10 of the best pubs with a view
The Angel on the Bridge, Henley-on-Thames
House favourites
Brakspear Bitter, 3.4%
Slow-roast belly pork, £13.50
For those who prefer their views more landscaped than wild, this pub is next to Henley’s elegant Georgian bridge, at the point where Oxfordshire meets Berkshire. The river is placid, the ducks entertaining, the air clean, and sunsets and mist keep the view varied all year round. The Angel ought to be a snooty tourist trap but remains a proper pub, with proper ale – Brakspear is a true Oxfordshire classic. The pub even has its own moorings for people with boats – or you can just wear deck shoes and pretend.
• theangelhenley.com, every day 11.30am -10pm (closes 7pm Sunday)
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The Grain Barge, Bristol
House favourites
Bristol Beer Factory Nova, 3.8%
Chicken, gammon & leek pie, £12.50
Permanently moored at Hotwells, west of the city centre, this retired industrial vessel, built in 1936, is now one of Bristol’s brightest, airiest pubs, offering a view of the magnificent SS Great Britain across an expanse of water always teeming with activity. There’s a range of interesting local beers in cask and keg, with a particular emphasis on the reliably decent Bristol Beer Factory. Sit on a stool by the window and watch dinghies swoop and turn and water taxis glide by, while historic ships the Matthew and the Mayflower (not that one) make their rounds. And you may occasionally see a dog on a paddleboard.
• grainbarge.com, noon-11pm (11.30pm Thu-Sat)
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The Cary Arms, Torquay, Devon
House favourites
Bay’s Topsail, 4%, cask
Brixham fish and chips, £15
Like many licensed premises in attractive settings, this old pub is now more hotel-restaurant, but at its heart remains a welcoming stone inn, decked out with nautical relics. It’s still fine to turn up in hiking boots and have a pint without eating, either on the terrace on a sunny day or at the bar next to the wood-burner (dining is more formal in the evening, with lighter fare at lunch). In the right weather, Babbacombe Bay does a passable impression of the Mediterranean, with the sea just the right shade of turquoise. Inland, the wooded slopes and red Devon sandstone are beautiful too. To stay the night is pricey, with rooms from £245.
• caryarms.co.uk, noon-11pm
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The Crown, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire
House favourites
Black Sheep Best Bitter, 3.8%
Suet-crust meat & potato pie, £9.15
Popular with hikers who huddle here to warm up and dry off (“Please Do Not Block the Fire As Others Around You Also Like to Feel the Heat”) the Crown is a no-nonsense pub with no-nonsense old-fashioned beer and warming, filling food. Looming over the plain stone building is Pen-y-Ghent, the smallest of the famous Three Peaks, but a wonder nonetheless, especially with the shadows of fast-moving clouds playing over its green-grey bulk, or snow on its sides.
• crown-hotel.co.uk, Mon-Fri noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm , Sat noon-11pm (10.30pm Sun)
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Three Tuns Inn, Chepstow, Monmouthshire
House favourites
GWB Hambrook Pale, 4%
Scotch egg, £2.50
The view from this pub is dominated by the town’s castle, a relic of the Norman invasion. Beyond that is the steep wooded cut of the twisting Wye Valley: you can’t see it from the pub, but a short walk between pints will get you there. The Three Tuns is an old pub with a modern makeover that works rather well – it’s idiosyncratic and has friendly bar staff. There’s a line-up of solid ales from Wales and south-west England.
• On Facebook, Mon-Fri noon-11pm, Sat-Sun 10.30am-11pm
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Rambler Inn, Edale, Derbyshire
House favourites
Rambler’s Gold (Marston’s), 4%
Ham, egg & chips, £8.95
The start of the Pennine Way, just outside the village of Edale, is only a short train journey from Manchester or Sheffield, but feels much further, offering a deep country atmosphere without too much effort. This pub makes a point of welcoming those with muddy feet and is surrounded by darkly looming but still manageable hills. The beer is supplied by Marston’s and its subsidiary brands (Wychwood, Banks’s) and tastes like heaven after an hour or two in sun, or rain. The beer garden is unusually lovely by English standards, too.
• dorbiere.co.uk, noon-11pm (Sun 10.30pm)
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Free Trade Inn, Newcastle
House favourites
Fyne Ales Jarl, 3.8%
Scream for Pizza food truck, every Wednesday, £5-£8
Moors and oceans are great, but looking up the Tyne towards the city’s bowed bridges from this pub in Ouseburn is another kind of delight. It is especially exciting at sunset, as the Instagrammers and amateur photographers of north-east England have discovered – city lights gleaming against Miami Vice skies. The pub cleverly treads the fine line between craft beer hipness and down-to-earth backstreet local atmosphere (the ancient tables have Scottish & Newcastle blue star logos). Imperial stouts and double IPAs sit alongside sessionable cask ales, aspirational street food alongside local meat pies.
