The British pub is one of the few institutions that has somehow got better with age. Where once the choice was between a bag of crisps and a basket of scampi, London’s best boozers now offer cooking that would hold its own in any restaurant in the city.
Yet what distinguishes the pubs on this list from mere restaurants-with-beer is that they remain, at heart, proper pubs: places where a single pint and a packet of cheese and onion is as valid a reason to visit as a three-course dinner. The trick, as the following selection proves, is finding places where the beer is as carefully curated as the wine list, and where the welcome is as warm at the bar as it is in the dining room.
Central London pubs
The Audley Public House, Mayfair
When Artfarm, the hospitality arm of Hauser & Wirth, bought the building on the corner of Mount Street and South Audley Street, Iwan and Manuela Wirth kept the ground floor as the pub it had always been. The only clue as to the new ownership is some site-specific contemporary art setting off the original Victorian features, including a kaleidoscopic paper ceiling hand-painted by Phyllida Barlow, and a Martin Creed neon sign above the restored mahogany bar. The food is classic pub grub made from superior ingredients: ham, egg and chips; beef and ale pie; fish finger sandwiches and Sunday roasts. Upstairs dining room Mount St Restaurant is rather fancier.
41-43 Mount Street, London, W1K 2RX, theaudleypublichouse.com
The Devonshire, Soho
A contender for the most famous pub in London, The Devonshire is testament to the fact that the best boozers are down to the people behind them, in this case, its trio of owners: landlord Oisin Rogers, chef Ashley Palmer-Watts and meat supremo Charlie Carroll. The ground-floor bar sees drinkers in quarter-zip tops spilling onto the street clutching what is widely believed to be London’s finest pint of Guinness; snacky food is served down here too (sausage rolls, cheese toasties), but the real action takes place in the two floors of dining rooms upstairs, where simple St John-esque British cooking includes the likes of potted shrimps and lamb hotpot.
17 Denman Street, London, W1D 7HW, devonshiresoho.co.uk
The French House, Soho
Like the Coach & Horses over on Greek Street, The French is a bona-fide slice of old Soho history, in this case the location for Charles de Gaulle’s morale-boosting wartime broadcasts. The French connection lives on in the Breton cider served by the bottle in the tiny ground-floor bar, which is pretty much standing room only. A seat at one of the seven tables upstairs in the equally bijou dining room is almost as hard to come by, but the reward for booking well ahead is cooking as Anglo-French as the Tricolore and Union Jack billowing outside. Think: brawn on toast followed by sole à la meunière.
49 Dean Street, London, W1D 5BG, frenchhousesoho.com
The Shaston Arms, Soho
The team responsible for The Waterman’s Arms in Barnes are also behind this central London pub that is the holy grail of West End drinking: somewhere in Soho that is just as suited to a pint and snack at the bar or a proper meal when something marginally more formal is required. To drink, there are beers from London breweries; to eat, scallops with curry leaf and mashed potato; and the whole experience is wrapped up in dimly lit, velvet- and leather-lined interiors.
4-6 Ganton Street, London, W1F 7QN, theshastonarms.co.uk
North London pubs
The Baring, Islington
The perfect end to a walk along the Regent’s Canal at the bottom of the road, The Baring has everything behind the bar anyone could want to drink: locally brewed beers, organic European wines and cracking cocktails. The presentation of the food is as restrained as the stripped-back decor, but there’s nothing muted about the flavour of dishes such as quail shish with garlic yoghurt and pul biber chilli. South Londoners should investigate sister pub The Kerfield Arms in Camberwell.
55 Baring Street, London, N1 3DS, thebaring.co.uk
The Parakeet, Kentish Town
This used to be a grotty Victorian pub called the Oxford; now it’s gone from dodgy to desirable thanks to new owners who drafted in former Brat chefs Ben Allen and Ed Jennings to run the kitchen. At the front is a bar for drinkers – not just draught beer but wines by the carafe and classic cocktails. Anyone hungrier should head to the dining room behind where seasonal British dishes such as pheasant with mustard sauce and chicory are cooked on the wood-fired grill.
256 Kentish Town Road, London, NW5 2AA, theparakeetpub.com
East London pubs
The Knave of Clubs, Shoreditch
The names behind The Knave know what they’re doing: James Dye is the owner of London Fields listening bar Bambi, while his Knave co-owner Benjy Leibowitz has the New York NoMad on his CV. Chermoula-marinated rotisserie chicken is the star turn, supplemented by prawn Scotch eggs and venison sausage rolls, with beers from independent breweries and Negronis courtesy of whatever the bartenders can think of. Stop in for a drink if you’re dining upstairs at One Club Row.
25 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6HT, theknaveofclubs.co.uk
The Marksman, Hackney
A pub of two halves, The Marksman is a dog-friendly East End boozer of the old school at street level, with a smartly cosmopolitan dining room up above (courtesy of designer Martino Gamper) – a London-wide destination for the likes of a chicken and preserved cep pie, a legendary Sunday roast and wines that are cellared as carefully as the draught beers. Best of all, there’s a roof terrace for when the sun shines.
254 Hackney Road, London, E2 7SJ, marksmanpublichouse.com
South London pubs
The Camberwell Arms, Camberwell
Owned by the same crew behind Frank’s rooftop bar in Peckham, the Camberwell Arms wears its cool credentials lightly – bare brick walls, scrubbed wood floors and a kitchen that takes sourcing as seriously as any white-tablecloth restaurant. The seasonal menu draws on long-standing supplier relationships and a serious in-house operation that runs to homemade charcuterie and whole-animal butchery. Sunday lunch here is a south London institution – half a Sladesdown Farm chicken with curly kale and Pecorino crème fraîche is a feast you won’t want to share.
65 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5 8TR, thecamberwellarms.co.uk
Canton Arms, Stockwell
Part of a small group that also includes the equally excellent Anchor & Hope in Waterloo and The Clarence Tavern in Stoke Newington, the Canton Arms is the kind of pub that makes you wish it were your local. Brown and woody and lined with books, bottles and leaded windows, it divides neatly between a bar where toasties filled with Westcombe Cheddar or haggis serve as snacks, and a dining room where a daily-changing menu of Euro-Brit cooking has earned it a devoted following on both sides of the river.
177 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1XP, cantonarms.com
West London pubs
The Cow, Notting Hill
Do bar snacks come any more sublime than a platter of oysters, prawns and crab washed down with a pint of Guinness at this west London watering hole that is the Rolls-Royce of Irish pubs? Pull up a stool in the ground-floor bar or head upstairs for a seat on a lipstick-red banquette in the more formal dining room; wherever you sit, the food can be as sophisticated (Roscoff onion tarte Tatin) or simple (smoked mackerel pâté) as you wish.
89 Westbourne Park Road, London, W2 5QH, thecowlondon.com
The Pelican, Notting Hill
Public House Group is redefining what smart Londoners expect from their local pub, with Maida Vale’s The Hero, Marylebone’s The Hart and Golborne Road’s The Fat Badger (with more to come). The Pelican is where it all started and the template for what followed: spot-on retro stylings such as scrubbed wood tables and caramel-coloured sofas, and rib-sticking British comfort food a world away from stale crisps and pickled eggs. Try the signature mince on toast, a rich beef ragù spread on sourdough beneath an avalanche of Parmesan.
45 All Saints Road, London, W11 1HE, thepelicanw11.com
For more recommendations in and around the city, pick up the new Wallpaper* guide to London.