London has something like 3,500 pubs and most of them are unremarkable. The ones below are not: they are worth crossing the city for, either because of what is on the bar, what the room looks like, or both.
A warning about the genre first. Pub listicles are copied from other pub listicles, which is how obsolete rules and vanished policies survive for a decade. Everything here was checked against each pub’s own information and rechecked on 28 September 2026, and several widely repeated facts turned out to be wrong.
Rechecked on 28 September 2026
The French House’s rule is confirmed in the pub’s own words: no music, no machines, no television and no mobile phones. Its bar hours are published as Monday to Friday 11:30am to 11pm and Sunday midday to 10:30pm, oddly with no Saturday listed, and it states that it takes no reservations for drinks at all: drinkers are seated first come, first served. The upstairs restaurant does lunch from midday to 3pm Monday to Saturday. It also pours thirty champagnes and wines by the glass, which is the part nobody mentions.
One note of caution on the same entry. The halves-only beer rule is not published anywhere on the pub’s own site, so while it is the pub’s best known custom, it is not something they state. Everything else quoted here is theirs.
Gordon’s bills itself as London’s oldest wine bar, at 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE. The Dove in Hammersmith is confirmed trading as a Fuller’s house.
Several pubs on this page have no website at all, which is characteristic of the best of them and means their hours could not be reconfirmed. Ring before a special journey.
For the beer
The Harp, Covent Garden
47 Chandos Place, two minutes from Charing Cross. The first London pub ever to win CAMRA’s National Pub of the Year, in 2010. Fuller’s bought it in 2014 and, to their credit, changed almost nothing.
A narrow room with good stained glass and portraits, a long cask list split between regulars and changing guests, and real cider served from boxes in fridges under the counter. There is no kitchen at all, which keeps the place a pub rather than a restaurant. No bookings on Saturdays.
The Harp
- Address
- 47 Chandos Place, Covent Garden, WC2N 4HS
- Nearest
- Charing Cross, two minutes away
- Hours
- Monday to Saturday 11am to 11pm, Sunday midday to 8pm
- Booking
- No bookings on Saturdays
- Standing
- The first London pub to win CAMRA’s National Pub of the Year, in 2010
How to get in
There is no kitchen at all, so do not arrive hungry expecting to solve it here. The room is narrow and fills from six, and the cider comes from boxes in fridges under the counter rather than the bar.
The Southampton Arms, Kentish Town
139 Highgate Road, closest to Gospel Oak. Independent, built in 1938, and run with more conviction than almost anywhere in London.
Seven changing cask lines and no regular beers whatsoever, plus six ciders and perries. Ale and cider from small independent British producers, bar snacks only, music on vinyl, and no tea or coffee. It is a deliberately narrow proposition executed perfectly.
The Southampton Arms
- Address
- 139 Highgate Road, Kentish Town, NW5 1LE
- Nearest
- Gospel Oak
- Hours
- From midday every day, closing around 11pm or midnight
- Booking
- No bookings of any kind, and no telephone
- Standing
- Independent, built in 1938
How to get in
Seven changing cask lines and no regular beers at all, which means the thing you liked last time will not be on. Bar snacks only, no tea or coffee, and the music is on vinyl. Cash and card, but do not come here for dinner.
The Royal Oak, Borough
44 Tabard Street, a few minutes from Borough. Harvey’s of Lewes, and a proper Sussex pub transplanted to SE1.
One correction while we are here: this is often called Harvey’s only London pub. That is no longer true: their own pub finder now lists two, this and the Phoenix on Clapham Road.
The Royal Oak
- Address
- 44 Tabard Street, Borough, SE1 4JU
- Nearest
- Borough
- Standing
- Harvey’s of Lewes, and no longer their only London pub
How to get in
A Sussex pub transplanted to SE1, a few minutes from Borough station and far enough off the main road to stay quiet. Harvey’s own pub finder now lists two in London, this and the Phoenix on Clapham Road.
For the room
The Princess Louise, Holborn
208 High Holborn, a minute from the station. Grade II star listed, built 1872 and remodelled in 1891, with tilework, mirrors and moulded plaster that are genuinely hard to believe on first sight.
Sam Smith’s restored it in 2007 and 2008, reinstating the original multi-room layout with its etched glass screens. That restoration is the reason this is the single most impressive pub interior in central London.
