The Top 24 Places to Drink Near Island Bar
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Hand-painted walls and an enormous rum selection do their best to conjure a Thai beach shack, which is an ambitious brief for a spot off a main road in central Birmingham. Island is a cocktail bar where the menu is organized by base spirit, running from a Piña Colada through to a Boston Sour. The vibe is deliberately groovy and unhurried, which helps you settle in while you decide whether to commit to the rum.
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Rank 2. The Sportsman
Modern British Pub
A whitewashed pub on a windswept sea wall in Kent, where the chef makes his own salt by boiling seawater from the beach out back. The slip sole grilled in seaweed butter has become quietly famous, which the chef hates, because he doesn't believe in signature dishes. A Michelin-starred gastropub that somehow stays a proper pub, with locals nursing pints alongside pilgrims who've driven two hours for the tasting menu and pretend they haven't.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Top 50 Gastropubs 2026 · #26 · Top 50 Gastropubs
- National Restaurant Awards 2026 · #58 · The National Restaurant Awards
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Rank 3. Fordwich Arms
Modern British Pub
Fordwich sits in a claim to fame as England's smallest town, and this ivy-clad Arts and Crafts pub beside the River Stour punches well above its postcode. A wood-topped bar and open fires give way to a panelled dining room where the cooking is modern and occasionally playful without letting cleverness override flavour. The kitchen leans hard on Kentish producers. It holds a Michelin star.
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A gastropub in a Kentish village with eight bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen that takes the local-seasonal brief seriously. The crab and smoked eel crumpet is the kind of opening move that sets the tone, and the menu moves confidently from there. Eight rooms mean overnight guests fill tables without anyone rushing them out. Ranked twelfth on the Top 50 Gastropubs list, which is the sort of company that draws a knowing crowd down Canterbury Road.
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The white weatherboarded facade is hard to miss on the village green, and the low salvaged beams inside make it feel like the pub has been standing forever, because it more or less has. The Hoop is a proper Essex country gastropub: real fires, friendly but not sloppy service, and daily menus that lean French and Italian while keeping toad-in-the-hole firmly on the card. Wash it down with a local ale and nobody will judge you.
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Rank 6. The Bucks Head
British Pub
A Kentish country gastropub where the steak list leans on Ightham beef, with côte de boeuf cuts cooked for sharing, and the bar snacks include a venison and nduja Scotch egg that has no business being that good. The menu runs from battered fish and chips to roasted chalk stream trout, all of it grounded firmly in the surrounding countryside. It landed on the Top 50 Gastropubs list, which tracks for a place that manages to feel genuinely local rather than aspirationally rural.
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Rank 7. Kentish Hare
Modern British Pub
A converted village pub in the Kent countryside, roughly split between bar and dining room so it never quite forgets what it is. The kitchen leans into seasonal produce from Kent and the West Country, mixing both in a way that reads as modern British without being precious about the label. The garden out back fills up when the weather agrees, and the crowd skews local and commuter, which is exactly what the place was built for.
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Rank 8. The Fox Pub & Dining Keston
British Pub
A plush green and gold interior, walled prints, and a fire in the waiting area make it clear this Keston village pub took its refurbishment seriously. The Fox is a full pub and dining room, running from bar snacks with dogs welcome at your feet through to a kitchen that leans on seasonal, local produce for its menu of British classics with the occasional ecurious detour. The Great British Pub Awards named it Stonegate Group Pub Partners Pub of the Year in 2025.
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Rank 9. Perry Hill Pub
British Pub
A giant bowl of free dog treats greets you at the door, which tells you almost everything about this big, restored south London pub sitting between Catford and Sydenham. There's a kids' corner in the dining room, an adults-only terrace for anyone brave enough to call it date night, and a calendar of events so packed it makes community centres look idle. It won Best Pub for Families at the Great British Pub Awards in 2025.
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Rank 10. The Dog and Pickle
Seafood Pub
Oysters three ways (natural, Rockefeller, tempura) sets the tone early: this is a seafood-leaning gastropub in a quiet Essex village that takes its cooking more seriously than the postcode might suggest. The wood fire runs through much of the menu, from dry-aged beef to Scottish scallops, though beer-battered fish and chips holds its ground alongside the lobster bouillabaisse. The pear tarte tatin with gorgonzola ice cream suggests a kitchen that enjoys keeping you slightly off balance.
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Rank 11. SOMA Canary Wharf
Indian
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The blood-red leather chairs and black marble fireplace make it clear this is not a bar you stumble into. Le Salon Bar sits on the third floor of Joel Robuchon's London restaurant, reached by an escorted lift ride that does set a tone. The Art Deco room is operatically good-looking, all alligator leather tables and studied drama. Order something with ambition and don't check your phone too obviously.
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Rank 13. Union Street Cafe
Cocktail Bar
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Rank 14. Wahaca Terrace
Mexican
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Rank 15. One Canada Square
Cocktail Bar
The bar sits at the base of the Canary Wharf tower, tucked behind head-height dividers that carve out something warm and human from an otherwise very serious corporate lobby. A mezzanine bar upstairs has a quieter, more private feel and tends to get booked for events. Cocktails are the reason to pull up a stool, and the after-work crowd in good suits fills the place fast on weekdays.
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A Spanish bar tucked below Westferry Circus where the bank-to-bank ferry actually docks, with a patio that puts you close enough to wave at the party boats passing on the Thames. Inside, the decor leans loud and the music louder, with visiting DJs turning a tapas bar into something closer to a night out. Sangria and Spanish beer flow freely, and no one seems to be here for a quiet drink.
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Rank 17. Translate
Cocktail Bar
A hostel bar turned Shoreditch cocktail den, Translate keeps things unfussy: wooden bar, exposed brick, drinks on a blackboard. The cocktail list leans playful, mixing rum, chocolate milk, and whipped cream alongside tequila-coconut builds that suggest the bartenders are having fun. Kingsland Road's southern stretch draws a crowd that's here to settle in, not to be seen, which makes it a useful place to actually get a seat.
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Rank 18. The Plume of Feathers
British
A classic neighborhood pub at the foot of Greenwich Park, sitting directly on the Meridian Line, which means the observatory's laser passes right over your head on a clear night if you take a table in the back garden. It's tucked far enough down a back street that the tourist tide rarely reaches it, making it the kind of old-school local that rewards anyone willing to wander a little past the obvious sights.
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Rank 19. Plateau
Cocktail Bar
A lift from outside the Waitrose deposits you on the fourth floor of Canada Place, where an all-glass bar looks out over Canary Wharf while the suits inside do what suits do: champagne, volume, competitive guffawing. The lounge area with low-slung seats offers some shelter from the open kitchen and the office-party energy. Jazz competes with everything. The cocktail list leads with classics, and they're done properly.
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Rank 20. Goodman Canary Wharf
American Steakhouse
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Seven thousand square feet of bar in the shadow of the HSBC tower means The Parlour runs at a particular frequency: suits, pints, and the debrief after a long day of staring at screens. The industrial bones of the room are softened just enough by reclaimed pine, warm lamps, and a Japanese screen-style back bar. When the nearby towers empty, the long communal tables fill fast, and the overspill heads straight for the terrace.
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