THE
PUBS OF LONDON
AS FROM DECEMBER 2018 THERE WILL BE NO MORE PUBS ADDED TO THIS WEB SITE
This section is devoted to the best pubs in London…
There are well
over 3,500 pubs in Greater London. Despite the efforts of the big pub chains to
clone their pubs into looking the same, so they are a little like going into a
Macdonalds (bland and not very memorable) there are still a lot of good pubs
with character left in London. In our opinion, we will recommend you to the
best 300 pubs in London. As London is a big city, there are some areas that are
stronger than others but we are working on it! All opinions are those of the
authors when we have visited the pubs some recent, and some not so recent. As
we are going for the top pubs most of the reviews are favourable, but we call
it as we see it.
Why Real Ale?
Our favourite
type of beer is real ale. This is a handpump beer served with no pressure. It’s
a living beer which, while not hard to look after, does take a lot of time and
effort to serve just right. If a landlord takes the time to serve good beer the
chances are he will look after the rest of the pub as well. In our opinion, the
best beer in the world is well kept real ale, but on the other side of the
coin, the worst beer in the world is badly kept real ale. Which is why people
tend to play it safe and drink bland pressure beer. If you get served a bad
pint take it back. Most landlords are okay about that; after all why should you
get gut rot just to keep them happy.
International
Lager
If you look at
the draught beer taps in most London pubs you will see international lagers
from all over the world. These beers are mostly brewed in the UK by British
brewers under licence and usually taste nothing like they do in their homeland.
We are big fans of authentic lager, especially from Germany and the Czech
Republic. If a pub stocks any interesting overseas beers we will mention it.
Craft Beer
While I
am a real ale drinker, I appreciate other beers which are not. I love Belgian
bottled beers and authentic Franconia Bavarian lagers and Czech pilsners. So
just because a beer is not real ale it does not make it a bad beer.
Real
ale’s problem is that when served in the right condition it is a good beer;
when it is not it is a bad beer. Most regular drinkers drink mainstream keg and
lager beer (despite being gassy), because they know where they stand with it.
Which is where craft beer comes in; not as gassy as mainstream beer (
hopefully), but without the faults of badly-served real ale. No problem with
that; but craft beer seems to be an excuse to sell expensive beer. In the Pelt
Trader in London EC4, a pint of Mahrs Keller beer from Bamberg, Germany (a rare
and excellent beer to find in London) was £5.80 a pint, where as a pint of
Kernel Pale Ale, brewed a few miles from
the pub, was £6 a pint. Which in my opinion sums up craft beer prices. The excuses of being a well-made premium product
does not wash, as most London micros which do real ale and craft beer sell
their real ale at a cheaper price; also these breweries pay a lot less beer
duty. Whilst I have nothing against craft beer and it introducing new drinkers
to a new drinking world, I do against their prices.
London Brewers
About 35 years
ago most pubs in London and the UK were owned by the brewers as a way of
guaranteeing outlets to sell their beer. The stock market over recent years now
thinks there is more money in owning pubs than in brewing beer. Most of the big
brewing companies have got out of brewing, and set up their own pub chains,
letting other people brew their beer brands.
In London there
is one independent family brewery that still brews and sells their beers in
their own pubs. Fullers own over 350 pubs each in London and the South East,
and serve their beers the traditional way.
Fullers
Griffin
Brewery, Chiswick Lane South, Chiswick, London W4 2QB. Tel 0208-996 2000. Web
site www.fullers.co.uk
Founded in
1845, brewing excellent award winning beers. London is lucky to have such a
world class brewery, in the city. Fullers do brewery tours. Just ring the
number above. As they do tours every hour they should be able to fit you in.
Tours cost £5, but you get drinks at the end of them. In my personal opinion
Fullers beers taste better in their own pubs than in the free trade.
Beers (ABV =
Alcohol by Volume)
Oliver’s
Island- ABV-3.9%. Tasteless golden beer. Proof Fullers can brew a bad beer, and
have not learned their lesson from Discovery which was a similar beer !
