It’s bizarre to think, now, that the area around King’s Cross was once at worst a no-go-zone and at best a mere passing-through place. Thanks to the world-class Coal Drops Yard shopping district, the free open-air cinema Everyman Screen on the Canal and cute fountains that kids love running through in the summer, Granary Square has become a perfect place for a day out rather than somewhere to escape from. This is exactly the kind of place you’d expect to find the Lighterman, a classy gastropub that offers everything from cocktails to ice-cold IPAs and particularly bougie bottles of wine from the cellar. Food-wise, it’s the kind of place where fish and chips come with peas that are not simply mushy but crushed. We’ve come a long way, baby.
Find your next favourite read
As you’re taking a stroll along Regent’s Canal, which the Lighterman’s pub garden looks onto, you’ll stumble across Word on the Water, a bookshop that also happens to be a barge. Sure!
Order this
The Lighterman prides itself on cocktails, with temporary additions to the menu created for special occasions (there was a Black Margarita for Halloween, for instance). As if we needed an excuse!
RECOMMENDED: The best cocktail bars in London.