The best beer gardens in London

Whatever you do, do NOT just pop in here for ‘a quick pint’ – this forward-thinking destination takes its beer seriously, with an on-site micro-brewery producing cask-conditioned ‘People’s Pints’, and a taproom serving around 70 world beers that are just asking for you to try them all. The hacienda-style garden backs on to Victoria Park. It’s like drinking in the park, but without having to periodically wander around looking for a loo.

This popular Brixton boozer has a whopper of a beer garden, which is properly massive. You'd never know it as you approach the pub from the street, but it's always a pleasant surprise to find such sprawling outdoor space attached to a comparatively pokey pub. 

Halfway between Upper Street and the Caledonian Road, this Georgian boozer has an olde-worlde English charm entirely in keeping with its name. It’s far enough from the main thoroughfares to ensure there’s barely a whisper of traffic noise to be heard in its walled beer garden, with its trees and colourful flowers. You can also find barbecues in the garden in summer.

An excellent pub, with a majestic beer garden to match. This spot on the fringes of Stokey and Dalston is huge, with covered seating and a lovely mural that depicts people milling about a picturesque park. Fittingly, there are enough uncovered benches for an entire squadron.

The Crown & Greyhound – a venerable pile of a pub in Dulwich Village, and ‘The Dog’ to locals – offers a massive, leafy garden. It makes for a great place to sit in the shade with one of the pub’s alternatives to mainstream beers and ales – like Meantime, Camden and Sharp’s – or a posh G&T.

Popular with large groups (especially rugby fans), this historic riverside pub has a huge decked garden with five heated booths, a covered area, a dedicated outdoor bar, and an all-day gourmet barbecue at weekends. If the weather thwarts the alfresco fun, compromise with a table in the large, glass-roofed garden room, which offers views over the Thames without gusty breezes or sudden showers.

Stroll down a quiet back road in Hackney, and you’ll be delighted to come across this handsome pub. Its exterior is like something on a postcard from the countryside – all light lilac frontage and classic lampposts. While winter months are about hunkering down by one of two log burners, the walled garden at the rear comes into its own whenever a heatwave hits. Hungry punters can order in from nearby Yard Sale pizza, but it’s mostly the local drinks that interest customers, with an ever-changing range of six beers, two ales and one cider. As the bar staff say, ‘You won’t find any Stella here.’

While there are definitely bigger beer gardens to be found in the capital, the outdoor space at this well-loved, ivy-covered Finny P local is certainly one of the cleverest. Faced with the difficulty of only having a small yard, the owners built upwards, not out – creating a tiered village from decking, with room on the various split levels for several tables. It’s an early-afternoon suntrap of the best kind.

A regular haunt of former local resident George Orwell, this was one of three pubs to provide him with inspiration for ‘The Moon Under Water’, an essay on the criteria for the perfect London watering hole. In the walled garden, you can lounge on a designer rattan sofa while sipping a chilled draft beer from the outdoor bar, which also serves cold bottled beers plus a handful of wines and spirits. 

The Castle has been home to a public house since 1832, although its current decor is a world away from the nineteenth century. Its attractive garden (formerly a car park) has various draws, including cabana-style castle huts (some with built-in drinks fridges and fires), and on-demand heating on the terrace – it’s definitely the best feature of this pub. The menu offers the usual serviceable pub grub.

On a summer’s day, head to the walled garden of this craft beer pub, with its hops-filled plant pots, colourful bunting, hodge-podge of picnic tables, and friendly vibe. The regularly changing line-up of craft offerings will get your inner beer nerd going, with nearly a dozen on keg, five or six on cask, plus a couple of quality ciders. The menu does a good line in pimped pub-grub classics, each with a beer-pairing suggestion. You’ll sometimes find a barbecue here, too – but not on Sundays, when the hugely popular roast takes centre stage.

Tucked away off the high street, The Beehive is a proud beacon of the local Tottenham community and its beer garden is a treat. Popular on Spurs game days due to big screen tellys showing the match, it's also worth a visit on a more sedate sunny afternoon where you can sip away under blue skies and find a pocket of peace. 

Despite all of Clapton’s changes, the Crooked Billet remains a place for all E5-ers to enjoy. When the mercury rises, its massive garden becomes a big, boozy playground complete with beach-hut booths for groups, a ping-pong table and loads of plants and deckchairs for that Clapton-on-Sea feel. Grab a locally brewed beer, slap on a ‘kiss me quick’ hat and reveal your knobbly Hacknees.

This pub is part of the Electric Star chain (Star of Bethnal Green, Star of Kings, Star by Hackney Downs, Heathcote & Star), so you know it’s party-ready. The beer garden is the best bit, with its series of wooden booths complete with heating lamps. There’s a serviceable range of beers and ales on tap from the likes of Camden Town and Signature. Grub comes from residents Fireyard BBQ, who specialise in down-and-dirty bar food and burgers – ideal when a daytime session runs through to the night. 