London
Pride-ABV-4.1%. Outstanding best bitter- one of the best beers in the UK.
ESB-ABV-5.5%.
ESB stands for extra special bitter- well named. It is maybe a little too strong to drink all
night but a great beer.
Seasonal
beers-Chiswick Bitter, Jack Frost, Summer Ale, Red Fox, London Porter, Bengal
Lancer IPA and Old Winter Ale..
Bottled
beers-1845 Celebration Ale. ABV-6.3%. Brew for Fullers 150th
anniversary is now a regular bottle conditioned beer. A great bottled beer.
Golden
Pride-ABV-8.5%. Strong barley wine which is occasionally found on draught at
Christmas time.
In November
2005 Fullers purchased Gales of Horndean. Gales were a family run brewery with
111 tied houses in the Portsmouth and Hampshire area. The brewery was closed in
March 2006 and the brewing of Gales beer was transfer to Chiswick.
Gales beers; regulars HSB, Seafarers
Ale. Seasonal beers Winter Brew, Trafalgar, Festival Mild, Swing Low, Buster
Bitter.
Meantime, London SE7. . Mail order
brewery doing own label brews. Now owns a pub in Greenwich, London SE10 see
under entry in South East London section. Now brewing cask beer for the pub
market. Second biggest brewery in London after Fullers. Web site www.meantimebrewing.com
London brew pubs and micros breweries
In recent years there has been a brewing revolution
going on in the London brewing scene. In 2012 there are over 30 brew pubs and
microbreweries in London, most (22) have opened in the last 3 years. Now in
2017, there are almost 100 microbreweries or brew pubs. This is great time to be beer
drinker in London. It is a little hard to keep up with what is happening. For
new London breweries visit these sites.
http://www.londonbeerguide.com/breweries.php. Online guide seems to be updated
site.
http://www.londoncityofbeer.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=1003.
http://desdemoor.co.uk/london/brewers-and-beers/ Des de Moor site has breweries
which are in the planning stage.
EX LONDON
BREWERIES
In 2006 Young’s
stopped brewing in Wandsworth and transfer brewing to family brewer Charles
Wells in Bedford. This no longer makes them a London brewer. The new company is
called Wells and Young’s. In my opinion I find this the perfect marriage as
Wells beers are just bland as Young’s beers.
Young's
The Ram
Brewery, High Street, Wandsworth, London SW18 4JD.Web site http://www.youngs.co.uk/
Family Brewery
founded in 1831. While Young's have the right credentials for brewing real ale,
I am not a great fan of their regular beers. Real ale is often a matter of
personal taste; after all Young's would not be in business if every one had my
opinion of their beers. When served in good condition Young's beer is
drinkable.
As if to prove
my point. Young's have changed the recipe to Young's Special in June 2003,
making it lighter in taste and reducing the ABV by 0.1. If it was such a great
beer why changed it?
Young's have
some nice pubs-I have over 20 in the guide. There might have been even more,
but for their obsession with turning some of their better traditional pubs into
café style bars. Some good examples of this are the Duke of Cumberland in Parsons
Green and Finchs in the Fulham Road SW10
Beers
Young's Bitter-
(ABV-3.7%) Use to be called ordinary bitter which I thought was a apt name.
Young's Special
Bitter-(ABV-4.6%) Not much better than the bitter but a bit more taste
Seasonal
beers-Kew Gold (ABV 4.0%) Summer beer available in July and August. Winter
Warmer ( ABV 5%)-Excellent dark Winter beer .
Bottle beers-
Double chocolate stout-ABV 5.0%. Special London Ale-ABV 6.4%
__________________________________________________________________________________
Other ex London breweries
Guinness, Park Royal Brewery, London NW10 .The Guinness
that’s on draught in London use to comes from here not Dublin. The brewery
closed in the summer of 2005. All Guinness now comes from Dublin.
