[title]
Here at Time Out, we’re about as picky about pubs as Goldilocks with a bowl of overnight oats. Over the past 12 months, we’ve sampled tipples at boozers old and new and pulled up a stool at more taverns than we care to mention in search of the finest this fair city has to offer. The result? Our list of the 50 best pubs in London.
The Time Out Pub of the Year crown went to crowd-pleasing Clerkenwell classic The Shakespeare’s Head, a salt-of-the-earth flat-roof saloon tucked away behind Sadler’s Wells Theatre near Angel station. It nicked the top prize from The Old Nun’s Head, which reigned supreme in 2025.
But the famed queer brewhouse still managed to score a spot in the top 10, along with a handful of other pubs down south, including this year’s best Irish drinkery.
Any pub that self-describes as ‘the original purveyors of craic’ better have the chops to back it up. And Skehans has long secured its rep as a Nunhead staple, loved by longtime locals and edgy art students alike.
Time Out food and drink editor Leonie Cooper has dubbed Skehans ‘the definition of a party pub’, and it was named Time Out’s top place to drink in the city back in 2023.
‘With live music six nights a week, you’re just as likely to stumble across a vintage folk session as you are a local grindcore act taking their first tentative steps into tinnitus. The imposing red-brick pub’s awesome hilltop location also takes some beating, with impressive views of the city,’ she said.
As well as perfectly poured pints of Guinness, Skehans is home to a menu of killer Thai dishes and rotating food pop-ups, the latest courtesy of fish burger aficionados The Holy Mackerel.
Skehans, 1 Kitto Road, SE14 5TW.
The 50 best pubs in London.
Did you see that a new pub will open on top of a brewery on the Blackhorse Beer Mile?
Plus: the ‘world’s most expensive biryani’ is coming to London – with 23-carat edible gold.
Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.