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The eyes of north London (or at least the Lilywhite half of it) will be on Bilbao this Wednesday evening (May 21), as the second-biggest competition in European club football reaches its conclusion with an all-English final between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
Naysayers argue that nobody cares about the Europa League, but it’s a crunch game for both of the ‘Big Six’ teams. With the pair looking set to finish in the bottom quarter of the Premier League, victory is their only avenue for securing European football in the 2025/26 campaign, and allows one of them to salvage something from a torrid season.
For Spurs, it would also mean securing a first piece of silverware since 2008, and the club’s first European trophy since 1984, ending a trophy drought that weights more heavily on the storied club with each passing season.
Many local fans will be heading to the boozers and beer gardens of north London to watch Ange Postecoglou’s team face the Red Devils. Looking for a lively atmosphere in which to catch all the nail-biting action? Look no further than our roundup of London’s best Spurs pubs.
RECOMMENDED: London’s best football pubs.
The Bluecoats
Once home to the Bluecoats School for Girls, this quaint Jacobethan building was built in the mid-1830s, but has more recently been the site of solid match day boozing thanks to its proximity to the Spurs stadium. You won’t need a reservation for the big match, but you will need to head down early as the place will be open from midday. Fans can fuel up ahead on resident kitchen Ling Lins’s banging Asian fusion pub classics ahead of kick-off, and the place has secured a 2am license in case the north Londoners have cause for celebration.
614 High Road, N17 9TA
The Bricklayers
This small-ish Victorian pub is so close to the stadium that you can see it from the front windows, and on home matchdays punters can almost certainly hear the roar from the spectators inside should the team score. Decked out in all manner of Spurs memorabilia and a collection of scarves from visiting teams, it offers a lively, standing-room-only match-day atmosphere, with fans piling into its modest, covered beer garden to watch on outdoor screens. It doesn’t do bookings, so get down early to ensure you make it inside (and have time to battle through the crowds at the bar for some pints!)
803 High Road, N17 8ER
The Beehive
A great spot just off Tottenham High Road, this spacious boozer boasts one of the nicest beer gardens in north London, with plenty of screens and an outdoor bar for busy matchdays, plus a very decent menu serving up generously portioned burgers, nachos and sharing platters. It doesn’t take bookings when there’s a big game on, so get down ahead of its 3pm opening and be prepared to queue if you want to secure a spot.
Stoneleigh Road, N17 9JW
The Antwerp Arms
The oldest operating pub in N17, the ‘Annie’ has been frequented by Spurs fans since the club’s inception in 1882, and was saved from redevelopment in 2015, when locals formed the Antwerp Arms Association to purchase the building and reopen it as north London’s community-owned pub. Tables are all fully booked for the Europa League Final but the pub will be accepting a limited number of walk-ins, who will be able to celebrate (or commiserate) with pints of White Hart lager on keg, and Hopspur golden ale on cask.
168-170 Church Road, N17 8AS
The Bill Nicholson
This old-school boozer on the north-east corner of the stadium is named after Spurs’ legendary 1960s manager, who led the club to a double in the 1960-61 season. With carved wooden bar and black and white framed photographs lining the walls, its interiors hark back to that golden era. Open from 1pm, it doesn’t do bookings but will close the doors as soon as it reaches capacity, so be punctual!
102 Northumberland Park, N17 0TS
The High Cross
Opened in 2018 in a 1920s mock Tudor building that once housed public loos, the High Cross is a cute little spot slightly further away from the stadium than most match day favourites. Open from midday, it’s not taking any more bookings for the big match, but has saved some tables for walk-ins.
350 High Road, N17 9HT
In other pub news, London’s Guinness microbrewery in Covent Garden just got a step closer to opening