Pub

• The Pocket pub in Canonbury is the new pub from The Southampton Arms team

  

  London's pub scene is thriving in 2025 and this latest news from Islington is very good indeed. If you're a north Londoner you'll probably know of The Southampton Arms in Kentish Town. It's a gorgeous, old-school (and tiny) spot up near Parliament Hill that specialises in ale and cider.

  Well. the same team behind that are responsible for taking over a long-closed site on Canonbury Lane in Islington, where they're

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• Test Driving The Knave of Clubs - an instant-hit pub arrives in Shoreditch

  

  A classic Shoreditch pub is reborn in the modern age, backed up with a great pub menu from ex-Allegra chef Patrick Powell. We tried out The Knave of Clubs (and didn't want to go home). 

• Molly Mc's singing pub is coming to Southwark

  

  You may have spotted videos on your social (or maybe it's just our algorithm) of a rise in London pubs offering proper sing songs, whether that's trad Irish tunes or music with a broader appeal. Now it's Southwark's turn as the team behind Mc & Sons in Borough and Vauxhall are opening their very first singing pub in Southwark.

  Molly Mc's is named after the family's grandmother and they've gone all out with the

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• The Baring team to open The Kerfield Arms pub in Camberwell

  

  The team behind highly-rated Islington pub The Baring, are heading south of the river for their second opening, The Kerfield Arms in Camberwell. 

  Taking over what was The Crooked Well, which closed at the end of last year, it sounds like they'll be taking a lot of what worked very well at the Baring (it was the highest new entry in the Top 50 Gastropubs list last year) and bringing

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• Test Driving The Prince Arthur - the fresh prince of Belgravia

   

  The Prince Arthur is a new pub in Belgravia that's doing things a little differently, with a Basque food menu and lots of (own brand) caviar on offer. We went along to check it out.  

• UK's Top 50 Gastropubs announced - Unruly Pig at no 1, The Devonshire straight in at no 2

  

  The first big awards of the 2025 season are here as the Top 50 UK Gastropubs list has been revealed. For the second year in a row (and its third time in total), Suffolk pub The Unruly Pig has claimed the top spot. We visited The Unruly Pig last year and can definitely see what all the fuss is about -

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• The Knave of Clubs brings in chef Patrick Powell for this Shoreditch pub revival

  

  We hinted in our 2025 preview feature that former Midland Grand and Allegra chef Patrick Powell had some interesting projects on the horizon for this year. Now we're in a position to be able to tell you more. Turns out he's teamed up with a group of hugely talented hospitality folk to work on the revival of a

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• Duck and Rice is opening a new place in Battersea on its tenth anniversary

  

  It's been almost 10 years since Alan Yau took over a Soho pub and transformed it into Duck and Rice. A decade on, it seems it's time to expand as it's the latest place to find itself making its way to Battersea Power Station with a new location. 

  If you're unfamiliar with the Soho original, they describe themselves as a "Soho pub with a world-class Chinese kitchen". As for the

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• The Dark Horse in Camden sees Le Bab running a pub

  

  The Farrier in Camden closed late last year, but it hasn't taken long for another new pub to spring up in its place. The Dark Horse takes over the site in the old Camden stable area and also happens to come from the same people as Le Bab. 

  The food won't be a repeat of Le Bab or Kebab Queen, however, as it'll instead focus on traditional pub classics. So you can expect their own take on fish

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• Test Driving William IV - a perfect example of a good pub dining room

  

  We should all be so lucky to have a pub Dining Room like the William IV in our neighbourhood.

• Rake is the next residency to take over at The Compton Arms

  

  So far, the hit rate at Islington pub The Compton Arms for picking extremely interesting chef residencies is out of the park. They started with Schmaltz by Chris D'Sylva who went on to open Dorian. Then it was Four Legs who now run The Plimsoll and Tollington's. Most recently it was Tiella which has been universally loved by all the critics.

  That means we sat up and paid attention when we found out who was taking over

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• Nancy Spains are opening their next Irish pub in the City

  

  Their first pub opened in Shoreditch only earlier this year, but a second Nancy Spains is already on the way (and we now wouldn't be surprised if more were planned). 

  It's taken over the space that was once City pub, The Wine Lodge (which appears to have been closed for over five years). As before, it's run by Kerry-born brothers Peter and Nicholas O’Halloran and they'll be

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• Test Driving Godet - a wine bar/pub that could be the future of London's boozers

  

  Islington now has a second boozer turned wine pub to check out. We went to see what Godet on Essex Road has to offer.

• Red Lion & Sun pub owner takes over the Angel Inn in Highgate

  

  There are plenty of restaurant operators who like to keep all their businesses close to each other - think Tom Kerridge in Marlow or Rick Stein in Cornwall. Now, up in North London, popular pub landlord Heath Ball is hoping to follow in their footsteps. Heath owns the super-popular (and our own personal favourite drinking hole) the Red Lion & Sun in Highgate, but has just taken on a new pub less than 200 yards

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• Test driving Greyhound Inn, a Suffolk pub with a menu which reads like a dream

  

  Deep in the heart of Suffolk, you'll find this country pub with a truly excellent and inventive menu. We went to try out the Greyhound Inn.