Take Five: perfect London beer gardens to visit this summer

If bog-standard pub gardens just don’t do it for you, Boxpark will hit the spot. Boxpark has it all. It’s for perching on shipping containers and sipping on a cold pint. It’s for your let’s-see-where-the-night-take-us evenings in Shoreditch. Boxpark is a bar garden where you really feel like you’re in the thick of it all. While you’re there, check out one of its excellent street food vendors. There’s even actual shops, so you can accidentally spend too much at Nike on your way out and leave the bag at the club later. 

Time Out tip: Order Black Bear’s House Burger, featuring two smashed patties, oozy cheese, garlic mayo and sweet onion jam. Unreal. 

Locals are still furious that their best-kept secret got out, but don’t let that stop you. It got out for a reason, and the Faltering Fullback has retained its local charm even in its soaring popularity. The Fullback’s iconic garden is a must-visit on a hot day, and the earlier the better, as this place fills up fast. The garden out back seemingly never ends, with winding stairs, decked-out levels, cosy cubby holes, and even a water feature or two. It has a great selection of pints, and it’s also a top place to watch the football. 

Time Out tip: Like any good Irish pub, the Faltering Fallback serves Thai food. So grab yourself a beef massaman curry with your pint, obviously. 

If the Faltering Fallback is your quirky local, the Faber Fox is its slightly more grown-up south London sister. Its garden is decked out beautifully with cute tables and chairs that actually match, overlooking London’s skyscrapers, and calls for an ice cold rosé on a boiling hot day. This pub, the fifth offering from the Livelyhood group, has an awful lot going on – it’s most famous for showing the footy and for its Sunday roasts. They’re also so dog friendly that they have a whole dog menu, including an – *ahem* – beer for your two-legged friend.

Slap bang in the middle of the route from the buzzing Broadway Market to Hackney Central, Pub on the Park is basically always a vibe for a summer’s day. Their outdoor terrace is right on London Fields (clue is in the name there, we know), and they get a great selection of DJs in after dusk, so the party goes on all night. Their food is also banging, from hot dogs to mac-n-cheese balls, it’s everything your tipsy heart wants after a long day of, well, eating and drinking. 

Time Out tip: Order the veggie nachos with spicy queso, melted jack cheese, pico, guac, jalapenos and sour cream, and don’t share. 

What is it about seeing the London skyline that makes you want to neck a tequila shot? As soon as the sun comes out, you can almost hear the whispers from Londoners from the trees. ‘Rooftop bar?’ they say. And Bussey Building’s top-story drinking spot is known to be one of the best in the business. (That’s even alongside the stiff competition in the area, like the oh-so-instagrammable Frank’s Café.) Bussey’s summery cocktail list (most for under a tenner) is perfectly backlit with its punchy disco tunes, and there’s a ton of classic street food for when the drinks are hitting just a little too hard come 5pm. 

Time Out tip: Order Bussey’s classic Hit the Roof cocktail: Koko Kanu rum, pineapple juice, lemon juice and ginger beer, topped off with a slice of fresh pineapple.