London in the sun is hard to beat. To cross one of its many distinguished bridges, light hitting the Thames and towers casting shadows on the riverbank, is to feel a part of the city. Sitting comfortably in a pub garden or on a sun-kissed rooftop might be as rewarding.
But so many pubs in town weren’t built with sunshine in mind. They were built as post-work refuges, places for pints and pies, not long Sunday afternoons after some sort of brunch. To that end, it’s helpful to know where catches the sun.
Below are 50 pubs well suited to summer drinking, at least according to the data from Andrew Wright and Kate Steel, who developed an app, Pubs in the Sun, which shows users which pub is best at any given time of day. With a canny algorithm, Wright has also charted which pubs get the most sunlight on average and noted the best times to visit for maximum tanning. Wright has decided not to list Wetherspoons pubs, but the only sunny one in the top 50 is the Liberty Bounds, in the City. We’ll see you out there for a cold pint in the hot sun.
- Average sun: 91%
- Best sun times: noon-2pm
Sweeping riverside pub with panoramic views over the river, pints from Young’s brewery and classic seafood fare.
- Average sun: 90%
- Best sun times: 5-7pm
Converted 1930s Dutch barge permanently moored between Lambeth and Vauxhall Bridge with good pints, live music and calamari, burgers, and arancini.
- Average sun: 88%
- Best sun times: 12.45-2.45pm
Old boozer for City workers with a decent selection of real ales, an extensive list of gins, and dishes such as fish and chips, burgers, and Caesar salad. Always busy in late afternoon, particularly towards the end of the week.
The Butcher’s Hook & Cleaver
- Average sun: 84%
- Best sun times: 4.45-6.45pm
Right next to Smithfield Market, the pub is set within a former bank and an old butcher’s shop and is decorated with frescoes and chandeliers. Not so much a place market traders drink, more visitors and local professionals.
- Average sun: 84%
- Best sun times: 12.15-2.15pm
Right in the heart of Theatreland, this is a good pub for those who fancy a drink or two before a show. Always bustling and quite atmospheric.
- Average sun: 84%
- Best sun times: 2.15-4.15pm
A bar and dining space close to Smithfield Market and the famous British restaurant, St John. Not old school, but boasts a huge beer garden and lots of drinkable roses.
The Butcher’s Hook & Cleaver
- Average sun: 84%
- Best sun times: 4.30-5pm
Right next to Smithfield Market, the pub is set within a former bank and an old butcher’s shop and is decorated with frescoes and chandeliers. Not so much a place market traders drink, more visitors and local professionals.
- Average sun: 83%
- Best sun times: 3-5pm
Modern pub with jolly service, especially for its fairly transitory locale. Beers, wines and the like and more interesting thanks to a food menu of Neapolitan pizzas.
- Average sun: 83%
- Best sun times: 3-5pm
Bit of a tricky pub, down to its location by Victoria station (hardly one of London’s hotspots). But for what’s around, it’s a very solid option.
- Average sun: 80%
- Best sun times: 2.45-4.45pm
One for food this, with its Sunday Roast particularly good. Nearby is Little Italy: visit Terroni’s.
- Average sun: 93%
- Best sun times: 12.15-2.15pm
Buzzing north London pub serving Kentish Town since the 1700s. Good atmosphere, live sport, lots of beers.
- Average sun: 93%
- Best sun times: noon-2pm
A fabulous terrace here overlooking the canal and various King’s Cross goings on. Get in early for a space. Food and drink is fine.
- Average sun: 93%
- Best sun times: 12.30-2.30pm
Very Stoke Newington: big windows, exposed brick, young and moneyed crowd. Good afternoon drinking spot and then gets rowdy in the evening thanks to DJs playing funk and soul.
- Average sun: 89%
- Best sun times: 12.15-2.15pm
Calm pub with a village-like feel. Big sweeping windows, craft beers, old-time pub food and decent service. Best in the daytime.
- Average sun: 88%
- Best sun times: 4.15-6.15pm
Upmarket Victorian pub with a fancy clientele. Still family run and independent, with 24 beers on tap at any given time and popular roast dinners.
- Average sun: 88%
- Best sun times: 2.30-4.30pm
Lovely spacious pub with craft beers, pizza, and loads of gins. Stunning floorboards and original features.
- Average sun: 86%
- Best sun times: 12.30-2.30pm
Big, busy Tottenham pub with a huge beer garden, covered and open. A go-to for Spurs fans but don’t let that put you off.
- Average sun: 86%
- Best sun times: 2- 4pm
Refurbished not so long ago and so it feels fairly upscale for dirty old Camden. Has a roof terrace, perfect for sun, and lots of local beers.
- Average sun: 85%
- Best sun times: 12.15-2.15pm
Lovely old Georgian pub with a decent set of dining rooms, one that rightly gets packed out. They also donate 50p from every pizza sold to Crisis, the homeless charity, which is an elegant move.
- Average sun: 84%
- Best sun times: 2.15-4.15pm
Really, really beautiful pub, this, with what is likely to be the original Victorian bar. Proper pub service. Gets very busy after 5pm.
Press handout
- Average sun: 90%
- Best sun times: 4.15-6.15pm
Not the best looking pub by any means but a good laugh. Always a lively atmosphere, with games, cocktails, burgers and hot dogs.
