Dining
The 5 Best Pubs in London
Open fires, good cellars and proper food: the London pubs worth crossing town for.
In short: our top picks are The Harwood Arms, The Guinea Grill and The Marksman. 5 places in total, chosen on merit, with the full reasoning below.
The pub is the heart of London, and the best ones are a whole evening in themselves: a good cellar, a fire in winter, a kitchen worth ordering from and the kind of room you settle into and lose an afternoon. These are the pubs worth crossing town for.
| Place | Area | Price |
|---|---|---|
| The Harwood Arms | Fulham | £££ |
| The Guinea Grill | Mayfair | £££ |
| The Marksman | Bethnal Green | £££ |
| The Holly Bush | Hampstead | ££ |
| The Anchor and Hope | Waterloo | ££ |
-
Editor’s choice
The Harwood Arms
Why we pick itLondons only Michelin-starred pub; game-led cooking and the best Scotch egg in town.
-
The Guinea Grill
Why we pick itA Mayfair institution behind a pretty pub; proper steak and kidney pie and aged beef.
-
The Marksman
Why we pick itA Hackney pub with serious cooking upstairs; the brown butter buns are a destination.
-
The Holly Bush
Why we pick itA historic Hampstead pub of low ceilings and open fires; walk the Heath, then settle in.
-
The Anchor and Hope
Why we pick itThe gastropub benchmark near the Old Vic; no bookings, big flavours, share everything.
Before you book
For the food pubs, book a table, especially for Sunday lunch; for the drinking pubs, just turn up and find a corner. Ask what is on cask and what is local. And give the historic ones an hour at least: half their pleasure is in not being in a hurry.
Common questions
What are the top picks in this guide?
The Harwood Arms is our editor's choice: Londons only Michelin-starred pub; game-led cooking and the best Scotch egg in town. The Harwood Arms, The Guinea Grill and The Marksman lead the guide, with 5 places in total, all chosen on merit.
How does Lamplit London choose its recommendations?
Every place is chosen on merit, after first-hand visits where possible, with no pay-for-placement. Read our full method at https://www.lamplitlondon.com/how-we-choose/.
Related guides
Dining The Best Small Plates Restaurants in London
Order everything and share: the London rooms doing small plates better than anyone.
5 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Caribbean Restaurants in London
Jerk, curry goat and rum punch: where to eat the best Caribbean food in London.
5 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Restaurants in Victoria
Beyond the station: where to eat well around Victoria, from grand rooms to neighbourhood gems.
5 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Restaurants in Battersea
From the Power Station to the park: where to eat well in fast-changing Battersea.
5 places Read guide →From the Journal
Eating
Dinner as the Main Event: The Case for the Tasting Menu
Most great dinners in London are a means to an end. You eat, you talk, you move on to the bar, the show, the rest of the night. The tasting menu refuses to be that. It is not the warm-up. It is the whole event, the curtain up and the curtain down, three hours that […]
13 Jun 2026Read →
Eating
The Enduring Ritual of London Afternoon Tea
Afternoon tea is not a tourist trap. It is one of the last unhurried things London does on purpose. Lunch is rushed and dinner is a production, but the hours between belong to nobody, and that is precisely the point. You sit. You stay. You let an afternoon become long. In a city that measures […]
2 Jun 2026Read →
Eating
London’s Quiet Obsession with Japanese Food
London does not fall for things loudly. It just keeps showing up. And over the last decade or so, the city has shown up for Japanese food again and again, until it stopped feeling like a special occasion and started feeling like a default. You see it everywhere now. The counter where one chef feeds […]
28 Apr 2026Read →Readers also viewed
Dining The Best Pies in London
From a Bermondsey marble counter pouring parsley liquor to a Mayfair pie room with nine in-house varieties, here are six London places that still treat the pie as a serious thing.
6 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Restaurants With a View in London
Six London restaurants where the skyline or the Thames does real work, from Level 31 of the Shard to a riverside igloo at Tower Bridge. Where the cooking earns the view.
6 places Read guide →
Dining The Best Birthday Restaurants in London
Six London restaurants built for a birthday that people actually remember: pink rooms, jungle grills, Greco-Roman drama and two Big Mamma blockbusters, across budgets.
6 places Read guide →
Dining The Most Quirky Restaurants in London
Six London restaurants where the room is the event, from a pink loo and a champagne button to dinner in pitch dark. Good food first, gimmick second.
6 places Read guide →