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The Telegraph has just named the very best pubs in each of the UK’s 48 counties - and the ones the newspaper picked for Greater London and the City of London aren’t to be sniffed at.
The Blythe Hill Tavern – which also made Time Out’s recent list of the 50 best pubs in London – was named the best pub in Greater London. The Irish pub in Catford was praised for ‘hit(ting) the spot when it comes to the key pub virtues: welcoming to all, excellent beer, plenty of cosy spots, and a large back garden’. We love this south London pub too, putting it at the number three spot in our list.
The second London pub named in the Telegraph’s ranking was The Cockpit in the City of London. ‘It’s remarkable that a pub as unaffected as The Cockpit can survive amidst the City of London’s recent blandification, but survive it does,’ the newspaper wrote. The Grade II-listed Cockpit can be found halfway between Blackfriars and St Paul’s and the current building dates to 1865. Again, we can’t argue with their choice; it’s a friendly, locals pub of the type you wouldn’t really think existed in London’s every so slightly soulless financial district.
There has been a pub on this site since the 16th century, back when William Shakespeare lived in a house around the corner. There’s a viewing gallery at the top of the venue (purely ornamental, however), a throwback to the time when cockfighting took place on the site, before being banned in the late 1840s.
You can find a list of all the Telegraph’s best pubs in England here.
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