We've done the drinking for you, now read our full list of London's very best bars and pubs divided up by area
Looking for a tipple in London town? Browse our list of the very best bars and pubs London has to offer. We've divided them up by area for your ease, so head north, south, east, west or stick with central London for impressive local boozers, lively cocktail bars, pubs for a cool craft beer or sophisticated wine bars. You'll find them all and so much more below. Happy drinking!
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Everything is of extraordinarily high quality, and the minute setting offers the rare luxury of peace and quiet in central Soho
Cocktails are often served in unusual glassware (and ceramicware) with wacky garnishes, candy floss or noodles among them
Even if you can only stretch to a single drink, it’s worth it: count out every last penny and treat yourself
Dukes is one of London’s true classic bars, and justly famous for the theatrical presentation of martinis
Cocktails are consistently outstanding, making choosing what to order an almost impossible task
The range of ciders and ales on offer here is outstanding and the prices are blissfully low, both of which have helped to cement the Harp's reputation as a destination for true ale-ficienados
This Farringdon bar has the sort of look many pubs invest a lot of time, effort and money into imitating, but the Jerusalem looks the perfect part
The Lamb & Flag is just about as perfect a pub as you’ll find in the West End
One of central London’s best places for drinking proper cocktails in clubby but unstuffy surroundings
Seriously knowledgeable bar staff make sure cocktails are punchy, exciting and altogether sensational
Old Louise is truly, incredibly, spectacularly ornate: a warren of Victorian frosted-glass booths
It's usually cosy and blissfully music-free, apart from the odd hipster-trad jazz session around the old walnut upright piano
Shochu, the traditional Japanese spirit, takes centre stage in this unique basement bar
Everyone should pay at least one visit to this venerable Fleet Street landmark
Nowadays, almost every new pub tries to sell itself on a ‘craft beer’ offer, but not all manage it on this scale - there are 11 on keg, five or six on cask, plus a couple of quality ciders
This warm and welcoming former gatehouse offers more than 15 still and sparkling ciders on draught and straight from the keg
The sheer number of brews on offer here is enough to make beer fans go weak at the knees before they’ve even got a glass in their hand
Try a bellini made not with peach purée but with celeriac purée; or a ‘Greco-Roman wine’, infused with the likes of smoked paprika cordial
The house drinks all come with a bespoke food accompaniment, a classy touch, and their prices reflect that
The cocktail list is not extensive but there’s something for every taste, and the drinks are made to a very high standard
The cocktails, served by impeccably pleasant staff, are strong, well-balanced and classy
This backstreet boozer dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, and you can feel the history in the weathered wood of the joyously unmodernised main bar
The residents of these quiet terraces have taken the Prince to heart: it’s busy most nights
Apart from its architecture, the main reason for a trip to the Salisbury is for a peaceful pint with extensive elbow room
The sign outside announces ‘ale, cider, meat’, and that pretty much sums up what’s on offer at the best pub in Gospel Oak
Visit and remind yourself that in a city full of institutions, the London pub is perhaps the best one we’ve got
The Carpenter’s Arms was once under the rule of East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray (and apparently run by their old mum)
The sizeable Cat & Mutton sits proudly at the helm of Hackney's Broadway Market, and has been welcoming its costermongers and consumers for 300 years
The beer, being visibly brewed on site, is varied and tasty, with a good selection of international craft ales on hand to boot
Incredible cocktails, and, in our experience, dazzlingly wonderful service
The perfect update of a local community boozer: its clientele reflect all shades of local life
A gorgeous, low-lit room with comfortable seating, smooth table service and a long, playful cocktail list
Despite its location at the epicentre of the Shoreditch party scene and its association with hipster bible Vice (which bought the place in 2004), the Old Blue Last does a remarkable job of defying preconceptions
The Palm Tree provides a Cockney experience more intense than Danny Dyer pulling pints at the Queen Vic
The Prospect seems hardly to have changed since the days of dock workers and deckhands
We like the Queen’s Arms: it’s just the right balance between posh and prosaic
Sager & Wilde's main selling point – its wines – are served at a reasonable price by the bottle or glass
Some of the best cocktails to be found in Bethnal Green’s burgeoning booze scene
Live music is the Sebright’s biggest draw, with gigs on almost every night in the louche basement
The Spurstowe never tries too hard to impress – which of course just wouldn’t wash in this trendy part of town
Comparing White Lyan to your local boozer is like comparing Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck to a greasy spoon
Even when the drinks sound a little wacky, they have a tendency to taste great
Think ‘1950s village hall’: it’s full of gorgeous wood panelling, stained glass windows, church pews and criss-crossing floral fabric bunting
There’s free live music (of varying quality, which is all part of the fun) Monday to Thursday, and on Friday and Saturday nights, the Bedford plays host to brilliantly intimate comedy night Banana Cabaret
One of the best beer and ale pubs in London, which makes its incongruous location on an otherwise unloved section of Brixton Road even more incredible
Three floors of bow-fronted Georgian magic, with the top-level room in particular giving fantastic Thames views both up- and downstream
The endlessly rotating list of guest ales means you’re unlikely to find a beer lover who can’t find something new to relish each week
It welcomes locals of all ages for a mates-rates pint of locally brewed ale, carefully sourced pub food and events ranging from live music to yoga classes, knitting circles and kids’ dance lessons
The real draw is Happy Hour: from Tuesday to Saturday, 5-8pm, and all day on Sunday, cocktails cost around £6
Of all the Thamesside pubs, this one is the most special, the most atmospheric, the most tucked-away
If you asked your granddad to design a pub this is probably exactly what he’d come up with, and we mean that in the best possible way
Perfectly treading the line between old man boozer and cutesy retro watering hole, this Victorian corner pub’s a lovely blend of the scruffy and the pretty
It remains one of the only places for miles around where you can sup on dozens of carefully crafted beers
On long summer days, the beer garden beckons: soak up some rays and some delicious English cider
The cellar and fridges are filled with an almost absurdly generous range of the finest brews from London, Britain and beyond
A refurbished boozer that takes its place among the city’s best riverside pubs
A classic duck-your-head heritage pub experience, but most drinkers come here to sit in the vine-entangled conservatory or the riverside terrace
The G&D is pouring beers made on the premises, possibly for the first time in centuries
A little slice of nineteenth-century London tucked away among the imposing mansions and canals around Warwick Avenue
The rum selection is enormous, and you could spend weeks here without getting through it all
Glasses start from a few quid a pop, with bottles from just under £20 – and there are plenty in the blow-out category
Chesterfield-style sofas surround huge tables, ideal for families and groups of friends, though the umbrella-covered outdoor tables are most coveted from spring on
The Windsor Castle is clad in aged wood the brown of Princess Anne’s saddle; still intact are decorative wooden screens installed by the Victorians to separate the sexes while they got sloshed
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