Clerkenwell pubs

A very fun, very boozy oasis of conviviality and good taste. With lots of tables (including some very iconic barrels), nice outside space and breezily efficient staff, you’re seldom waiting long for a drink or a place to sit. If this was near your house, you’d pop in every day.

Widely credited with launching the food-in-pubs revolution when it opened in 1991, The Eagle even has a section on its website dedicated to its ‘alumni’ chefs. And in its present form, the pub is still committed to serving up sterling plates, posting a daily menu on its Instagram account for those who are still loyal to the gastropub nearly 30 years on.

A long-term fixture on Exmouth Market’s pretty, pedestrianised stretch, The Exmouth Arms has been a hop haven for much longer than the craft beer craze has been rolling on. It’s busy inside and out, with punters having to fight for a seat on one of the picnic benches that face the market stretch. Snacks include sliders or larger plates of fish and chips and the like.

The Old Red Cow spans two floors, and both are doing their bit for the craft beer cause. Each floor has its own bar serving a fine selection of beers – look out for The Old Red Cow pilsner, along with a good selection from the brewery of the month. Unsurprisingly, given its location beside Smithfield market, the food menu leans heavily on meat.

This pub’s launch in 2011 was a symbol of the ‘craft beer revolution’ kicking up a gear. Since then, Craft Beer Company have spawned several more sites around London and further afield. The original remains a charming boozer, with stained-glass windows, a sparkling chandelier and pretty hanging flower baskets outside. Work your way through a lip-smacking range of beers from the cutting edge of brewing.

Even though it’s a Young’s pub with a boutique hotel attached, enough has been done to keep the Fox & Anchor real, with many original Victorian fixtures still in place – from dark wood partitions, to etched glass and mosaic tiling. In keeping with the trad vibes, find a menu of steaks and pies, plus wine aplenty to wash it all down.

The Green is an attractively airy gastropub just off Clerkenwell Green, owned and operated by the folks behind Aldgate East’s Culpeper. It dishes up the kind of hearty, fad-free seasonal cooking that dominates conversations. Sunday roasts are to die for, so you’ll want to book ahead. Locally brewed beers are championed by the pub, as well as natural wine sourced from further afield.

The Hat & Tun is a part of the ETM group, whose family of gastropubs and restaurants includes the Botanist in Sloane Square and the nearby Jugged Hare. This particular branch is about real ale and honest pub grub – we’re talking fish cakes, toad in the hole and ham hock with pease pudding. Oh, and shuffleboard – the old-school game can be played in the pub.

The Holy Tavern is a pretty-much perfect pub, a Farringdon bar with the sort of look many places invest a lot of time, effort and money into imitating. It has wooden floors, an ornate, tiled fireplace and a cute platform where you can sit overlooking the bar and pretend you’re a beer giant among men. The range of ales is from St Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk and staff will happily offer tasters.

It’s an eccentric pub, this one – the royal trio of the name turns out to be Elvis, Henry VIII and King Kong. And decorations include a fibreglass rhino head, autographed baseball photographs and a plaster of Paris Egyptian dog. Pints of decent ale and generous glasses of wine go down a storm with the after-work crowd, who either crowd the pavement in summer or vie for a space near the fire in colder months.

This low-ceilinged inn dates back to 1546 and backs on to the courtyard in which Queen Elizabeth I is once said to have danced. It consists of a cramped, three-room bar space fronted by an enclosed courtyard with stand-up tables, all accessed by alleyways from two separate streets. City types and admiring tourists flock in for pints and pork pies.