• On Facebook, 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 10am-midnight
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The Sloop, Porthgain, Pembrokeshire
House favourites
Brain’s Rev. James Original, 4%
Welsh rarebit, £7.95
This old-fashioned harbourside pub sometimes feels ready to weigh anchor and set sail itself, thanks to nautical fixtures, maps and memorabilia. Views are of Porthgain’s picturesque working harbour, the Celtic sea, and hillsides dramatically strewn with the ruins of hoppers that once held crushed stone from nearby quarries, for road building. In summer, the green in front of the pub is packed with tourists and excited children, but out of season the pub is a warm, safe spot for watching waves break over the harbour wall.
• sloop.co.uk, 9.30am-10pm (midnight Fri-Sat)
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The Harbour Inn, Southwold, Suffolk
House favourites
Adnams Broadside, 4.7%
Grilled sardines on sourdough toast, £10
This part of Suffolk rolls away forever, with a sky that’s somehow bigger than anywhere else. The Harbour Inn, by the River Blyth among boat sheds and jetties, is a pub designed against flood: in the lower bar, power-points are on the ceiling, pints are passed down through a hatch, and the floors are tiled for the ease of sweeping away mud. In summer it’s the perfect spot for watching clean white clouds float over the marshes, while at night there’s the opposite of a view – blessed blackness, and muttering estuary winds that bring to mind the ghost stories of MR James.
• harbourinnsouthwold.co.uk, every day 11am-11pm
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Driftwood Spars, St Agnes, Cornwall
House favourites
Lou’s Brew, 5%
Cornish mussels, £14.95 a kilo
This is a rambling, cosy pub with two beer gardens, its own affiliated microbrewery, and a sigh-inducing view of Trevaunance Cove between cliffside stretches of the South West Coast Path. It somehow feels like a secret despite being a short stagger downhill from the centre of the village, and generally heaving with tourists, cyclists, and motorcyclists. For the best view, clamber up past the terrace to the cast-adrift higher beer garden. In foul weather, stare out at the gales, mist and mizzle until you’re drenched, then retreat to steam by the fire in the front bar.
• driftwoodspars.co.uk, 8am-11pm most nights
By Jessica Boak and Ray Bailey, authors of 20th Century Pub, (Homewood Press, £16.99), available at Guardian.Bookshop for £14.61
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10 of the best pubs for Sunday lunch
The Felin Fach Griffin, Powys
A stay here means interesting contemporary food, tastefully decorated bedrooms (doubles from £135 B&B), and lots of great walks. It’s also near Llangorse Lake. The back bar is linked to two smallish dining rooms, with modern prints on bright blue and ochre walls, leather sofas and mixed stripped chairs around scrubbed tables. Choices for Sunday lunch include local beef or lamb with cauliflower cheese and yorkshire pudding (£16), or vegetarian Glamorgan sausages of girolle mushrooms and spring onions (£16). There are 18 well-chosen wines by the glass and carafe, a range of sherries, three local beers, and Welsh spirits and cocktails.
• eatdrinksleep.ltd.uk, food noon-2.30pm, 6-9pm
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Rose & Crown, Romaldkirk, County Durham
This handsome old inn faces the green of this Teesdale village, where you can still see the original stocks. The beamed bar has lots of brass and copper, a grandfather clock and old farm tools and old-fashioned seats by a fire; the cosy snug has a wood-burner. Tables in oak-panelled restaurant must be booked. Sunday lunch includes local lamb shoulder with braised red cabbage (£17); for vegetarians there’s baked aubergine with mushroom and caramelised onions topped with local cheese (£16). At the bar, there are three real ales, a good wine list, over 20 malt whiskies and a growing gin list. The front terrace has seats and tables, High Force waterfall and the Bowes Museum are nearby.
• rose-and-crown.co.uk, food noon-2.30pm, 6-8.30pm (not Mon lunch)
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Assheton Arms, Downham, Lancs
The two-level restaurant in this handsome stone pub has views over the village and Pendle Hill, and lovely bedrooms make a good base for exploring. Drinking and dining areas have big flagstones, rugs on bare boards, wood-burners and a fine kitchen range, cushioned pews and photos, drawings and paintings on pale walls. Non-trad Sunday lunch options are miso-glazed pork belly with baby pak choi and sesame sauce (£15.95), and a vegetarian imam bayildi with couscous and fattoush salad (£11.95). There are local ales on hand pump, a dozen wines by the glass and farm cider.
