Sun, ever-popular Flask, cosy Prince of Wales and Americana-themed Dukes of Highgate, the Angel stands out. Airy and bright, the space feels more like a Parisian brasserie than a north London boozer, with classy touches such as elegant fairground-styled painted logos for your pints rather than ugly branded pump clips. Kippers, full english brekkies and a selection of pastries are available until 5pm, after which the evening menu kicks in, with the likes of bavette steak and chips, confit duck leg, and Wagyu double cheeseburger up for grabs. But this isn’t one of the gastropubs where you’ll be sneered at for only ordering booze - from what we can see on our visit,...

One of London’s cosiest LGBT+ boozers. Just off the main Columbia Road drag, its Sunday roasts are pretty special (served from 12-5pm, with booking recommended) - as is the impressive, and every so slightly NSFW wall-art of various hand-drawn, cartoon genitals. There’s also drag queen-hosted karaoke every Saturday night from 8pm. Wetherspoons it certainly ain’t.

This is a pub with its own motto: ‘Eat Heartily and Give the House a Good Name.’ The seafood-focused menu is excellent – more of which later – but that directive might be read as an MO to live well and fully, which they certainly do at the Cow. The décor (think vintage Guinness posters, antlers and other kooky artwork) is at the more boho end of the generally pretty boho Notting Hill, with its location ensuring this is a real celeb hotspot. It was founded by gastropub pioneer Tom Conran, so the emphasis is on that aforementioned grub (served upstairs in the restaurant and at the back of the ground floor saloon in a more casual setting) as much as the drinks, but the Cow is still a vibey spot for a tipple. Order this They’re proud of their Guinness and oysters, a silky and salty combination that’s something of a speciality in Ireland. Try it once and you’ll never look back. Time Out tip Join the clan of drinkers spilling out onto the street in the warmer months, do some celeb spotting and know that you’ve imbibed the spirit of the Cow’s motto. RECOMMENDED: The best seafood restaurants in London right now.

This Soho institution may have mellowed somewhat since self-proclaimed ‘London’s rudest landlord’ Norman Balon finally hung up his polishing cloth in 2006, but there’s still plenty to make it stand out from the crowd, including a rotating cast of excellent independent ales and their own line of merch. Decor, meanwhile, is stuck firmly in the past, with carpets worn threadbare by decades of post-work sessions as well as wood-pannelled walls from the 1970s, and vintage logos of Double Diamond and Ind Coop displayed behind the bar. It all adds up to a curious mix of old-timey standards and progressive ideas which, crucially, work together like a charm.  Time Out tip They might not serve food, but they do have an impeccable array of crisps aka ‘London's greatest tuckshop’. Make ours a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch. 

Well, you can’t miss it, can you? The pub’s exterior – a bonanza of exploding foliage in pinks, purples, yellows, reds and everything in between – is a clue to the eccentricity at the heart of this fabulous old boozer. It’s a sort of living tribute to Winston Churchill, with a big bust of the former Prime Minister on the bar and a large photo of him in one of the bar rooms, as his grandparents were reportedly regulars. Along with the bric-a-brac (everything from baskets to brass bits and pieces) and Union Jack bunting that hangs from the ceiling, it’s catnip for tourists. Yet the Irish-owned pub, which dates back to 1750, is also beloved among locals whose roots in the area extend as far back as Churchill’s. That might be down to its top-tier Thai restaurant, which the owner reckons was London’s first. You might say it was their finest hour. In bloom The Churchill Arms is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a regular winner in its category in the London in Bloom competition, which encourages greenery in the capital. Get spicy This is a Fullers pub, so there’s naturally a cracking selection of ales – which is handy, as you’ll need something thirst-quenching to wash down that spicy stir-fry. RECOMMENDED: London’s best Thai restaurants.

The UK is experiencing a much-publicised Guinness shortage at the moment – it’s no wonder, now that one in every ten pints poured in the capital is the black stuff – which makes the opening of this swanky new spot in Covent Garden all the more exciting. After years of teasing and two pushed-back opening dates, the Guinness microbrewery in Old Brewer’s Yard is tipped to open later this year following a £73 million building project. Located on a historic site that first produced beer over 300 years ago, the 50,000-square-foot building will feature plenty of event spaces, an open-fire kitchen and restaurant featuring a rooftop with 360-degree views, a merch shop and, most important of all, a micro-brewery pumping out 14 different limited-edition brews. Actual Guinness won’t be brewed on site but it will be readily available for drinking. The exact opening date is yet to be announced, but the city’s Guinness lovers should be able to split the G in its hallowed halls before the year is up. It’s hoped that it’ll launch in the run up to Christmas.