The Princess Louise
- Address
- 208 High Holborn, WC1V 7BW
- Nearest
- Holborn, a minute away
- Standing
- Grade II star listed, built 1872 and remodelled in 1891
How to get in
A Sam Smith’s house, which means their own drinks only and a strict house regime: typically no phones and no music. Assume those rules apply. The 2007 restoration put the original multi-room layout back, so walk through the etched glass screens rather than standing in the first room you find.
Sam Smith’s pubs have long run a strict house regime, typically no phones and no music, and they serve only the brewery’s own drinks. Humphrey Smith, who imposed those rules, died in June 2026 and his son now runs the brewery, so whether they survive unchanged is an open question. Assume they apply and you will not go wrong.
The Prince Alfred, Maida Vale
5a Formosa Street, by Warwick Avenue. Upgraded from Grade II to Grade II star in June 2022, which tells you what the assessors thought of it.
Five separate compartments arranged around a central servery, each with its own door onto the street, and a surviving set of snob screens, one of perhaps eight left anywhere. The low connecting doorways between compartments are original and are not designed for modern adults.
The Prince Alfred
- Address
- 5a Formosa Street, Maida Vale, W9 1EE
- Nearest
- Warwick Avenue
- Standing
- Upgraded from Grade II to Grade II star in June 2022
How to get in
Five compartments around a central servery, each with its own door onto the street, so which door you use decides which room you drink in. The connecting doorways between them are original and are not built for adults of modern height.
The Windsor Castle, Kensington
114 Campden Hill Road. Grade II listed, an 1826 building remodelled in about 1933 into three separate bars, the Sherry, the Private and the Campden, divided by oak screens.
The doors between them are 3ft 6in high. This is not a quirk of an old building, it is a deliberate 1930s design, and watching people discover it is part of the evening. Large walled garden, which is excellent, though it is not part of the listing whatever you may read.
The Windsor Castle
- Address
- 114 Campden Hill Road, Kensington, W8 7AR
- Nearest
- Notting Hill Gate
- Standing
- Grade II listed, an 1826 building remodelled around 1933
How to get in
Three separate bars, the Sherry, the Private and the Campden, divided by oak screens, and the doors between them are three foot six. That is deliberate 1930s design rather than subsidence. The walled garden is large and is the summer answer.
The Lamb, Bloomsbury
94 Lamb’s Conduit Street. Young’s, Grade II listed, with a working Polyphon in the bar and a horseshoe counter.
The snob screens are the draw, and here is a detail nobody else gets right: they are not all original. The listing itself says some are original and others were installed during a later restoration. That does not make them less interesting, and a double range surviving at all is rare.
The Lamb
- Address
- 94 Lamb’s Conduit Street, Bloomsbury, WC1N 3LZ
- Nearest
- Russell Square or Holborn
- Standing
- Young’s, Grade II listed, with a working Polyphon and a horseshoe counter
How to get in
The horseshoe counter means there is no bad place to stand, which is rare. The snob screens are the draw and are not all original: the listing itself says some were installed in a later restoration.
The Coach & Horses, Soho
29 Greek Street. Grade II listed, with a substantially intact 1937 Taylor Walker interior, three bars and the original spittoon troughs.
Two practical notes. They take no table bookings at all. And there are three pubs called the Coach & Horses in W1, one of which uses “coach-and-horses-soho” in its web address while being on Great Marlborough Street. Go to Greek Street.
The Coach and Horses
- Address
- 29 Greek Street, Soho, W1D 5DH
- Nearest
- Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road
- Booking
- No table bookings at all
- Standing
- Grade II listed, with a substantially intact 1937 Taylor Walker interior
How to get in
No table bookings of any kind, so it is first come and it fills early. Check the street before you set off: there are three pubs of this name in W1 and one of them uses Soho in its web address while standing on Great Marlborough Street. Greek Street is the one.
For the character
The French House, Soho
49 Dean Street. The house rules are the point, and they are still in force: no music, no machines, no television and no mobile phones.
Beer is served in halves only, and this remains true in 2026, with a single exception each year at their spring fundraiser. You will see 1 April quoted as the date. That comes from listicles, not from the pub. De Gaulle’s Free French used the upstairs room during the war, and the walls have not been redecorated in the spirit of forgetting it.