• asshetonarms.com, food noon-9pm (Fri and Sat 10pm, Sun 8pm)
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Burts Hotel, Melrose, Borders
This pub and hotel has been run by the same family for years and the little bedrooms (doubles from £140 B&B) are a perfect base for exploring the Scottish Borders, and the abbey ruins are only a few steps away. The bar has a mix of locals and visitors and serves Orkney Red Macgregor beer, a dozen wines by the glass and around 80 malt whiskies. The more formal restaurant needs to be booked: its beautifully presented food is much in demand: slow-cooked feather blade of beef with crispy haggis nuggets and mustard sauce (£17.25), or roast pumpkin with beetroot and mozzarella crumble (£13.95). There are seats in the garden and booklets of walks marked out by the Melrose Paths Group.
• burtshotel.co.uk, food noon-2pm, 6-9pm
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The Cock, Hemingford Grey, Cambridgeshire
Despite its exceptional food, this pub has a proper public bar for those who simply want a drink and a chat. Here there’s a wood-burner, 20 wines by the glass (focusing on France’s Languedoc-Roussillon region), three changing real ales and cider made in the village. Other bars have white or dark beams, a mix of old wooden furniture on bare boards and another wood-burner; the stylish restaurant must be booked in advance. Favourite Sunday dishes include guinea fowl with braised turnip and leek and sherry sauce (£20), and a vegetarian choice such as honey and thyme beetroot press with ricotta and spinach tortellini (£15). There are walks round the delightful village on the River Ouse, and further afield.
• cambscuisine.com, restaurant noon-2.30pm, 6.30-9pm (9.30pm Fri, Sat), Sun 12-8pm; pub food noon-3pm, 6pm-11pm
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The Punch Bowl, Crosthwaite, Cumbria
In a fold of the Lythe Valley, this slate-roofed inn has been welcoming customers since the 16th century. It’s stylish yet relaxed, with a busy public bar where there are Barngates and Bowness ales, 15 wines (including champagne and prosecco) by the glass, malt whiskies and local damson gin. Two linked beamed rooms have an open log fire and a wood-burner, fresh flowers, candles and daily papers; a separate restaurant is light and airy. Food is faultless with dishes that include roast lamb loin and braised shoulder with crispy haggis, onion purée and hotpot vegetables (£25.50), and veggie options such as beetroot gratin with wild mushroom and gruyère crust (£14.50). Windermere is nearby and walks from the pub are many.
• the-punchbowl.co.uk, food noon-4pm, 6-9pm
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The Old Coastguard, Mousehole, Cornwall
The lovely garden here has palm trees, a path leading to rock pools and seats overlooking St Michael’s Mount and the Lizard. Inside, there are seascapes on bold paintwork, antique chairs and deep sofas, an open fire and one huge window. Food is good up-to-date brasserie fare, and there are local Cornish ales, 14 wines by the glass or carafe and a fine choice of gins and vodkas. Sunday dishes include roast rib of Cornish beef with kale, beetroot, roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding and red wine gravy (£16), and a vegetarian choice such as mousseron and leek cannelloni. Comfortable bedrooms overlook the sea (doubles from £160 half-board).
• oldcoastguardhotel.co.uk, food 12.30-2.30pm, 6.30-9pm (Fri and Sat 9.30pm)
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Three Chimneys, Biddenden, Kent
This old-fashioned cottage has a low-beamed bar and dining rooms, antique settles and wooden furniture on flagstones, stripped-brick walls and log fires. The bare-boards restaurant has French windows opening on to a conservatory. The menu includes rack of lamb with dauphinois potatoes (£19.95), and a vegetarian dish such as couscous with aubergine, tomato and courgette ragout and grilled halloumi (£13.95). There are local Harveys ales plus guests, cider from down the road and 14 wines by the glass. Well-appointed bedrooms (doubles from £140 B&B) have their own terrace, and there’s a holiday cottage to let. NT-owned Sissinghurst is close.
• thethreechimneys.co.uk, food noon-2.30pm, 6.30-9pm
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Wellington Arms, Baughurst, Hants
In this immaculately kept country inn, the food cooked by the landlord is king – they grow their own vegetables, rear livestock and keep bees. The menu includes partridge ragout with currants, foraged ceps, white wine, pappardelle and pecorino (£16), and, for non-meat eaters, baked gnocchi with garlic, butternut squash and walnuts (£16). Locals pop in for a pint of Longdog Bunny Chaser or West Berkshire Good Old Boy, 10 wines by the glass and a farm cider. There are cushioned chairs around polished tables on terracotta tiles, a wood-burner and a delightful garden. Public footpaths lead from the car park, and Silchester Roman walls and Vyne House are close by. Charming rooms from £110 a night.