- Average sun: 89%
- Best sun times: 1-3pm
Proper old East London boozer. Beautiful inside and there’s often live music on. Big space outside.
- Average sun: 88%
- Best sun times: 2.15-4.15pm
Absolute diamond of an old school, no frills boozer. Pints for a fiver, darts board, pool table. Heaven.
103 Wick Road, E9 5AE, no website
- Average sun: 86%
- Best sun times: noon-2pm
Bought by an independent pub group recently and relaunched as a pro-Europe establishment. French-inspired food and a big selection of European beers, weirdly. Nice crowd and a sizeable garden. Very few Reformers about.
- Average sun: 83%
- Best sun times: 3-5pm
East London new-age boozer with lots of young graphic designers drinking pints and occasionally tequila soda. Outside space has scruffy walls, graffiti and fairy lights. You know? Go on a Monday for £5 margs, frankly.
- Average sun: 82%
- Best sun times: 1.45-3.45pm
Old school community pub with Thai food and pizza. Warm welcome, solid selection of beers and a good-sized garden.
- Average sun: 82%
- Best sun times: 12.45-2.45pm
260 Haggerston Road, E8 4EP
- Average sun: 82%
- Best sun times: 1.15-2.15pm
Good old boozer, quite big and grand, with 25 beer lines. Usually dogs running about. People like the roasts.
- Average sun: 81%
- Best sun times: 1.15-3.15pm
Really lovely garden right next to Victoria Park. Often live music on. One for a long afternoon before shots and dancing.
- Average sun: 81%
- Best sun times: 3.15-5.15pm
Let’s call it as we see it: hot people drink in the Griffin. It’s a pub for hotties. There’s also an excellent hole-in-the-wall bar across the road, Found.
93 Leonard Street, EC2A 4RD, 020 3745 7496
selkirk
- Average sun: 94%
- Best sun times: 3-5pm
Good looking corner pub in bustling Tooting. Loads of character and one of the better Sunday roast south of the river.
- Average sun: 94%
- Best sun times: noon-2pm
Big and lively boozer in Wandsworth, not the good side. A place for parties and conviviality.
- Average sun: 91%
- Best sun times: 2.30- 4.30pm
- Average sun: 91%
- Best sun times: 5.15- 7.15pm
South east London pub next to Surrey Quays and with a high-end vibe. More about cocktails and upmarket dining but there’s a late-night party vibe come evening, certainly at the weekend.
- Average sun: 90%
- Best sun times: 2.30- 4.30pm
Very Wandsworth the good side. Cabanas out the back for spritzes and tanning. A Young’s pub for south west London.
- Average sun: 89%
- Best sun times: 2.45- 4.45pm
Once a regular old railway pub, now more fancy with hotel rooms and a wine list. Pub food, beers and a strong back bar. Garden is more chilled and a good size.
- Average sun: 88%
- Best sun times: 3-5pm
If there’s a best Oxford v Cambridge boat race pub, this might be it.
- Average sun: 87%
- Best sun times: 2.45-4.45pm
Truly a pub for the real ones. Just a pub, basically. Always people in the garden with a pint or two. Piano in the corner for a little sing-song. Great chips.
- Average sun: 86%
- Best sun times: 3.30- 5.30pm
Somewhere to sip spritzes among beautiful young people. Ideal for respite and refreshment after frivolity on Clapham Common.
The White Swan
- Average sun: 97%
- Best sun times: 1.15- 3.15pm
One for the sailors. Dark pub, plenty of maritime, Naval paraphernalia. Works well as it’s positioned on the river.
- Average sun: 96%
- Best sun times: noon-2pm
On the canal way out west. Lots of space outside, much of which overlooks the water. Can be lively.
- Average sun: 95%
- Best sun times: 4.15-6.15pm
A charming and comfortable upscale boozer with stripped floors, retro lampshades and a fairly elegant snug on the first floor for late nights. The terrace is a new addition post-renovation. Music and spirits and mixers later on.
- Average sun: 94%
- Best sun times: 1.30- 3.30pm
Famous riverside pub with a decking perched over the river. Countryside feel down in Richmond. A day trip sort of place, one for fish and chips and bottles of white wine.
- Average sun: 94%
- Best sun times: 3.45- 5.45pm
14th century pub in Chiswick, the one with the terrace that floods. A must-visit in London, really.
- Average sun: 93%
- Best sun times: 3.45-5.45pm
Modern pub with prosecco and quail’s eggs. Lovely Victorian wooden bar and space outside overlooking the Thames. Well poured pints.
- Average sun: 91%
- Best sun times: 2-4pm
Truly one of London’s best-looking pubs, a magnificent Georgian building half covered in ivy. Food to a decent standard, and a cracking beer garden. Popular with the locals.
- Average sun: 88%
- Best sun times: noon-2pm
Handsome, cosy pub with lots of live music. Fair priced wine list, too.
- Average sun: 87%
- Best sun times: 12.15-2.15pm
Neighbourhood pub that, in fairness, varies from year to year as landlords come and go. But there’s a lovely terrace, live music on Fridays and a quiz on Wednesdays.
- Average sun: 87%
- Best sun times: 2-4pm
Family run gastropub not far from Kew Gardens… and Brentford football stadium. More formal inside, but outside is relaxed, with an outside bar doing lagers and Aperol spritzes.