The French House
- Address
- 49 Dean Street, Soho, W1D 5BG
- Nearest
- Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road
- Standing
- No music, no machines, no television and no mobile phones
How to get in
The house rules are real and still enforced: no music, no machines, no television and no telephones. Beer is served in halves only, with one exception a year at their spring fundraiser, and the 1 April date you will see quoted for it comes from other guides rather than from the pub.
The Grenadier, Belgravia
18 Wilton Row, tucked up a mews behind Hyde Park Corner and genuinely difficult to find, which is most of its charm.
The ceiling is covered in banknotes, pinned there by visitors, and it was confirmed still in place this year. You will read that they are coins. They are not. You will also read that the building is Grade II listed. It is not listed at all, which we checked five different ways because we did not believe it either.
The Grenadier
- Address
- 18 Wilton Row, Belgravia, SW1X 7NR
- Nearest
- Hyde Park Corner or Knightsbridge
- Standing
- Banknotes pinned to the ceiling, and not listed at all
How to get in
Genuinely hard to find, which is most of the point: it is up a mews behind Hyde Park Corner and you will walk past the entrance to Wilton Row before you see it. Small, so an early evening or a weekday is the only comfortable version.
The Blue Posts, Soho
28 Rupert Street, and you must have the number, because there are five pubs called the Blue Posts and all five are open. This is the Grade II listed one.
Three businesses stacked in one building: the pub at street level, the Evelyn’s Table restaurant in the basement, and the Mulwray wine bar on the first floor. No reservations, no cask ale, and closed all day Sunday.
The Blue Posts
- Address
- 28 Rupert Street, Soho, W1D 6DJ
- Nearest
- Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square
- Hours
- Monday 4pm to 11pm, Tuesday to Thursday 4pm to 11.30pm, Friday and Saturday midday to midnight. Closed all day Sunday
- Booking
- No reservations
- Standing
- Three businesses stacked in one building
How to get in
Take the number with you: there are five pubs called the Blue Posts and all five are open. This is the Grade II listed one, at 28 Rupert Street. No reservations, no cask ale, and shut all day Sunday, which catches people out more than anything else here.
The Holly Bush, Hampstead
22 Holly Mount, up a flight of steps off Heath Street. Grade II listed and Fuller’s.
The history is better than the usual: it was built around 1797 as stables to the painter George Romney’s house, and converted about 1807 to serve as the catering wing of the Hampstead Assembly Rooms. The Benskins Brewery oval glass advert survives. Deep entrance step and no accessible lavatory, which is worth knowing in advance.
The Holly Bush
- Address
- 22 Holly Mount, Hampstead, NW3 6SG
- Nearest
- Hampstead
- Standing
- Grade II listed, built around 1797 as stables
How to get in
Up a flight of steps off Heath Street, which is the part to plan for: there is a deep entrance step and no accessible lavatory. Worth knowing before you bring someone who will struggle with either.
For the food
The Anchor & Hope, Waterloo
36 The Cut, by Southwark. One of the pubs that invented the modern London gastropub and still among the best.
The famous no-bookings policy is gone. They now take reservations 30 days ahead, hold card details for tables up to eight, and do not book by email. Guides have been repeating the old rule for years. A nice quirk for the diary: they close after lunch on 20 December and do not reopen until dinner on 4 January.
The Anchor and Hope
- Address
- 36 The Cut, SE1 8LP
- Nearest
- Southwark or Waterloo
- Hours
- Closed from after lunch on 20 December until dinner on 4 January
- Booking
- Reservations 30 days ahead, card details held for tables up to eight, no booking by email
- Standing
- One of the pubs that invented the modern London gastropub
How to get in
The no bookings policy everyone still quotes is gone: they take reservations thirty days ahead and hold card details for tables of up to eight. They will not book by email. The long Christmas closure is the other thing to diary.
The Guinea Grill, Mayfair
30 Bruton Place, off a cobbled mews behind Berkeley Square. Young’s, and a rare surviving low screen with a door dividing off the private bar.
Famous for suet-lidded pies, particularly the beef, Guinness and oyster. Their own site says “award winning pies” without naming an award, and the competition record you will see quoted elsewhere does not stand up, so we will leave it at: the pies are very good. The bar is walk-in only; the restaurant takes bookings.