• thewellingtonarms.com, food noon-1.30pm, 6-8.30pm, Sun noon-3pm
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The Olive Branch, Clipsham, Rutland
As a civilised break from the A1, this inn is hard to beat: a former labourers’ cottage, with small and attractive bar rooms, a friendly atmosphere, dark beams and a log fire in a stone inglenook. There’s a beer named for the pub and 25 wines by the glass or carafe. Favourite Sunday lunch choices include local venison with dauphinois potatoes and red wine sauce (£22.50) with vegetarian dishes such as leek and potato pie with hazelnuts (£14.50). A shop sells the pub’s own jams and chutneys, plus takeaway meals. Outside is a terrace with big flowering pots and seats on the lawn. Bedrooms are in the main building and a Georgian property opposite (doubles from £120 B&B). There are walks from the door, and Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue is a collection of 150 yew trees, some 200 years old.
• theolivebranchpub.com, food noon-2.15pm, 6.30-9.30pm, Sun noon-2.45pm, 7-9pm
By Fiona Stapley, editor of the Good Pub Guide 2019 (Ebury Publishing, £15.99). Available at the Guardian Bookshop for £13.75
10 of the best community-run pubs
Fox and Goose, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire
House favourites
Pictish Brewers Gold, 3.8%
Pork pie (£2), vegan pasty (£2.50)
They like their cask beer at West Yorkshire’s first community-owned pub, which reopened in 2014. There are always six hand-pumps in the compact bar, offering beers that change as regularly as the weather in this part of the world (breweries include Nomadic and Wild Child). The pub also hosts beer tastings, meet-the-brewer nights and an annual harvest festival. During the 2015 flooding, the pub, sitting on higher land, acted as hub and hearth for those affected by the deluge. This is a well-pubbed part of the world, but the atmopshere and beers mark it out as special.
• foxandgoose.org, Mon 2pm-midnight, Sun-Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sat noon-2am
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Duke of Marlborough, Somersham, Suffolk
House favourites
Adnams Dry Hopped Lager, 4.2%
Braised beef cheek, £13.50
Time has a habit of leaving its trace on village pubs and the Duke is no different. Originally built as a medieval hall house, it became an inn during the 17th century. Old beams can be seen above the bar, and the ghost name of a former brewery owner is just visible on an outside wall. Reopened with the help of what is obviously a very active community (volunteers also run the village shop), this is a lively place attracting drinkers, foodies and families with events including pizza nights, beer and food evenings and a general sense of a good time. Help yourself to dog biscuits if you bring your best friend.
• thedukeofmarlborough.com, Wed-Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-6pm
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The Anglers Rest, Bamford, Derbyshire
House favourites
Abbeydale Moonshine, 4.3%
Steak & ale pie, £10.95
The good people of Bamford thought big when saving their pub in 2013: they also took over an adjoining cafe and post office, so you can send a postcard, have a cup of tea and a scone and, when the sun is over the yardarm, into the pub you pop for a pint or two. Flagstones, bare stone walls, wooden beams and settles set the scene for the interior, and in the winter you can sip your beer by the log-burner. There is good robust, home-cooked food and a sense of belonging, and after a day walking in the Peak District, foamy Black Sheep bitter is an ideal contemplative pint.
• anglers.rest, 11am-11pm (Sun 10.30pm)
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The Hope, Carshalton, Surrey
House favourites
Windsor & Eton Knight of the Garter, 3.8%
‘Hot pot’ chilli con carne, £6
Opened as the Hope Beer House in the 1870s, this pub got its mock-Tudor panelling between the wars. In 2010, closure loomed, but locals clubbed together and bought the lease (adding the freehold in 2015). Now it’s an award-winning pub with two bars and a conservatory at the back. The mood is comfortable and cosy, with plenty of old photographs, thoughtful beers from the likes of Siren, Vibrant Forest and Magic Rock and a hum of conversation in the air – all of which demonstrates wherever there’s a lively community, hope is always present.
• hopecarshalton.co.uk, Mon-Sat noon-11pm, Sun 10.30pm. No children
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The Bevy, Brighton
House favourites
Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter, 4%
Sunday roast, £7.95 (if pre-booked)
In 2010, what was then the Bevendean pub was closed by the police due to a series of antisocial incidents, leaving this housing estate close to the South Downs and Brighton University without its hub. Four years later it reopened as the Bevy, after locals bought it and carried out essential works (the vicar spent a day sanding). The result is a bright, airy, chilled-out and chatty pub that is more than just a place for a pint and something to eat (breakfasts are very popular). There’s a cafe, meeting space for clubs and organisations, quizzes and music nights. The whole project is an example of how an urban pub in an unfashionable area can be saved.
• thebevy.co.uk, noon-11pm
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Y Pengwern, Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd
House favourites
Purple Moose Cwrw Glaslyn, 4.2%
“Legless” sausage casserole, £8.95
This part of the world is made for thinking: the mountains of southern Snowdonia brood, while the slate mines of neighbouring Blaenau Ffestiniog are long silent. But at Y Pengwern (the Pengwern Arms) there is laughter, the clink of glasses full of copper-hued beer brewed in nearby Porthmadog, and the strum of guitars on music night. Seven years ago villagers bought the last pub in the village, which had been closed since 2009, and saved this former drovers’ inn, where Victorian writer George Borrow once had a few ales. The new kitchen uses as much local produce as possible. There are also rumours of a ghost, Martha, who once owned the pub. She can now rest easy.