Pitfield, London N1. A beer shop
which brews its own beers. In 2006 moved to Essex. Web site www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
Stag Brewery. This is where the infamous Budweiser
is brewed in the UK. Ex-Watney brewery where Watneys' infamous Red Barrel was
brewed. The jury is still out on whether this is a step backwards or forwards
for the brewery! Closing in 2015.
Bunker Bar, London, WC2. Ex brew pub brewing lager.
Regional Brewers
As well as
Fullers and Young's there are independent regional brewers outside of London
who also own pubs in the Greater London area. Some like Greene King, Mcmullen,
Samuel Smith, (sadly not all outlets real ale) and Shepherd Neame own up to ten
or more pubs. Others like Adnams, Gales, Hop Back and Harveys own the odd one
or two. Either way it makes for varied drinking in the great metropolis than is
London.
Facilities
Maybe I should
say lack of them. In this guide we are only interested in reviewing pubs. If
you need any more information about a pub, we have tried to provide a phone
number for you to ring and Google map for the location. Beers mention were the
beers on draught at the time of visit.
Smoking
As from July
2007 all pubs in the UK are non-smoking.
Guest Reviewer.
As well as John
and Stuart there are guest reviews from Sue the Mouse, telling us about
authentic lagers, cheese and plants! And also saying things like 'this is a
mouse-like pub'.
Worth a try
All the entries
are my choice; some pubs get every close to being included. Some tough
decisions have to be made. The worth a try section are pubs which just missed
out, but are worth a visit especially if you are in the area and want to do a
extra pub or two.
Update section.
Total number of
pubs in each area.
City of London 24 pubs
West End 28 pubs
Westminster 13 pubs
East London 38 pubs
North London 41 pubs
South East London 50 pubs
South West London 35 pubs
West London 38 Pubs
Total number of pubs 267
Recent visits
August 2017 4 days in Cambridge ( See UK Towns and Cities Part 1)
August 2017 2 pubs revisited in SW1 ( Pimlico). 1 pub in SW1 (
Pimlico) deleted.
August 2017 3 pubs in Barnet revisited
August 2017 3 pubs in E3 ( Bow) revisited, 1 new pub in E3 ( Bow) added
September 2017 1 pub in E1 ( Whitechapel) deleted, 1 pub in E2 ( Bethnal
Green) revisited.
September 2017 2 pubs in NW5 ( Gospel Oak) revisited. 3 pubs in N6 (
Highgate) revisited
September 2017 2 pubs in W5 ( Ealing ) revisited.
September 2017 N17 ( Tottenham) brewery tap tour, no new enrtys.
October 2017 W9 ( Maida Vale) 1 pub revisited and 1 pub deleted.
October 2017 visited, Looe, Polperro and Bodmin in Cornwall.
October 2017 1 pub revisited in WC2 ( Temple), 4 pubs in EC4 ( City of
London ) revisited.
October 2017 1 pub revisited in WC2 ( Convent Garden), 4 pubs revisited
in WC1 ( Holborn)
October 2017 3 pubs revisited in E14 ( Canary Wharf)
November 2017 2 days in Amsterdam ( see Amsterdam section)
November 2017 1 day in Dusseldorf ( see Germany section)
November 2017 1 new pub in N13 ( Palmers Green) added, 1 new pub in N21
( Winchmore Hill) added.
November 2017 2 pubs revisited WC1 ( Holborn)
November 2017 3 pubs in revisited
E17 ( Walthamstow), 1 new pub in E17 ( Walthamstow) added
December 2017 1 new pub in NW5 ( Kentish Town) added.
December 2017 1 pub revisited in W2 ( Westbourne Park), 1 pub revisited
in W9 ( Maida Vale)
December 2017 1 pub in SW17 ( Tooting) revisited, 1 pub in SW12 (
Balham) revisited
January 2018 4 pubs in W1 ( Fitzrovia and Marylebone) revisited
January 2018 2 pubs in WC1 ( Holborn) revisited, 1 pub in WC2 ( Temple)
revisited
January 2018 5 pubs in W1 ( Soho) revisited, 1 pub in NW1 ( Euston)
revisited.