The Guinea Grill
- Address
- 30 Bruton Place, Mayfair, W1J 6NL
- Nearest
- Bond Street or Green Park
- Booking
- The bar is walk in only. The restaurant takes bookings
- Standing
- A rare surviving low screen with a door dividing off the private bar
How to get in
Two different rules in one building: the bar is walk in only and the restaurant behind it takes bookings, so decide which you want before you arrive. It is off a cobbled mews behind Berkeley Square and easy to walk past.
The Pineapple, Kentish Town
51 Leverton Street, in the middle of a terrace. Grade II listed, built around 1868, with pineapple motifs on the keystones and an etched glass bar-back screen on four Corinthian pilasters.
A Thai kitchen in a listed Victorian pub, which sounds wrong and works completely. Quiz on Mondays. They only take bookings for ten or more.
The Pineapple
- Address
- 51 Leverton Street, Kentish Town, NW5 2NX
- Nearest
- Kentish Town
- Hours
- Monday to Thursday midday to 11pm, Friday and Saturday to midnight, Sunday to 10.30pm. Thai kitchen Monday to Friday 12 to 3pm and 6 to 9.45pm, weekends 1pm to 9.45pm
- Booking
- Bookings for parties of ten or more only
- Standing
- Grade II listed, built around 1868, with pineapple motifs on the keystones
How to get in
They take bookings only for ten or more, so for anything smaller it is walk in and take your chances. Quiz on Mondays at 9pm, which is the wrong night to want a quiet table. It sits in the middle of a terrace and does not announce itself.
The Cow, Westbourne Park
89 Westbourne Park Road. Guinness and oysters at the front, a proper dining room upstairs with its own phone line.
The saloon bar does the short, confident thing: shellfish, a pint of Guinness, not much else. Do that rather than treating it as a restaurant.
The Cow
- Address
- 89 Westbourne Park Road, W2 5QH
- Nearest
- Westbourne Park or Royal Oak
- Standing
- Guinness and oysters downstairs, a dining room upstairs with its own line
How to get in
Two different places in one building. Downstairs is the point: shellfish, a pint of Guinness and not much else, and you stand. The dining room upstairs is a separate proposition with its own telephone number.
The Churchill Arms
- Address
- 119 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LN
- Nearest
- Notting Hill Gate or High Street Kensington
- Hours
- Pub Monday to Saturday 11.00 to 23.00, Sunday 12.00 to 22.30. Kitchen Monday to Saturday 12.00 to 21.30, Sunday 12.00 to 21.00
- Standing
- A Fuller's house. The Thai Kitchen at the back has been running for over 35 years
How to get in
The most photographed pub in London, buried under flowers, and the one where the queue outside is for the conservatory rather than the bar.
The timing rule here is the gap between the two sets of hours. The pub runs to 11pm Monday to Saturday. The Thai kitchen stops at 9.30pm, an hour and a half earlier, and on a Sunday at 9pm. Arriving at ten for dinner gets you a pint in a very pretty room and nothing to eat.
Ignore the opening times you will see quoted elsewhere. Several listings have it open to midnight on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The pub’s own page says 23:00 every day from Monday to Saturday.
The Thai Kitchen is the reason to come rather than a curiosity attached to a flower display, and it has been there more than thirty five years, which is longer than most London restaurants of any kind.
Not a pub, but go anyway
Gordon’s Wine Bar, Embankment
47 Villiers Street. Candlelit vaulted cellars, sherry from the barrel, and no table bookings.
It describes itself as thought to be the oldest wine bar in London, established 1890, and that hedge is theirs. One thing worth correcting: the Gordons who founded it and the Gordons who run it are two unrelated families. Angus Gordon started it in 1890; Luis Gordon, explicitly unrelated, bought it in 1974. Guides that claim one continuous family are wrong.
