London
in England

Don’t we all love a beer garden for summer and warm pies for winter? Well, The Camel has both. This pub in Bethnal Green is laidback and fun, they have a series of board games for you to play whilst enjoying their ale and an insane menu of pies for you to try and probably come back for multiple times. 

This converted barge on the Regent’s Canal just behind Paddington is on a mission to share the best in British cheese, pairing a thoughtfully curated array of the best artisanal cheese from around the country with beautifully made condiments, pickles and fancies and a European wine menu to match. Thursday evening from November to March are set menu cheese fondue nights, English cheese’s answer to the Alpine goo, with pickles, cauliflower and truffled mushrooms for dipping. 

The Clarence Tavern is one of those places that just makes you want to stay a while. With its dark wooden interior, extensive wine list and delicious dishes, it's one of our favourite spots in the neighbourhood. Grab a pint, snag a seat and share a buttery pie with the table.

This inventive, refreshing take on modern British food is worth the hype; the wine list alone is deserving of a visit. If the fried chicken is on rotation, you're in luck.

This inn inspired George Orwell’s perfect vision of a pub in The Moon Under Water. It’s mini, so the tables are in high demand but it really is one of the loveliest duck-as-you-enter establishments in the capital. Plus there’s always an interesting foodie pop-up in the kitchen – previously Four Legs (now at The Plimsoll) and Puglian Tiella.

This beloved local boozer, owned by Tom Conran (son of Sir Terence), has celebrity regulars that include Stella McCartney and Adwoa Aboah. The bar – a little scruffy around the edges, as it has been since it opened in 1995 – is a destination for pints of Guinness, and the white- tableclothed dining room upstairs is a place to settle in for oysters followed by fish stew. The murals by Paul Slater are worth a close look – another nod to how the pub prioritises fun over formality at every turn.

There’s a buzz around whatever landlord Oisín Rogers does, but at Denman Street’s The Devonshire, it’s reached fever pitch. In the pub and in huge crowds outside, young things come to split the G – the Guinness drinker’s challenge. While upstairs, Ashley Palmer-Watts (a Heston Blumenthal alumnus) is dishing up prawn cocktails and steaks at a very reasonable lunchtime rate. Reservations (bookable three weeks ahead) disappear in minutes. Fingers at the ready for London’s hottest gastropub.

Great pubs abound in London, but one we love very dearly is the Duke of Cambridge in Islington. It's got delicious organic food, natural wine and craft beer carefully sourced from independent producers.

Even more exclusive than London stalwart The Berkeley is its sister property, glass-box-like The Emory. With a unique identity of its own, the hotel steps things up another notch with its members’ spa Surrenne and New York restaurant implant ABC Kitchen. Sip a cocktail from their glass-fronted rooftop bar and watch the hustle and bustle of sleek Belgravia below. 

There’s a strict “no phones, no music, no machines” policy at this pub, which only serves beer by the half pint. Dylan Thomas, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon were once regulars and there’s still a touch of Bohemia to the crowd. On the first floor find a mini restaurant from Neil Borthwick (husband of London cheffing royalty Angela Hartnett), with a scribbled menu of French classics such as confit garlic and goat’s curd on sourdough and country pâté with pickles. Always lively and lots of fun.

The Garden Museum Café is, as the name suggests, the museum cafe of Britain's only museum dedicated to the art, history and design of gardens. Naturally, the Dan Pearson Studio-designed terrace of the museum is a dazzling vision. Occupying both the courtyard and the glass extension of the museum is the cafe, headed by Myles Donaldson (previously at St. John Bread & Wine and the acclaimed Noble Rot). Here, the dishes served are an array of delectable delights. Grilled mullet, artichokes and Kalamata olives, asparagus topped with whipped ricotta and anchovies, to a terrine of pork, prune and pistachio - this is a lunch worth feasting on. 

This smart boozer from The Public House Group opened in October 2025. Above the Chiltern Street pub is a candle-lit dining room dishing up some of the best British classics in London. On the menu there are pork scratchings as well as plates of cauliflower cheese and kedgeree. Best of all is the atmosphere, this dining room feels like the place to be – book ahead. 