January 2018 5 pubs in WC2 ( Covent Garden) revisited, 1 pub in WC1 (
Holborn )
February 2018 4 pubs in WC2 ( Covent Garden) revisited
February 2018 2 pubs in EC3 ( City of London) revisited. 1 pub in E1 (
Wapping) revisited
February 218 3 Pubs in E11 ( Wanstead and Leytonstone) revisited, 1 new pub in E11 added, 2 pubs in E10 (Leyton)
revisited. 1 pub in E10 deleted.
February 2018 1 pub in Woodford
Green revisited, 1 pub in E4 (Chingford) revisited, 2 pubs in E5 ( Clapton)
revisited.
March 2018 3 days in Belfast (see UK towns and Cities part 2 section)
plus a day trip to Dublin ( See rest of the world section)
March 2018 4 pubs in EC3 ( City of London) revisited, 1 pub in EC2 (
City of London) revisited.
March 2018 2 new pubs in Richmond added.
March 2018 4 pubs in EC4 ( City of London) revisited, 1 pub in EC3 (
City of London) revisited.
March 2018 1 new pub in Sidcup added, 1 new pub in Sidcup in the worth a
try.
April 2018 3 pubs in E9 ( Hackney Wick) revisited, 1 new pub in E9 (
Hackney Wick) added.
April 2018 1 pub in SW17 ( Tooting) revisited, 1 pub in SW8 ( Stockwell)
revisited.
April 2018 1 pub in EC1 ( Shoreditch) added, 1 pub in brewery tap in
SE16 ( Bermondsey) added, 1 pub in SE1 ( Borough) revisited.
April 2018 1 pub in Sutton revisited, 3 pubs in Carshalton revisited.
May 2018 2 pubs in SW11 ( Battersea) revisited, 1 brewery tap in SW11 (
Battersea) added. 1 pub in SW18 ( Wandsworth) deleted, 1 pub in SW18 ( Wandsworth) revisited, 1 pub in SW15 (
Putney) revisited.
May 2018 2 pubs SW19 ( Wimbledon) revisited, 1 pub in SW8 ( Stockwell)
revisited.
May 2018 trip to Brighton, Hove
and Worthing. See UK Towns and Cities part 1.
May 2018 4 pubs in SW13 ( Barnes) revisited, 1 pub in W4 ( Chiswick)
revisited, 1 pub in Brentford revisited.
June 2018 1 pub in Surbiton revisited,
3 pubs in Kingston upon Thames revisited, 2 pubs in Kingston upon Thames added.
June 2018 6 pubs in Richmond revisited.
June 2018 LBA beer festival at Fullers Brewery.
June 2018 3 pubs in E8 ( Hackney) revisited, 1 pub in E8 ( Hackney)
deleted.
July 2018 1 pub in Pinner
revisited, 1 pub in Harrow on the Hill revisited.
July 2018 1 pub in N22 ( Wood Green) revisited, 1 pub in N4 ( Finsbury
Park) revisited, 1 pub in N4 ( Finsbury Park) added, 1 pub in N8 ( Crouch End)
revisited, 1 pub in N10 ( Muswell Hill ) revisited.
July 2018 5 pubs in NW3 ( Hampstead ) revisited.
August 2018 2 pubs in Uxbridge revisited, 2 pubs in Ruislip revisited.
August 2018 3 pubs in SE3 ( Blackheath) revisited, 1 new pub in SE10
(Greenwich) added.
August 2018 1 new pub in SE8 (Deptford), 1 pub in SE8 (Deptford)
revisited, 3 pubs in SE10 (Greenwich)
revisited.
November 2018 2 days in Brussels, 2 Days in Antwerp and a day trip to
Amsterdam. See Cafes of Belgium and cafes of Amsterdam section.
Click on area you want below.
The City of
London-postcodes EC1, EC2, EC3, EC4.
The West End - postcodes
W1, WC1, WC2
Westminster,
Chelsea, Kensington-postcodes SW1, SW3, W8