• ypengwern.co.uk, Mon-Thu 6-11.30pm, Fri 5pm-midnight, Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-11.30pm
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The Old Crown, Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria
House favourites
Doris’s 90th Birthday Ale, 4.3%
Cumberland sausage with onion gravy, £10.50
The beer at this stone-built pub in a beautiful fellside village doesn’t have to travel far – it’s made next door. Community ownership of Hesket Newmarket Brewery came first, in 1999, and it was only several years later that the villagers (including long-time regular Chris Bonington) clubbed together to buy the pub. There’s a real fire, black-and-white prints on the wall and mugs and jugs hanging from wooden beams. This is ale territory, with not a creme brûlée porter in sight, though American hops make an appearance in the Brim Fell IPA.
• theoldcrownpub.co.uk, Mon-Thu noon-2.30pm, 5.30-11pm, Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-10.30pm
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Rose & Crown, Slaley, Northumberland
House favourites
High House Farm Nel’s Best, 4.2%
Pie of the day with veg, £10.50
The Rose & Crown was taken under community ownership in 2013, the first of its kind in the north-east. Built in the 17th century, it’s a cosy little hideaway in a village close to Slaley Forest. The decor is traditional (settles, wooden beams and a solid bar), the beer from a variety of local breweries including Allendale and High House Farm (all cask beers come from within a 10-mile radius). The menu reflects the mixed tastes of a rural community, from black bean vegetable stir fry to a whale of a battered fish with chips. There’s a disused nuclear bunker close by, but the Rose & Crown is a much more life-affirming attraction.
• roseandcrownslaley.co.uk, Mon-Thu and Sun noon-10.30pm, Fri and Sat noon-11pm
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Stoke Canon Inn, Stoke Canon, Devon
House favourites
St Austell Tribute, 4.2%
Curry of the week, £10.95
If there’s no one behind the bar when you arrive, chances are someone on your side will serve you, such is the fraternal nature of this compact village pub just outside Exeter. The community currently leases the pub and is raising funds to buy it outright as the building’s owner wants to sell. It would be a shame if it was lost, as it is a true community hub, hosting a book club, gin tastings, quizzes and bingo; it’s also welcoming inside, with horse brasses, beams, a wood-burner and the kind of patterned carpet all village pubs aspire to. Three cask beers are available, as well as Sandford Cider, made in nearby Crediton. Here’s hoping the villagers meet their target.
• stokecanoninn.com, Mon-Thu 11.30am-2.30pm, 5.30-11pm, Fri-Sun 11.30am-11pm
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The Red Lion, Preston, Herts
House favourites
Tring Side Pocket for a Toad, 3.6%
Fish pie, £12.50
Red brick, solid, implacable – the Red Lion has stood opposite the village green since the 18th century. In the early 1980s, then owner Whitbread decided to sell, and it was rumoured it would become a steakhouse – banishing any sense of localism. But the villagers rallied round and the UK’s first community-owned pub came into existence. Cricket is big in Preston, and the Red Lion is almost like a club house for the four teams that turn out in the summer. There are cosy log fires, darts, great food and, in early November, a fireworks display. No wonder it’s currently Camra North Hertfordshire’s Pub of the Year.
• theredlionpreston.co.uk, Mon-Fri noon-2.30pm, 5.30-11pm, Sat noon-3.30pm, 5.30-11pm; Sun noon-3.30pm, 7-10.30pm
By Adrian Tierney-Jones, member of the British Guild of Beer Writers
10 of the best historic pubs
Square & Compass, Worth Matravers, Dorset
House favourites
Moonlite, Hattie Brown’s Brewery, 3.7%
Cheese & veg pie, £3.90
On a limestone cliff overlooking the Jurassic coast, this was originally a pair of cottages and has only been a pub since 1793. It boasts a museum of stonemasonry and local fossils, and the big stone slabs used as beer garden tables make it feel like there’s been a pub here since the stone age. There’s no bar: you queue outside the scullery door. This is one of a handful of pubs to have made it into every single edition of Camra’s Good Beer Guide.
• squareandcompasspub.co.uk, summer noon-11pm, winter noon-3pm, 6-11pm
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Three Horseshoes, Warham, Norfolk
House favourites
Moon Gazer Ruby, 4%
Homemade pies, £10
Wander into the small village of Warham and you could believe you’ve stepped back into the 1950s. The interior of the pub does its best to maintain this illusion. One room resembles a Victorian sitting room, with a portrait of her imperial majesty and another of local lad Lord Nelson flanking an old piano. Another room is a scullery full of old posters advertising Oxo, mustard powder and bile beans. This interior may not be strictly “authentic” – the landlord is a keen collector – but that really doesn’t matter. It’s still an absorbing escape from the 21st century.
