Best London pubs with a proper garden, 2026

London pubs with a proper garden are not as common as people make out. Most of what gets sold as a "beer garden" is four wooden tables on a patio with a smoking sign. This list is for the actual gardens — the ones where you can lose two hours, the ones where six of you can show up unannounced and the staff do not blink.

Ranked by garden size, sun coverage, the quality of what you can get on tap, and how often a Londoner who actually drinks would default to it on a sunny Tuesday.

1. The Edinboro Castle (Camden)

The reference. Big proper Victorian beer garden behind a Camden townhouse, BBQ running in summer, sun all afternoon, fairy lights at night. The crowd is mixed in the best way. Walk-in always works on a Tuesday, Saturdays you are queueing 5pm onwards.

The drink: Camden Hells, a sensible wine by the glass, the cocktails are fine. £6.20 a pint last I checked.

2. The Spaniards Inn (Hampstead Heath)

500-year-old coaching inn on the edge of the Heath. The garden is absurdly big — multiple sections, a proper outdoor bar in summer, parking for whoever still drives. Sundays it is heaving by 1pm.

After: Heath walk down to Kenwood House. The canonical north London Sunday.

3. The Royal Inn on the Park (Victoria Park)

Opens directly onto Victoria Park. The garden is suntrap-perfect, the kitchen does a sensible burger and chips, and on a sunny Saturday it is the best pub garden in east London. Get there before noon if you want a proper table.

4. The Crooked Billet (Wimbledon Common)

On the edge of Wimbledon Common, near the windmill. The garden is vast, the walk-back via the windmill is the move, the food is exactly what you want a country pub in zone 3 to do.

5. The Lord Palmerston (Dartmouth Park)

Tufnell Park's worst-kept secret. Big walled garden out the back, decent kitchen, calm. The kind of place you go for one and stay for four.

6. The Faltering Fullback (Finsbury Park)

The Faltering is chaos in the best way — tiered garden with ivy everywhere, lights and tables on three levels, a Thai kitchen at the back. Loud on a Saturday night, proper local on a Tuesday afternoon.

The walk back to Finsbury Park station is two minutes. Inconvenient, this isn't.

7. The Pembroke Castle (Primrose Hill)

Primrose Hill local with a side garden and a roof terrace. The roof terrace is the move on a sunny day. Walk up the Hill afterwards for the view, the canonical north London pre-dinner thing to do.

8. The Carpenter's Arms (Marble Arch)

Hidden behind a Mews, you walk past it twice before you find it. The cobbled courtyard is a properly underrated suntrap — south-facing, enclosed, gets sun from 1pm. The crowd is the W1 lunch crew so go after 4 if you want it quieter.

9. The Holly Bush (Hampstead)

Tiny back garden, the room itself is the draw. After a Heath walk, this is the pint of choice. The kitchen does a respectable Sunday roast.

10. The Sun Inn (Barnes)

Out on Barnes Pond. Ducks, willow trees, sensible kitchen, the most village-pub-in-London thing in London. The walk along the river to Hammersmith Bridge after is genuinely lovely.

What to skip

Any pub that markets itself as having "London's biggest beer garden" — they invariably have a yard with twelve picnic benches and a heat lamp. The chain pubs in Hoxton with the garden out the front next to the bus stop. Anywhere advertising "DJ in the garden every Saturday" — at least decide if you are a pub or a club, mate.

For pub takeovers, beer festivals and outdoor things in London this weekend, the London this-week page on Rifio surfaces them. The free things page catches the genuinely free outdoor events.

Have a proper one, it is finally summer, mostly.