This boozer on the former site of the beloved Jan’s Belgian beer bar has been well-received by locals and beer nerds alike. But it also helps that the pub boasts a snug, bedecked beer and smoking yard, too. Hole up here with a pint from one of many taps or a stand-out G&T, or for a breather after one of the many lavish dishes on an impressive gastropub menu.

This smartened-up boozer attracts an aspirational clientele yet still manages to feel like a good old-fashioned pub. In summer, the best place from which to enjoy its offerings is the small, fenced beer garden out front. Bad weather? Out comes the ‘jumbrella’, a square parasol that covers half the garden. Rain or shine, you can sustain yourself here with well-priced ales; a brief but thoughtful wine list; and good, fairly priced British food that ranges from carefully sourced gastropub mains (think fish pie with curly kale, or beef stew with horseradish mash) to bar snacks including own-made sausage rolls and Scotch eggs of epic proportions.

This pub on the fringes of Ravenscourt Park is one of London’s great escapes – the wine list is well chosen, the interiors are luxurious, and the grub is reliably good. The star, however, is the back garden – a vast, open-plan lawn dotted with beanbags, beach huts, bunting and bright colours, plus deckchairs for summer lounging, swing chairs for sunset-watching couples, and tables for dinners with friends. Not to mention the Ibiza-style lounge terrace. At weekends on warm days, the alfresco bar keeps everyone’s thirst quenched, while a barbecue usually smolders to keep hunger at bay. 

This back-street Greenwich boozer is far enough away from the Cutty Sark, park and river to mean it’s mostly well-heeled locals propping up the bar. Out the back is a spectacular garden, a contender for the best in the city. There’s decking on multiple levels, tables, trees and lighting; high walls shield the grassy expanse from the surrounding streets but allow plenty of sunlight in to nourish the verdant borders. A cracking place for an alfresco drink.

Not far from Sydenham rail station, The Dolphin is a strikingly refurbished 1930s mock-Tudor building with a surprising alfresco trump card. The spacious, grassy, manicured garden's gravel paths lead to hedged circles that orbit a pretty, central water feature. Unusually for south London beer gardens, there’s no play area out here, and an adult-friendly policy that means only well-behaved, bums-on-seats kinds of kids are tolerated.

Battersea’s Magic Garden surely wins the prize for the quirkiest beer garden in London: its alfresco space has a hippy faux-festival vibe, with an enormous tent-like tarpaulin sheltering a mish-mash of squishy sofas and upright thrones (with blankets and hot water bottles in lieu of heavy-duty heaters); a fairy-lit patio area with an outdoor bar; and even a taxi that’s been given a flower-power makeover. Cocktails and bar snacks are the way to go if you want to fit in with the locals, though there is a tempting Modern European menu. Don’t let it distract you from The Magic Garden’s raison d’etre: almost nightly live music sessions that provide a good ol' knees up. 

This Hampstead Heath stunner is a fixture on the ‘best’ lists of anything relating to pubs – it’s got something for everyone: an idyllic location, a ghost-filled back story, and even a dog wash for post-Heath pooches. In winter, there are roaring fires and creakingly romantic nooks; in summer, it’s all about the gorgeous 400-seater garden, with its raised terraces, greenery-covered walls, and open-sided, fairy-lit huts (heated on cold days). On the taps are real ales from the likes of Purity Brewing Co and Sharp’s; there’s also an outside bar serving jugs of Pimm’s. To eat, head for the barbie, which gets fired up when ‘flip-flop weather’ comes around. 

A sun-trap riverside terrace is across the road from the pub, where the Thames laps at the slipways either side of you, and views of boaters and weeping willows stretch both ways. There's a gas-fired barbecue on sunny weekends, and to drink, choose from beery output from south west London brewers and Hazy Hog cider on draught. If it gets chilly, step back inside, where you'll find entertainment ranging from live music to quiz nights.

Why settle for one when you can have three? The Avalon’s alfresco options comprise lively front and side terraces and a massive garden at the rear – it’s beautifully landscaped, full of Balham families on sunny days, and also boasts a dedicated bar and kitchen that serve up summer cocktails and Josper-grilled meats. Heated areas, secluded booths, and plentiful greenery (including a beautiful living wall) clinch the deal. 

This big, stately lump of a pub dominates the north end of Wandsworth’s Trinity Road. The beer garden is a peaceful spot with deckchairs, faux turf, big leafy planters offering privacy and shade, and outdoor heaters and parasols for Britain’s will-it-won’t-it weather. There’s also a dedicated summer barbecue station outside to complement the menu of bar snacks and gastropub nosh. Not hungry? Try one of half a dozen on-tap ales and guest handpulls, or a glass of bubbly.