• warhamhorseshoes.co.uk, Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun noon-10pm
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The George, Southwark, London
House favourites
George Inn Ale, 3.6%
Braised beef & bone marrow pie, £12.99
London’s last galleried coaching inn is hidden inside a former railway goods yard: you could work on busy Borough High Street for years without spotting this National Trust-owned pub. Tourists from the US and Japan cross the river in search of its ancient wooden balconies that stand in defiance of the Shard, looming overhead. Dickens definitely drank here; Chaucer began the Canterbury Tales in the Tabard, which stood next door until the 1880s; and Shakespeare almost certainly saw plays performed in its courtyard – a predecessor of, and inspiration for, the first purpose-built theatres.
• greeneking-pubs.co.uk, Mon-Thu 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-midnight, Sun noon-10.30pm
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Britons Protection, Manchester
House favourites
Britons Protection, 3.6%
Pie of the day, £7.95
During the 1819 Peterloo Massacre, the 15th Hussars and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry – consisting largely of local businessmen – rode past this pub on their way to slaughter unarmed civilians. The place had a different name then, but according to legend it acquired its new one when it sheltered people from the carnage. The story is told in murals on the pub’s walls, and along corridors which always seem to lead to snug corners you never noticed on previous visits. A lone survivor of long-demolished streets, this hulk of a building still seems to succour the exhausted office workers who slump through its doors.
• On Facebook.com, Mon-Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sat noon-1am, Sun noon-11pm
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The Sunflower, Belfast
House favourites
Yardsman Double Stout, 4.3%
Wood-fired Boxing Hare pizza, from £6
As places where communities gather, Belfast pubs were easy targets during the Troubles, and the Sunflower wasn’t the only one to be attacked. It is, however, the only one that retains a monument to those times in the shape of the iron cage outside the door, where people could be checked for weapons. Today, the cage remains unlocked. A slogan on the wall beside it, copied from long-gone graffiti just up the road, reads: “No topless bathing. Ulster has suffered enough,” reminding drinkers that humour was always a defence against adversity.
• sunflowerbelfast.com, Mon–Thu noon -midnight, Fri-Sat noon-1am, Sun 5pm-midnight
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The George Inn, Norton St Philip, Somerset
House favourites
Wadworth 6X, 4.1%
Beer-battered fish & chips, £14
Purpose-built as an inn in the 14th or 15th century, the George has been endlessly remodelled since (recent work revealed 15 types of plaster on the top floor alone). Its visual attraction lies in additions that are clearly very old sitting atop stone so ancient it almost seems to be melting. Inside, the open fires, candlelit tables and leaded windows feel unchanged rather than artificially preserved or restored, evoking centuries of people sitting here eating, drinking and laughing. Upstairs, the creaking bedrooms will provide a challenge for even the most sceptical disbeliever in ghosts.
• georgeinnnsp.co.uk. Mon-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun noon-10pm
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The Bartons Arms, Birmingham
House favourites
Oakham Citra, 4.2%
Green chicken curry, £9.95
This red-brick Victorian pub is a classic example of designs that are much more beautiful than they strictly needed to be. Joyless reformers used to complain that features like tiles, stained glass and snob screens, all beautifully preserved here thanks to a Grade II listing, used to keep people in pubs spending money they didn’t have. There was also a view that the poor simply didn’t deserve surroundings like this: it would give them ideas. Laurel and Hardy drank here when performing in Birmingham, and even served behind the bar.
• thebartonsarms.com, Mon-Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-10.30pm
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The Canny Mans, Edinburgh
House favourites
Deuchars IPA, 3.8%
Smorrebrod open sandwiches, from £7.45
Many pubs offer the promise of stepping back in time. The difference with the Canny Man’s is that you can’t be quite sure what time you’re stepping back into. At first glance it’s Victorian, but the 1940s crooning from the jukebox, the plush Venetian red stools, the collections of parasols, photographs, musical instruments and several lifetimes worth of random stuff, mean that if you were born any time between 1930 and 1980, this place will remind you of visiting an ancient aunt. She never had a drinks list this good though.
• cannymans.co.uk, Sun-Wed 11am-11pm, Thu 11am-midnight, Fri-Sat 11am-1am
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Whitelocks, Leeds
House favourites
Timothy Taylor Landlord, 4.3%
Beef & ale pie, £13
Hidden down a back alley (like any self-respecting ancient tavern), Whitelocks is the oldest pub in Leeds. Built in 1715, it is long and narrow with low ceilings. You’re inevitably pressed up close to a bar that seems filled with more drinks than you could have thought possible. The eight-inch step up behind the bar means the staff gaze benignly down on you, making you feel like a grown child in a magical, alcohol-infused sweet shop. The beer selection is timeless rather than old-fashioned: the sister bar next door is full of craft beer, but in places like this, decent ale never went away.
