You know you have conquered when you have had a pint in a London pub.
Only Fools and Horses crew did it. Spurs fans did it opposite their home grounds. You can do it! I know I do it and deary me, it takes a unique experience to say which ones stand out for the aura that as soon as you enter through the front entrance doors, that feeling of ‘awe’ comes over your face like a veil that has suddenly been lifted from your eyes to reveal a room of ‘goodies’ as in Alice through the Looking Glass,
“Still she haunts me, phantomwise” (Lewis Carroll) and I was the Dodo in Alice In Wonderland always wanting to have blond hair because they look angelic standing at the pub counter.
Like a spectre drifting through the empty floor space no one occupies but the newcomer into a room of specialist drinkers also known as ‘very like’ heavy alcohol imbibers (to you and me, it’s ‘alcoholics’, but the other term sounds more intuitive), who know what they themselves are talking about, not you, the outsider. The regular pub goer briefly looks up towards the entrance door to see who’s come through the invisible shroud of pub air and then continue their drone, which I’ll never fathom.
Often I would enter the doors before the others who tend to meander slowly to the ‘final’ destination agreed on and me? I speed across streets and alleyways to get there first so as to quickly order my pint and sit down before the rest turn up to offer me a drink. The penalty of coming last, is…‘the dreaded rounds’. It all circulates. Everyone professing to want to buy a round, another coming forward, then backing off into the darkest corner of the group, then doing the disappearing improviso act until the round’s been bought and you never clap eyes on them until the next round’s been sor’ed.
Typ-i-cal!
Pub: Shakespeare, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1
A Taylor and Walker pub with outside tables and seating area and a bar downstairs.
Opening hours, 9am – Midnight except for Sundays, (closes at 11.30 pm).
https://goo.gl/maps/6Bjtd7jx4VzvU5VN7
The dining experience at this pub is good; the food is served hot and the salad is fresh. I love the seating arrangements as well as the atmosphere. It’s like being in a restaurant but with the social ambience of a pub that gives it a nice, comfortable feel about the place.
Rating: 5 stars 
Pub: The Halfway House, Earlsfield, London SW18
A bistro type pub with wooden tables and chairs, conservatory and fireside dining.
Opening hours, 11 am – 11 pm (Mon – Thur); 11 am – Midnight (Fri, Sat); 11 am – 10.30 pm (Sun)
https://goo.gl/maps/STmX9epEjfWW3ifD8
A beautiful pub which strikes me as being like a traditional British restaurant like the formerly Berni Inn, founded by 2 brothers in 1955 and designed to look like a Tudor style inn with false oak beams and white walls.
The apple crumble and vanilla custard is a true British-made dessert that I could eat all the time. Guinness, for its nutrient iron is on point! What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon with friends?
Rating: 5 stars
Pub; The Wandle of Earlsfield, London SW18
Locals’ pub, which has a ping pong table, decked beer garden, TV sport, quiz nights and live music.
Opening hours, 12 pm – 11 pm (Sun – Thur); 12 pm – 1 am (Fri, Sat)
https://goo.gl/maps/fcdMyY4deNFbhHsCA
My first impression of this pub when I walked through the doors was one of amazement at the space and décor. A modernised bistro style pub with an outdoor seating area in the beer garden which has an outdoor kitchen hut for a summer’s night’s chat with friends.
Rating: 5 stars
Pub; The Wheatsheaf, London SW17
Casual, high ceilinged, red brick bistro type pub with an amazingly creative British cuisine and special dining area.
Opening hours, 11 am – 11 pm (Mon, Tues); 11 am – Midnight (Wed, Thurs, Sun); 11 am – 1 am (Fri); 10 am – 1 am (Sat)
https://goo.gl/maps/8hRyPZ5sw25E7R9n6
The dining experience with good strong English Breakfast tea, is one that is not seen in many places. There is a restaurant style inner seating area which is very different from the pub side. It is the least surprising of all the pubs mentioned in its traditional pub style décor but the food is like the Chef’s house special, every day, at whatever time.
Rating: 5 stars
A final word on the best pub:
If I had to choose one pub I like and not included in the above list, I could not. Each pub has its own character and strong points which make them exceptional as pubs. The way I rate a pub personally is by trying the Guinness. If the stout is not bitter but palatable and has that subtle stout taste but not overwhelmingly bitter, I know I can drink in that pub. It’s a personal preference but one I use to decide whether that pub is high on my list of To Go places. Ironically, I am not a pub goer so I can never understand the ‘language’ regular drinkers have between themselves and they have their regular seats where they sit for hours, downing a few pints throughout the night into the early hours.
You won’t catch me doing that!
Not ‘arf!
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