The unquestionable mark of a truly great pub is its egalitarian spirit. The pubs we love — the pubs that have made this list — all share it. They are places where everyone is treated the same, that can be used whenever and however: they are for after-work pints, for lost afternoons, for evenings where the bell for last orders is met with grumbles. They are there for quiet catch-ups with old friends, or Sundays with a book, or Fridays with roaring music and dancing and shots met with screwed-up faces. They are not mausoleums but museums, always collecting stories, often prompting them. This is how it’s always been — decades before we were propping up the bar, others were in turn: laughing, arguing, catching-up, falling out, making up. Making out.
With that in mind, this list is one predominately dedicated to wet-led pubs. Drinking pubs. Some of them are boozers, but not all of them. Food-centric pubs have their place — that’s another list, coming another day — but inherently, they look to codify how people use them, which, honestly, is as a relaxed restaurant. To name a few, The Eagle, Camberwell Arms, Canton Arms, and The Waterman's Arms might be beautiful spots for a meal, but they’re not so much places for a quick pint, especially those that become five or six.