• whitelocksleeds.com, Mon-Thu 11am-midnight, Fri-Sat 11am-1am, Sun 11am-11pm
* * *
Tafarn Sinc, Rosebush, Pembrokeshire
House favourites
Cwrw Tafarn Sinc, 3.6%
Homemade faggots with onion gravy & mash, £10.25
The very best pubs serve as extensions of the publican’s personality, and may even be manifestations of their passions and interests. High in the Preseli hills, and built of pinky-red corrugated iron, Tafarn Sinc was thrown up quickly as a train stop connecting the slate mines in the hills to the towns in the valleys below. There’s no reason why it should now be a pub with a garden featuring mannequins on an old station platform and steam train sound effects. But there’s no reason why it shouldn’t, either.
• tafarnsinc.cymru, daily 11am-late (closed Mon in winter)
By Pete Brown, author of Miracle Brew: Adventures in the Nature of Beer (Cornerstone, £9.99). Available at Guardian Bookshop for £8.59
10 of the best craft beer pubs
Port St Beer House, Manchester
House favourites
Track Sonoma (3.8%)
“Manchester egg” (scotch egg with black pudding sausage), £3.50
Pub traditionalists may prefer the Smithfield, and beer nerds the Cloudwater brewery tap, but by several key criteria – warm, lively atmosphere, terrific smoking terrace, staggering choice – Port Street remains the benchmark Manchester beer experience. From a well-kept pint of progressive northern cask (Magic Rock, Pomona, Squawk), to obscure keg collabs – for example, Mutants, a 9% imperial porter/IPA blend from Lisbon’s Dois Corvos and the Bulgarian White Stork – this Northern Quarter bar covers all bases. Craft completists will geek out over the bottle menu. Others will gasp at its prices. Look out for events with breweries from Belfast (Boundary) to Estonia (Pühaste).
• portstreetbeerhouse.co.uk, Sun-Fri noon-midnight, Sat noon-1pm
* * *
City Arms, Cardiff
House favourites
Brain’s Reverend James range
Celtic Sandwich Co New York deli sandwich, £3.95
As you walk up Westgate Street from Cardiff station, you pass beer bars galore (Tiny Rebel, Brewdog, Zerodegrees). But for something unusual, press on to the City Arms, an Edwardian-style boozer that Brain’s, the large Welsh brewer/pub operator, transformed into a de facto freehouse-cum-craft beer haven eight years ago. Its cask selection blends trad and modern breweries (Moor, Bad Seed, talented newcomer Loka Polly), the keg lines up the ante (Wild Beer, Wylam, Wild Weather), while the City Arms’ bottled rarities – Thornbridge’s 10% imperial Jaipur X, Atom’s 11% triple rye IPA, Mars – will blow your mind.
• @cityarmscardiff Mon–Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sat noon-2am, Sun noon-10pm
* * *
Salt Horse, Edinburgh
House favourites
Thornbridge Lukas (4.2%)
Meat Stack, Plucky cheeseburger, £8.50
Despite its location between Cowgate and the Royal Mile, this bar and 350-strong bottle shop remains cool, calm and civilised, even in Edinburgh’s busiest seasons. Twelve keg lines pour innovative beers from breweries as distant as Leith’s Pilot and London’s Partizan (in pints now too, not just schooners!), and you can drink anything from the shop in the bar (£2 corkage). Tap takeovers with the likes of Burning Sky or Malmö’s Rocket add further interest.
• salthorse.beer, Mon-Wed 4pm-midnight, Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sat noon-1am, Sun 12.30pm-midnight
* * *
The Shakespeare, Sheffield
House favourites
Redwillow Weightless (4.2%)
Cheese and ham sandwich, 80p
In this plainly decorated former Georgian coaching inn, the cask ale selection starts out traditional (Stancill’s Barnsley Bitter, £2.60 a pint), but its keg lines are devoted to wild, modernist beers from global leaders such as Manchester’s Cloudwater, Copenhagen’s Warpigs and Barcelona’s Garage Beer. Its cask beer festivals (the next is 29 Nov-1 Dec) are a riot of one-off brews, as are the Shakespeare’s own out-there collaborations (horseradish and beetroot stout, anyone?). Similarly, its Stupidly Delicious Beer events showcase rare, aged imperial stouts alongside just-released, super-fresh double IPAs.