Gordon’s Wine Bar
- Address
- 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE
- Nearest
- Embankment or Charing Cross
- Hours
- Monday to Saturday 11am to 11pm, Sunday midday to 10pm. The kitchen stops an hour earlier, at 10pm and 9pm
- Booking
- No reservations, except the Cage, a private table for up to twelve booked online with a 250 pound minimum spend per slot. The contact page still says no reservations at all, so book the Cage online rather than asking at the bar
- Standing
- Describes itself as thought to be the oldest wine bar in London, established 1890
How to get in
First come first served has been the rule since 1890 and the candlelit cellar is the room everybody wants, so arriving early is the only reliable strategy. One part of that may have changed: the homepage now advertises that the Cage can be reserved while the contact page states flatly that there are no reservations at all, so ring rather than trust either page. The heated awnings outside make the terrace a year round overflow rather than a summer one. Sherry and port come from the barrel.
Choosing
If you care most about the beer: the Southampton Arms, then the Harp.
If you want to be astonished by a room: the Princess Louise, then the Prince Alfred.
If you want a good story: the Grenadier for the mews, the French House for the rules.
If you want to eat properly: the Anchor & Hope, and book now that you can.
If it is your first visit to London: the Princess Louise, the Harp and the Blue Posts are all within a short walk of each other and of nearly everything else.
Pubs near me in London
The pubs on this page cluster, which makes the nearest easy to find. Soho has the Coach and Horses, the French House and the Blue Posts. Kentish Town has the Southampton Arms and the Pineapple. Kensington has the Windsor Castle and the Churchill Arms. Covent Garden has the Harp, Holborn the Princess Louise, and Hampstead the Holly Bush.
London Bridge pubs
For pubs near London Bridge, The Royal Oak in Borough is on this page, and The George Inn in Southwark is on our oldest pubs list. Borough Market is between them, so the walk is short and the choice is a matter of whether you want a pub that has been here for centuries or one that is quiet.
Where to go next
Bringing a dog? Assume yes in a pub and check in a restaurant. Dog friendly in London explains why: five venues widely described as dog friendly, including a Fuller’s pub, publish no policy at all, while the restaurants that do publish one are specific about which room.
For the history rather than the beer, the oldest pubs in London works through which ancient claims actually hold up, and most of them do not. The Sunday roast guide covers several of these kitchens at their best.
If the point of the evening is a reason to be in the pub at all, the quiz is it. Pub quiz London counts a 140 pub circuit and finds not one quiz on a Friday or Saturday, Tuesday the busiest night, and the pub paying 120 pounds a week to put it on.
If you want cocktails rather than cask, the cocktail bar guide and the bar list cover the other end of London drinking.
And for wine rather than beer, the best wine bars in London puts Gordon’s in its proper company, alongside the only London wine bar open until one in the morning and the one where every bottle can be taken home at retail rather than bar prices.
Questions we get asked
What time do pubs close in London?
There is no single answer, because the Licensing Act 2003 ended fixed national closing hours and every pub now trades to its own licence. Eleven at night is still the common default and the one to assume, with last orders called ten or fifteen minutes before. Central London has plenty of later licences running to midnight or one, and Sunday is frequently shorter than the rest of the week. Check the individual pub rather than the rule.
Do you tip in a London pub?
No, not at the bar, and this is the thing that catches American visitors hardest. You order and pay at the bar and nobody will come to your table. If you want to be generous, offer to buy the bartender a drink and they will usually take the money for later. Table service in a gastropub is a different arrangement and works like a restaurant. The tipping guide covers the rest.
Which London pub has the best beer?
The Southampton Arms in Kentish Town, on the strength of a policy rather than a list: seven changing cask lines and no regular beers whatsoever, and no kitchen at all. The Harp in Covent Garden is the other answer, and was the first London pub ever to win CAMRA's National Pub of the Year.
Which London pub has the best interior?
The Princess Louise in Holborn. It is Grade II star listed, built in 1872 and remodelled in 1891, and Sam Smith’s restored it across 2007 and 2008, reinstating the original multi-room layout with its etched glass screens. The Prince Alfred in Maida Vale is the other answer: it was upgraded from Grade II to Grade II star in June 2022 and keeps a set of snob screens, one of perhaps eight left anywhere.
Can you book a table in a London pub?
At some, and at the best ones frequently not. The Coach and Horses in Soho takes no table bookings at all, and several others on our list work the same way. Where a pub does take bookings it is usually for the dining room rather than the bar.
What makes a pub worth crossing London for?
One of four things, which is how our list is arranged: the beer, the room, the character or the food. Very few pubs are outstanding at more than one of them, and choosing by the wrong category is how people end up disappointed by a genuinely good pub.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 25 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
