Pub

• The Bush Tavern is opening as the new home of No Drama Burgers

  

  We've been wondering when we'd hear where popular West London burger slingers No Drama were moving to, since they lost their own premises in Acton earlier this year. Now we have the answer. They'll be in charge of the food side of things at new pub, The Bush Tavern, that's just about to open in Shepherd's Bush. And this isn't just a residency, it's a permanent home.

  The tavern is taking over the pub on

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• Test Driving The Black Eel - a tardis-like pub in Dalston with truly great comfort food by Riley's

   

  The Black Eel is a new pub in Dalston that's taken over an absolute warren of rooms with a very talented chef in the kitchen. We went down to try it out.  

• Crisp Pizza open The Marlborough pub in Mayfair with a little help from The Devonshire - here's a first look

  

  9/11/25 - Updated with photos and menu details

  One of London's big openings for the autumn is the arrival of Crisp Pizza in Mayfair, where they've taken over The Marlborough Head pub on North Audley Street, renaming it The Marlborough. 

  For the Mayfair opening, Crisp's and now The Marlborough's owner Carl McCluskey is getting support from the whole team behind The Devonshire:

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• The City is getting an Irish American steakhouse and pub called The Horsemen

  

  It's all go in Broadgate at the moment. Fresh off the launch off the new Vagabond wine bar, and the imminent arrival of US import Velvet Taco comes news of another interesting new opening in the pipeline.

  The Horsemen is being billed as an "An Irish-American steakhouse and freehouse" which, according to trade title Propel, is being opened by the same group that brought Sunday in Brooklyn to London. The pub

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• 19th century pub St John's Tavern in Archway is reopening after a £1 million makeover

  

  Urban Pubs and Bars, the team that owns pubs like The Gun in Spitalfields as well as the Salt Yard group, are gearing up to launch their next big pub. In September, they took over the St John's Tavern in Archway and now it's about to get its big unveiling. 

  The pub has apparently had a £1 million makeover, so it's definitely been given more than a simple

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• Battersea's Four Thieves pub is reborn as The Thieves, with Balans on food duty

  

  Since August, Battersea's Four Thieves pub has been undergoing a big renovation and now it's coming out the other end of that as a "new" pub, The Thieves. 

  In its previous incarnation, the pub had an arcade and was big on events and karaoke. Now it's really leaning into that, describing itself as "a playground for adults". The upstairs arcade, now called The

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• Willem Dafoe gets a Mayfair pub named after him

  

  As autumn arrives, the drinks brands' marketing budget shoots up in preparation for Christmas, and that usually means we get some mad pop-ups and events in the last few months of the year. This latest venture certainly fits into that mould.

  The Barley Mow in Mayfair has teamed up with Laphroaig Whisky and none other than Willem Dafoe for their current stunt. It's to tie in with ...

• The Parcel Yard, one of London's most useful station pubs, has had a big glow up

  

  It's always been one of the handiest pubs in a London train station, and for the past few weeks, The Parcel Yard has been getting a revamp. 

  If you're not familiar with the pub, it's at the back of King's Cross station (just past the throngs queuing for a picture of themselves with the Harry Potter trolley). Until now, the inside has been kind of a (heavily

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• Dalston's pie and eel shop gets a new life as The Black Eel pub

  

  For years, it was best known as F Cooke eel, pie and mash shop. Then it became a Chinese karaoke joint and, most recently, was cocktail and board game spot Draughts. Now, one of the best-known frontages on Kingsland High Street (and a Grade II listed site to boot) is about to turn into a pub.

  The Black Eel comes from Exale Brewing, who also run the William the Fourth in Leyton and

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• The Trafalgar is the first new pub to be built on the King's Road in 100 years

  

  Chelsea's upcoming pub opening, The Trafalgar, has a few claims to fame. First the company behind it, the Three Cheers Pub Co, say theirs is the first new public house to be built on Chelsea's main shopping drag in more than a century. The building they're taking over also has its own history, having been designed by Sir Roger Blomfield who also built the UK Prime Minister's country pile, Chequers.

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• The team behind The Pelican are opening The Hart beside Chiltern Firehouse

  

  Updated 12/9/25 with images

  It's been a busy few months for The Public House Group. The company, who are behind The Pelican and The Hero pubs, pulled a double in Notting Hill, opening Canteen and The Fat Badger there in quick succession.

  Now they've set their sights on a new

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• Test Driving Chalk Freehouse - Tom Kerridge's second try at breaking Chelsea

  

  Tom Kerridge is taking his Chelsea pub in a new direction, one which has more nods to his best-known pub, The Hand and Flowers. We went along to see what the change has brought about. 

• The Highbury Barn is getting a brush-up

  

  We've had a lot of news about pub openings and revamps recently, and now here comes one a little closer to home (well, our homes anyway). The Highbury Barn, a large pub right in the middle of Highbury village, which dates back to 1840, is getting ready to reopen after a £500,000 revamp.

  Anyone who's been there will know that it's a big old space and now they're adding a new bar at the back, while also

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• Cult Hoxton pub The Macbeth now has an ex-Four Legs chef in charge

  

  For more than a century, they've been pulling pints in the Hoxton pub The Macbeth. More recently than that, the pub forged quite the reputation as a live music venue with everyone from Florence + The Machine to Fontaines DC playing there. Now the pub's got a new owner and it looks like the food side of things is about to take a sharp turn for the better.

  Jamie Allan has been best known for being part of the Four Legs

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• The Shaston Arms in Soho is being relaunched by The Watermans Arms team

  

  Back in 2023, the founder of Patty & Bun, Joe Grossmann, got into the pub business, opening The Watermans Arms in Barnes. It turned out to be an excellent pub, blessed with a fantastic view of the Thames and with a great menu by chef Sam

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