Guide to the best pubs in Covent Garden

This traditional London boozer has been a mainstay in Covent Garden since it opened as The Cooper Arms in 1772. Today, it’s a beautiful Georgian pub with a pleasant courtyard and a menu of fresh pub classics. It claims to be the oldest pub in London and was once a regular haunt of Charles Dickens. There’s plenty of dark-varnished wood and brass, with old photos hanging on the walls and antique fixtures scattered throughout.

This Irish pub in Covent Garden spans several floors and houses one of London’s largest bars. It’s got a vibrant, lively atmosphere with regular live music performances and a long menu of Irish, Scottish and American whiskeys, draft and craft beers and cocktails. The food served is precisely what you might expect from a traditional pub, like burgers, pizzas and fish and chips.

The Harp is a quintessential English pub spanning two floors and serving a range of cask ales and rotating guest brews on tap. They also boast a wide variety of ciders and perries from around the UK. It’s a proper London pub decked out with dark varnished wood, old hanging portraits and stained-glass windows, which are pinned back throughout the summer months so you can sip on beer and watch as the busy streets outside thrum on by.

Bow Street Tavern is a lively pub smack bang in the middle of Covent Garden, directly opposite the Royal Opera House, and serves all of the classic pub drinks plus local beers, like Beavertown, Portobello and Sambrooks. It’s also got its own rooftop bar, gin terrace and a selection of funky function rooms. The food menu is filled with British classics, like cider-battered fish and chips and steak and ale pie.

The Blue Posts on Rupert Street is set inside an original Grade II listed Georgian building and has been around since 1739. It oozes classic pub vibes with rich, deep colourful tones and delicate Georgian windows. There’s a selection of British craft beers on tap, a selection of rotating specials, and an international wine list that pays homage to The Mulwray, a wine bar located on the top floor of the building.

If London and the Netherlands had a baby, it would be De Hems. This Dutch cafe bar, located down a side street in Soho, is the only authentic Dutch pub in the city, serving an extensive range of draught Dutch and Belgian beers, high-quality wines and artisan spirits. There’s also a selection of tasty Dutch-inspired dishes and snacks for when you get peckish.

There’s a fine line between whether this is a pub or a bar, but we’ve decided to include it because the craft beer on offer here is unbeatable, and everyone deserves to know about it. They have the UK’s largest selection of craft beers here, with multiple cask lines and keg pumps and hundreds of cans and bottles from microbreweries all around the UK. They also host tap takeovers and meet-the-brewer events.

The Cross Keys in Covent Garden epitomises everything a traditional London boozer should be, drenched in dark wood, brass and copper with a classic pub carpet. It’s decorated with mirrors, pictures, signs and interesting treasures and trinkets, like a napkin autographed by Elvis Presley and Beatles memorabilia. They pull all of the classic pub pints, and it makes for a cosy spot to enjoy a drink alone or with some friends.

This Victorian pub is the very place where the Football Association met in 1863 to define the rules of the game. Much of the memorabilia scattered around the venue is a nod to this historical football milestone, and matches are shown across all six of their HD plasma screens. Enjoy a game alongside authentic Kentish cask ales and a selection of tasty British dishes, like fish and chips, and a variety of tasty pies.

This eccentric drinking hole is named after the protagonist in Jule Verne’s famous novel Around the World in 80 Days. It’s filled with all kinds of interesting knickknacks, many of which the adventurer would have brought back from his travels around the world. Enjoy a classic pint here while taking in your surroundings, or join in with one of the weekly Cockney singalongs.

Lowlander Grand Cafe, down London’s historic Drury Lane, serves many Belgian and Dutch beers, spanning well-known favourites to artisanal specials. Their food menu is also an ode to Belgian cuisine, with a seasonal menu packed with everything from Flemish beef stew to toffee apple waffles and salted pretzels with an assortment of dips.

This 18th-century pub is named after the first-ever performance of Punch & Judy, which took place in Covent Garden in 1662. It’s everything you might expect from a classic British pub; think red leather and velvet seats, dark wooden tables and framed photos. If you’re lucky enough to bag a table on the pub’s balcony terrace, you’ll enjoy front-row seats to the performers entertaining the public in and around the Piazza below.

The Crown & Anchor pub in Covent Garden boasts a refined traditional ambiance with its rich wooden decor spanning two levels. While the ground floor is suffused in classic pub charm, complete with cask ales and signature London gins, the upper level offers a more relaxed space tailored for bigger gatherings. The menu features quintessential British dishes such as fish and chips.