The Hemingway is a gastropub famous for its Beef Wellington and Scotched Eggs. If you are craving or willing to try the UK’s flavours, certainly visit this place. However, if you are around the neighbourhood and are looking for an authentic pub experience, don’t hesitate to walk in and try some of their beers and cocktails. 

There's a reason why Brits adore pubs as much as they do. Cosy, dimmed lighting, a crackling fire, wooden mahogany seating and a terrific atmosphere whether it's dawn or dusk. For your next craft ale, head to The Hero. It's classic English fare is anything but ordinary. 

This legendary restaurant serves up modern British classics at breakfast, lunch and dinner. As its quite the institution, it's great place for a spot of people-watching.
  

When Islington-favourite The Baring announced they were opening a sibling pub south of the river it was a bit of a coup for Camberwell. Joining stylish neighbours Lala Books and Theo’s pizzeria on Grove Lane, the team have found a clever spot for their plates of top-tier taramasalata, wild nettle malfatti and skewers of Cornish squid with lardo. A stripped-back smartened-up boozer that also serves an excellent Sunday roast.

Notting Hill is surprisingly short on standout hotels; and so when the Laslett arrived in 2015 it was the first boutique stay to really shake its tail feathers. Set across five Victorian mansions, it has antiques from stalls on Portobello and Golborne roads in the bedrooms and photographs by Barry Kamen on the walls. A space for those who want to feel like they live in a glossy part of London for a few days, which happens to be refreshingly affordable too.

Regularly touted as "the best pizza in London," Crisp, used to be served inside The Chancellors on Crisp Road in Hammersmith. There hadn’t been so much hype about a pizza place in London for a long, long time – and then the team joined forces with The Devonshire crew to dish up their pies inside a Mayfair pub. While elsewhere in the city it’s all about scorched sourdough, at Crisp the thin crust and crisp base are fully intentional. The best New York-style slices in town – book ahead.

The vibe here is explained by the fact that the brother-and-sister founders have a background in nightclubs. The music isn’t loud, but the place is always bustling, with a busy open kitchen dishing up flavours inspired by the fringes of the Mediterranean. Book a stool at the counter and kick dinner off with kubaneh, a pot-baked knotted Yemeni loaf served with silky tahini and tomato dips. Everything on the short menu is sensational – one of our favourite London restaurants since it opened in 2014.

Jeremy King knows how to bang out a perfect restaurant; he leaves a trail of London’s finest behind him: The Ivy, The Caprice, The Wolseley to name a few. The Park, a curved glass-fronted space running opposite the park calls itself a ‘New World Grand Café’ and is divided into three: a restaurant, a sparkling bar and an all-day café, all panelled in honey-toned wood. Its handsome deco feel threads its way through the design, the glassware, menus, gracious staircase and confident service. The menu consists of irresistible fuss-free classics from classic hotel-style breakfasts of eggs (many ways), house-made cereals and granolas, and bakery. Lunch and dinner are run as a single all-day menu, old school comfort foods including Escalope Milanese, Tagliatelle Bolognese and a fresh mushroom risotto with seasonal truffles. To nibble on, there’s Carpaccio, Shrimp cocktail and a gooey, stringy Grilled four cheese sandwich to die for. 

Georgie Pearman runs Cotswolds spot The Double Red Duke, so she has her winning pub-with-rooms formula down pat. The restaurant here is a destination in its own right, with a menu by chef Ben Tish of Sicilian-inspired Norma. Ladies lunching in a uniform of Bella Freud slogan cashmere huddle around tables on the garden terrace, while in the four bedrooms there are ticking-stripe headboards and Soane Britain wallpaper. A clever crashpad for those looking to live off Westbourne Grove for a night.

Chef Shaun Searley’s Quality Chop House is a temple to modern fine dining. The wooden benches are Grade-II listed, the meat comes from the best suppliers and the confit potatoes are giant chunks of perfection.