• shakespeares-sheffield.co.uk, Sun-Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sat noon-1pm
* * *
North Bar, Leeds
House favourites
North Brewing Co Sputnik pale ale (5%)
Air-dried ham and gruyere toastie, £4
Opened in 1997 – when the very concept of a European-style cafe-bar was a novelty, “specialist beer” meant Belgian and the cool kids were still drinking Red Stripe – North has evolved into one of the UK’s foremost beer hangouts. It has also spawned six sister bars and North Brewing Co (which launches its own 24-tap bar in Leeds this November). North’s minimalist, wooden-slat interior – it’s like drinking in the belly of a whale – feels timelessly modern and its cask/keg lines showcase contemporary beers from the northern craft powerhouses alongside international trendsetters such as Brus or Basqueland. Decent, snacky scran and late-night DJs, too.
• northbar.com, Mon-Tue 11am-1am, Wed-Sat 11am-2am, Sun noon-midnight
* * *
Hand Beer Bar & Bottle Shop, Falmouth, Cornwall
House favourites
Augustiner Helles (5.2%)
Duck noodles, £3.50
In a region dominated by St Austell brewery pubs, Falmouth is something of craft beer sanctuary (see also, pub-bookshop Beerwolf). A natty bar in the historic Old Brewery Yard, Hand is an 11-tap setup (two gravity-dispensed cask beers are kept in the cellar), which flies the flag for cutting-edge Cornish breweries Harbour, Verdant, and Black Flag, as well as sourcing from far and wide. It recently held a tap takeover with New York brewery Equilibrium. Note: £1.50 corkage to drink in from the bottle shop.
• On Facebook, Mon-Thu 1pm-1am, Fri-Sun noon-1am
* * *
The Bridge Tavern, Newcastle
House favourites
Wylam Jakehead IPA (6.3%)
Flat iron steak, smoked bone marrow butter, triple-cooked chips, £13.50
Head out into Ouseburn and there are grittier (Free Trade Inn) and quirkier (Cumberland Arms) pubs that are equally essential, but this surprisingly swanky brewpub under the Tyne Bridge – part post-industrial craft bar, part gentleman’s club – is a cosy winter bolthole. It is closely associated with the excellent local Wylam brewery, whose beers feature prominently, as do experimental creations from the pub’s own microbrewery. The Bridge’s food is relatively affordable and reliably brilliant.
• thebridgetavern.com, Sun-Thu noon-11pm, Fri-Sat noon-1am
* * *
Northern Lights, Belfast
House favourites
Full Sail IPA (5.9%)
8oz Aberdeen Angus bacon cheeseburger and chips, £10
Since late 2017, the former Brewbot – a hip, industrial space a half-hour walk from town up the Ormeau Road – has been owned by Galway Bay Brewery (legendary in craft beer circles for their 8.5% Of Foam and Fury double IPA). Naturally, Galway’s beers are front and centre across 20 taps and 130 bottles, but that range also takes in a vast array of quality Irish and UK breweries (Northern Alchemy, Kinnegar, Redchurch etc). For its first birthday this weekend (Oct 27), Northern Lights is holding a celebration of Northern Irish breweries, from Beer Hut to Farmageddon
• galwaybaybrewery.com, Sun-Thu noon-midnight, Fri-Sat noon-1am, Sun noon-10pm
* * *
Mother Kelly’s, London
House favourites
North Brewing Co/Mother Kelly’s pale ale (£5.20, keg)
Four-cheese cheeseboard, £10.50
The best beer bar in London? That is impossible to call. It is a huge city with numerous options which, either on choice (Craft Beer Co, Euston Tap) or novelty for a beer tourist (Crate, the Harp, the Rake), might easily fill this slot. A stylish railway arch bar in Bethnal Green, Mother Kelly’s gets the nod because across its six fridges and 19 keg beer taps, even the most well-travelled beer geek will find something new and arresting. From a Three Floyds and Burning Sky collaboration to Metal Face, an aged mixed-fermentation saison from Oxbow Brewing (no, me neither), Mother Kelly’s is a feast of one-offs, experimental ales and rare collaborations from around the world – some eye-wateringly expensive.
• motherkellys.co.uk, Mon 4pm-11pm Tue-Thu noon-11pm Fri-Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-11pm
* * *
Ship & Mitre, Liverpool
House favourites
Flagship Sublime (3.8%)
Scouse stew, £7
Down by the Mersey, hot new craft outlets come (Dead Crafty, Black Lodge brewtap) and go (RIP the 23 Club) but, fittingly, given that its ground floor is decked out to resemble the prow of a boat, the Ship ploughs steadily on through every new wave in beer. Originally, a real ale pub, the Ship now has 10 cask pumps augmented by 14 craft-keg lines of constantly rotating joy. The Ship also runs a city-centre bottle shop (Ship In A Bottle), the Flagship brewery and the Wirral Beer Festival (Easter 2019).
• theshipandmitre.com Sun-Wed 10am-11pm, Thu 10am-midnight, Fri-Sat 9am-midnight
By Tony Naylor, Guardian food and drink writer
