Best Pubs to Visit in London
From the riverside Dove to the Michelin-starred Harwood Arms, here are the best pubs to visit in London, chosen by the local guides who know them best.
Best Pubs in Soho London
Soho is seen as the beating heart of the West End in London. It’s a place where you can find theaters, historic pubs and just a vibrant nightlife, overall. It’s a very good idea to check it out, and you can enjoy some amazing pubs in here as well.
Soho has been the West End’s liveliest corner for a long time — theatres, music, and more pubs per square foot than anywhere else in London. Some are old, some are new, and several have a serious literary or musical past. Here are the ones we keep going back to.
The French House
The French House, once the York Minster, is a Soho institution. No TVs, no music, and beer in halves only — a house rule from the war years, when it served the Free French. Regulars have included Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Dylan Thomas. There is a small dining room upstairs, and the food is rather good.
The Coach and Horses
The Coach and Horses is famous for its looks, and rightly. It is now a Fuller’s house, but it keeps the Soho character: walls covered in Private Eye cartoons, cloudy windows, lampshades held together by willpower. There are craft beers and classic cask ales, and the service is part of the show.
Dog and Duck
The Dog and Duck is a Victorian set-piece — mosaics, glazed tiles, mirrors — fitted out in 1897 and named after the duck-hunting grounds that once lay nearby. George Orwell was a regular, and the pub appears in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
It is small, and it is almost always full, so go at an odd hour if you want a seat. The cask ales are well kept and the pies are proper. The room itself is the main attraction: every surface is worth a look.
Admiral Duncan
The Admiral Duncan has stood here since the 19th century and survived more than most pubs. It was bombed in 1999, an attack on the pub’s gay clientele; the pub reopened, and it is busier than ever. Expect drag, cabaret, cheap pints and a crowd that knows how to enjoy itself.
The Ship
The Ship has a serious rock pedigree — the Sex Pistols played some of their earliest gigs here, and it has a link to the film Last Night in Soho. Even without the history it would be worth a visit: good food, a proper jukebox, and a playlist that stays on the right side of loud.
Argyll Arms
The Argyll Arms has been serving since the late 1800s, and it shows off: etched glass, mahogany partitions, the full Victorian treatment. It sits right by Oxford Circus, so it is touristy — but the tourists are not wrong. The cask ale is well kept and the room is worth the detour.
John Snow
The John Snow is named for the doctor who traced a cholera outbreak to the water pump on nearby Broad Street — and then had the handle removed. The pub is small, wood-panelled and friendly, with reasonably priced pints. You can still see the pump nearby.
Sun & Thirteen Cantons
The Sun and Thirteen Cantons is one of the smaller, calmer Soho rooms — a basement for private hire, a proper buzz at the bar, and a better selection of drinks than the size of the place suggests. The name recalls the thirteen cana great deal of old Switzerland, which tells you how long it has been here.
Compa great deal of Soho
Compa great deal of Soho has been a gay pub for decades — it was known as the Old Dame, and the name stuck for good reason. Two floors, a DJ, sports screens, and a welcome that is genuinely friendly. One of the most reliable nights out in Soho.
The Blue Posts
The Blue Posts is an old Soho favourite: a handsome historic room with a wine lounge upstairs, decent ale downstairs and a crowd that has been coming for years. It looks like a pub should look, and it behaves like one too.
Other notable options
A few more worth knowing. The Duke of Wellington does cheap ale and has a pool table. The Lyric is tiny and does very good beer. The Old Coffee House is strong on craft. De Hems is a Dutch pub with a fine line in Benelux beers. And the Toucan is covered, floor to ceiling, in toucans — and pours a serious Guinness.
Conclusion
Soho has more pubs than most people can get through in a weekend, and almost all of them are worth your time. The ones above are the ones we return to: good beer, real history, and rooms that have seen things. Many are old enough to have their own stories — and the interiors alone are worth the visit. Curious what a pint costs here? We have a guide to the cost of a pint in London.
Visit these pubs with a local
Want to see Soho’s best pubs with someone who knows the stories behind them? Our London Pub & Historic Tavern Tour covers the area’s finest historic pubs, or pair it with the Pub Food Tour for the full experience.
Read on
The Best Historic Pubs in London: A Local Guide to 500 Years of Taverns
London is home to some of the oldest pubs in the world. A local guide’s pick of the most historic pubs in London, and the stories that make them worth a visit.
Cost of a beer in the UK
If you go to the UK as a tourist, it’s a good idea to try out some of the local beers. As we know, the pint is not just a drink in the UK.
A Short history of Pubs
For many people, the word pub is synonymous with the UK. And that’s for a very good reason, because taverns and pubs have been active here for centuries on end.
