Lucas Oakeley

There are an awful lot of things to moan about in the UK, but pubs are not one of them. Pubs are for your friendly catch ups, your Sunday roasts, and your mid-summer sun traps, and we love it all. We really do.  Everyone’s got a favourite (probably the one closest to the end of your road), and so do we. But some pubs are really good for food. Others are great for craft beer. The very best pubs do it all. With that in mind, here we are: the best pubs in the whole of the UK. Happy drinking, folks.  RECOMMENDED:🍝The best restaurants in the UK🍺The best beer gardens in the UK📍 The best places to visit in the UK

The UK is a glorious place to eat, drink and generally be merry. Sure, there are loads of great restaurants in London, but there are hundreds more across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; ones where you'll make napkin-stained memories that you’ll carry with you for the rest of your life. Especially if you head to Cumbria, which is home of the most Michelin stars in the UK outside of the capital. But as well as the diner’s paradise that is the Lake District, here's where else you need to head in order to sample some of the finest food and downright transcendent restaurant experiences the UK has to offer. Eat up.  RECOMMENDED: The best things to do in the UK.

Eating fish and chips should be a full-on sensory experience. Hearing the cry of a nearby gull and feeling the salty sea air inflate your lungs as you munch away is almost as integral to the fish and chip ritual as mushy peas and tartare sauce. But that’s not to say that excellent landlocked chippies don’t exist: you just need to know where to look. This list of the best fish and chip shops in the UK includes everything from seaside operations to chippies in Nottingham knocking out tremendous fish suppers in spite of their geography.  Whether you’re a strictly-cod or only-haddock person, there are plenty of brilliant options here for you to sample. Go on, get stuck in: here are the best places for fish and chips in the UK.  RECOMMENDED:🍽️ The best restaurants in the UK🍺 The best pubs in the UK

Sure, it’s been the butt of many (mostly French) jokes for decades, but UK wine can be – whisper it – really rather good. From chardonnay in Dorset and organic vinos in Kent to sparkling blushes near Cardiff, there’s plenty of proof out there that we Brits aren’t just a nation of wine drinkers – we’re pretty darn good at making the stuff, too. And better yet: plenty of the UK’s best vineyards are open to the public. A huge range of wineries can be found dotted throughout country, many with their own brilliant restaurants (featuring some marvellous set menus and pairings) and dazzling views of the British countryside. Plenty of British wines can hold their own against the usual contenders in France, Italy, New Zealand and the like. Indeed, the country’s wine scene is growing all the time. Here are the very best vineyards and wineries to visit that’ll have you on the British wine bandwagon in no time. RECOMMENDED: ⭐ The best places to go stargazing in the UK🍴 The 15 best restaurants in the UK🏰 The best castles in the UK💜 The best lavender fields in the UK🍺 The 22 best pubs in the UK

In George Orwell’s 1946 essay, ‘The Moon Under Water’, he goes to great lengths to describe the perfect pub. According to Orwell, the ideal watering hole is a place where it is ‘always quiet enough to talk’, the staff ‘know most of their customers by name’ and ‘you can get a good, solid lunch’. Although The Moon Under Water he writes about is entirely fictional, good old George was inspired by a real pub in the London borough of Islington that he was a regular patron of. That perfect pub is The Compton Arms. And it’s a pub that desperately needs your help right now. The Compton Arms – which we just happened to name the second best pub in the UK – is currently being taken to ‘licence review’ by four nearby households. The four have alleged that it is a public nuisance, a danger to health, poorly run and that those in charge have no interest in communicating with them. If you think that this is simply a local dispute that has no wider significance to anyone who doesn’t live in the postcode, think again. The Compton Arms, tucked down a lovely backstreet of Highbury, has provided the local area with a safe place to sup pints since the 1800s. Pubs are a part of the fabric of any city’s social life and The Compton Arms was around long before those households moved in. It is, quite literally, a piece of history. Asking for its licence to be removed because you don’t like the fact it’s a pub would be like moving next to a football ground and complaining about the crowds at the weeke

Drinking with pals in a pub is a lot of fun during winter. We know this. But what about those times when you want to be with pals in a pub during winter, outside? Tricky, but manageable. London thankfully has a load of top pub gardens equipped with heaters, blankets and the like, meaning you won’t need to rely solely on your famous ‘beer jacket’ to stay warm. Here are our favourites.   NORTH The Faltering Fullback View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out London (@timeoutlondon) Yes, this pub is named after a rugby position and, yes, it is technically a ‘sports bar’ but don’t let either of those facts prevent you from travelling to Finsbury Park and cosying up under the heaters in The Faltering Fullback’s multi-storey beer garden. The sedgy outdoor terraces here are strategically spread across four floors, making the most of the Fullback’s limited space and allowing for you to safely distance yourself from anyone in boat shoes.   What’s the actual pub like? Sporty, to be sure, but Daniel Radcliffe once filmed a music video here, so I guess it’s got that going for it too? 19 Perth Rd, N4 3HB. The Spaniards Inn View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ju Shardlow (@jushardlow) Thought that the Heath was the only thing Hampstead had going for it? Well, you thought wrong. Located about a mile or so from the nearest tube stop, The Spaniards Inn is home to one of London’s best-looking beer gardens – the kind of manic pixie dream garde