One company runs the quiz at 140 pubs, 107 of which give a London address. Read down its own list of venues and something jumps out that nobody writes down. Not one of them holds a quiz on a Friday or a Saturday. Their own filter proves it: the only days you can pick are Sunday to Thursday.
Not a single night out of 140 across the whole book. Tuesday takes 43 of them, Wednesday 30, Monday 28, Sunday 25 and Thursday 14. The two nights when a London pub is full anyway get nothing.
Which tells you exactly what a pub quiz is for. It is not entertainment the pub is providing out of generosity. It is a tool for filling a dead Tuesday, and the pub is paying for it by the week.
What it costs the pub
The operator publishes its own deal, which is the most useful thing on this page.
The pub pays 120 pounds plus VAT every week. That buys a quizmaster, absence cover when he cannot make it, printed answer sheets couriered tracked and signed for, unlimited full colour flyers with a teaser picture round on the back, posters, pens, and a lifetime listing on pubquizzers.com which they value at 100 pounds.
The winning team gets 50 pounds in cash, and the pub funds it. The fee drops to 70 pounds plus VAT if the pub supplies that first prize itself, which has to be a food or drink voucher worth at least 50. The pub also provides the second prize, usually a bottle of wine or a bar tab, and two house drinks for the spot prizes.
So the money you might win on a Tuesday comes out of the till of the pub that wants you drinking in it on its quietest night. That is not a criticism. It is just worth knowing what the arrangement actually is.
What time it starts
Across the same 141 quiz nights, the start times cluster hard.
Half past seven and eight o’clock account for three quarters of them, 54 and 52 respectively. Seven o’clock takes another 24. Only eight start at half six, one at six and one as late as half eight.
So if you do not know a specific pub’s time, half seven is the bet, and arriving at eight is a coin toss between on time and twenty minutes late. Teams book tables, and the good ones fill.
Four worth knowing
The Railway, Streatham Common
The one the operator’s founder hosts himself, in the back room, and it sells out.
The Railway, Streatham Common
- Address
- 2 Greyhound Lane, Streatham Common, SW16 5SD
- Nearest
- Streatham Common, three minutes
- Hours
- Quiz Tuesday at 8pm, in the back room, per the operator’s list. The pub’s own what’s on page no longer lists it and advertises a one off Brutal Quiz instead
- Booking
- 020 8769 9448 or info@therailwaysw16.co.uk. Reserve a table, because it is normally fully booked
- Price
- Free to enter. The operator’s standard first prize is 50 pounds cash
- Standing
- Hosted by the founder and owner of the company that runs the quiz at 140 London pubs
How to get in
If you want to see what a properly run London pub quiz looks like, this is the one the person who runs all the others does himself, every Tuesday at eight. Their own note says it is normally fully booked, so a table has to be reserved rather than hoped for. Be aware of a naming trap here: there is a second pub called The Railway on the same circuit, at 202 Upper Richmond Road in Putney, SW15 6TD, and its quiz is on Sunday at half seven instead. Same name, different pub, different night.
Leman Street Tavern, Aldgate
The early one, and the answer for anyone who works in the City.
Leman Street Tavern
- Address
- 31 Leman Street, E1 8PT
- Nearest
- Aldgate East, four minutes. Tower Hill, seven. Liverpool Street, ten
- Hours
- Quiz Monday. The operator’s list says 6.30pm, the pub’s own page says 7pm
- Booking
- 020 3437 0001 or lemanstreettavern@youngs.co.uk
- Price
- Free to enter. Their own page says a 50 pound bar tab to the winning team, which is the cheaper of the operator’s two deals
- Standing
- A Young’s pub on the eastern edge of the City
How to get in
Half six on a Monday is among the earliest quiz starts in London and it is clearly built for the office rather than the neighbourhood: finish work, walk five minutes, play, and still be home at a reasonable hour. That is the opposite of most of this list, which starts at eight and runs into the night. Monday is also the third most common quiz night in the city, so there is more choice than people assume at the start of the week.
Islington Town House
The only pub on the circuit running two quiz nights a week.
Islington Town House
- Address
- 13 Liverpool Road, N1 0RW
- Nearest
- Angel, four minutes
- Hours
- Quiz Wednesday at 7.30pm. The operator’s list still shows a Thursday quiz at the same time, but the pub’s own page now says Wednesday only
- Booking
- 07471 330 395 or bookings@islington-townhouse.com
- Price
- Free to enter. The operator’s standard first prize is 50 pounds cash unless the pub funds a voucher instead
- Standing
- The only venue on the operator’s 140 pub circuit listed for two quizzes in the same week
How to get in
Two nights was genuinely unusual and worth understanding: a pub paying weekly for a quiz and choosing to pay for two of them has found that it works. The operator’s list still shows both Wednesday and Thursday at half seven, but the pub’s own what’s on page now advertises Wednesday alone, so ring before you plan a Thursday around it. Angel is four minutes away, which makes this the easiest of the four here to reach from anywhere central.