There’s a lot going on at The Gunmakers, a multi-purpose pub that comes with its own hair salon. Don’t let it all distract you from a lovely garden hidden at the back, decorated with fairy lights, lanterns and hanging foliage. It’s a great place to steal a seat and savour canned cocktails, including a zingy watermelon and cucumber sangria. Given the location, expect this beer garden to be rocking come clocking off time midweek.

Located just opposite leafy Brockwell Park and its gorgeous lido, this stylishly refurbished local has to offer a better-than-average outdoor space, otherwise no one would bother coming in summer. In fact, it’s the opposite: this locals’ local is permanently rammed all year round, so booking is a must, especially on Sundays. The rear patio has a dedicated bar, free-standing heaters, and hosts weekend barbecues in the summer. 

The rather small interior of this lively Camden institution gives way to an outdoor area that can cram in 300 sun-worshippers, with high walls and an array of foliage giving it a real garden feel, despite its position between a busy road and a railway line. If the weather’s dreary, grab one of the cosy side tables with their heaters, or shelter under the convenient mini-marquee and admire the fairy lights. The garden can get rammed with Regent’s Park-goers and cool Camden types when the sun shines thanks to its outdoor bar and regular barbecues or hog roasts.

Yes, this 500-year-old pub has a darkly wooded interior (complete with original flagstone floors and pewter-topped bar), but it also boasts a paved beer garden with views of the Thames, plus a small first-floor terrace that’s open to the bracing breezes. It’s not just the range of cask ales or waterside drinking opportunities that are a draw here – it’s also a pub steeped in history, with everyone from pirates and East End criminals to luvvies and minor royalty having propped up its bar over the years. Join them and you’ll see why this place is hard to beat on a warm, sunny day.

This big Victorian boozer, sat on a quiet stretch of riverbank between Hammersmith and Putney bridges, was gastrofied a couple of years back. On a sunny day, locals can be found in their droves enjoying some of the nicest waterside drinking London has to offer – a gigantic beer garden with stylish decking and shrubbery (the seats under the weeping willow are particularly lovely). 

Behind the wide front terrace, the layout of this age-old pub may be a little confusing at first, but The Leather Bottle is worthy of exploration. Especially once you stumble upon its extensive beer garden – a golden find in summer – which features cabins and beach-style huts to help you maximise on the summer holiday feeling. This is how to do a beer garden in style. 

In chillier weather, this spacious Stokey boozer should appeal to fans of Trivial Pursuit’s orange wedge (that’s ‘sport and leisure’, in case you’d forgotten), given that it offers everything from football on the telly to old-school pinball machines and a large pool table. From May though, and throughout the summer months, the garden becomes the space for leisure, with two tiers (one patio, one lawned) offering loads of space for locals to relax and refresh. The outdoor bar serves bottled beer, wines and cocktails, while the bar menu of sharing plates large and small (plus poshed-up pub staples) is also available alfresco.

The Rosendale truly makes the most of its outdoor offering. As well as a few umbrella-covered tables out the front, there's a secluded, covered side garden complete with a boules pitch, table tennis and table football, and a larger space at the back with a fully equipped children's play area. Table service is another bonus – choose restaurant-quality pub food from the menu, or homemade artisan pizzas. Take a seat, order a cold pint of the house summer pale ale, and soak up the oh-so-fleeting summer sunshine.

Sack off the laidback interior at Crystal Palace’s Faber Fox in favour of expansive views from the pub’s rear, tiered beer garden (try saying that three times fast after a few pints). It comes colourfully kitted-out and offers sweltering views towards the capital’s skyscrapers given Palace’s elevated vantage point over the rest of London. Back inside, the bar is lengthy enough to deal with demand for refreshment from all and sundry come London’s next heatwave.

The Stag attracts a young, laidback crowd, drawn to the wide selection of decent ales (two dozen on tap, with four cask options) and spacious, leafy rear garden. Said garden boasts outdoor heaters and covered areas, plus table service throughout, so you don't have to waste precious drinking and chilling time in a queue. Ibiza-esque private cabanas around the periphery of the garden (bookable in advance) further enhance the holiday vibe.

This buzzing boozer close to London Fields station really draws the crowds in summer. Most of that’s down to a spacious outdoor terrace snaking around two sides of the roomy pub, with the green of London Fields itself within pint-tossing distance. DJs keep it busy when night falls. Projector screens outside and decent-size TVs inside show the big sports events, with numerous games shown when the need arises. There's a solid selection of ales on pull pump, with regularly changing drops from brewers such as Darkstar, Caledonian, Sambrook's, Redemption and Five Points Brewing Co.