Coopers Arms, Chelsea
The west London one, on the busiest quiz night of the week.
Coopers Arms
- Address
- 87 Flood Street, Chelsea, SW3 5TB
- Nearest
- Sloane Square, twelve minutes. South Kensington, fifteen
- Hours
- Quiz Tuesday at 7.30pm
- Booking
- 020 7376 3120 or coopersarms@youngs.co.uk
- Price
- Free to enter. The operator’s standard first prize is 50 pounds cash unless the pub funds a voucher instead
- Standing
- A Young’s pub on a Chelsea backstreet, running the quiz on London’s most popular quiz night
How to get in
Tuesday at half seven is the single most common quiz slot in London, and this is a good example of what that slot is for: a backstreet pub rather than a main road one, which is exactly the sort of place a midweek quiz is designed to fill. Flood Street is a walk from any station, which keeps it local. Other Tuesday options if this one is full include Effra Social at 89 Effra Road in Brixton at eight, and there are 41 more.
What to know
Friday and Saturday are out. Not one of 141 quiz nights on the biggest London circuit falls on either. If someone tells you about a Friday pub quiz in London, it is not one of these.
Tuesday is quiz night. Forty three of the 141, comfortably the most, followed by Wednesday at 30 and Monday at 28. Sunday is a real option too at 25, which surprises people.
Assume half seven, check for eight. Those two times cover three quarters of the circuit. The outliers run from six in the evening to half eight.
Book a table. Providing a table booking facility is part of what the pub signs up for when it takes the quiz on, which tells you the operator expects teams to reserve. The good quizzes fill.
Sunday quizzes start earliest. Orbit Beers Taproom on Fielding Street in Walworth goes at six, and Fire Stables on Church Road in Wimbledon at seven. A Sunday quiz is an early evening rather than a late one.
Check the pub, not the name. There are two pubs called The Railway on this circuit alone, one in Streatham Common on a Tuesday and one in Putney on a Sunday. Confirm the address.
All of the figures above were counted from one operator’s own published venue list, rechecked on 28 September 2026, covering 140 pubs of which 107 give a London address. Other companies and independent pubs run quizzes too, so this is the shape of the London circuit rather than every quiz in the city. Confirm the night with the pub before you travel.
Where to go next
The best pubs in London covers the rooms worth drinking in on a night with no quiz, and the oldest pubs cover the ones worth visiting for the building.
Activity bars are the paid version of the same idea, and the comedy clubs are the other cheap midweek night out, where the price triples between a Thursday and a Saturday.
Board game cafes are the other way to spend a midweek evening around a table, and they charge twice: 6.50 a head at Library Pot in Richmond, then a 15 pound minimum spend on top.
Karaoke covers the rooms you hire rather than the ones you sit in, and London after dark covers the rest of the evening.
Questions we get asked
What night is pub quiz night in London?
Tuesday, by a clear margin. Counting the published venue list of the operator that runs quizzes at 140 pubs, 107 of them in London, Tuesday accounts for 43 quiz nights, Wednesday 30, Monday 28, Sunday 25 and Thursday 14. Friday and Saturday account for none at all, because pubs are already full on those nights and do not need a quiz to fill them.
Is there a pub quiz in London on a Friday?
Not on the main circuit. Across 140 quiz nights run by the biggest operator, 107 of them in London, not one falls on a Friday or a Saturday, and the day filter on their own site offers nothing later than Thursday. The quiz is a tool for filling the quiet nights, so it runs Sunday to Thursday. Independent pubs may differ, but a Friday quiz is the exception rather than something to plan around.
What time do London pub quizzes start?
Half past seven or eight o’clock at three quarters of them: 54 start at 7.30pm and 52 at 8pm across the 141 nights counted. Another 24 begin at 7pm. Only a handful start earlier, at 6pm or 6.30pm, and just one as late as 8.30pm. If you do not know a specific pub’s time, half seven is the safer assumption.
How much does a pub quiz cost to enter in London?
Nothing to enter at the venues on this circuit, and the winning team takes 50 pounds in cash. The cost sits with the pub, which pays the quiz company 120 pounds plus VAT a week, or 70 plus VAT if it funds that 50 pound first prize itself. The pub also puts up the second prize and two house drinks for spot prizes.
Do you need to book a table for a pub quiz in London?
For a good one, yes. Providing a table booking facility is one of the things a pub commits to when it signs up for the quiz, which tells you the operator expects teams to reserve rather than turn up. The Railway at Streatham Common states outright that its Tuesday quiz is normally fully booked.
Where is there a pub quiz in London on a Sunday?
Sunday is busier than people expect, with 25 of the 141 quiz nights counted. Orbit Beers Taproom at 233 Fielding Street in Walworth starts at 6pm, which is the earliest on the circuit. Fire Stables at 27 to 29 Church Road in Wimbledon runs at 7pm, and The Railway on Upper Richmond Road in Putney at 7.30pm.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 127 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
