The London Borough of Camden stretches from Holborn and Bloomsbury up through Fitzrovia, King's Cross and Kentish Town to Hampstead Heath. That makes it one of the best places in the capital to find pubs with real history: Georgian taverns, Victorian gin palaces and a few hidden corners that most visitors walk straight past. Here are ten to start with.
Holborn and Bloomsbury
Princess Louise dates from 1872 and is often described as having the best-preserved Victorian interior in London. The original mirrors, tiles and screens are the draw, and Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Bitter is served from wooden casks.
Nearby, Cittie of Yorke is a monumental pub with a nave-like back room that recalls a guild hall. It is the heir to taverns that have stood on this site since 1430, and it sits beside the Inns of Court.
For something tiny, find Ye Olde Mitre. This eighteenth-century pub is hidden in an alley between Hatton Garden and Ely Place and is tied to the former London residence of the Bishops of Ely. It is easy to miss, which is part of the charm.
In Bloomsbury, The Lamb is a Georgian pub on a pedestrian street with original Victorian screens and a strong literary pedigree, from Dickens to Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. A few streets away, Museum Tavern faces the British Museum and is famous because Karl Marx used to stop by while researching in the Reading Room.
Fitzrovia
Fitzroy Tavern is the pub that gives Fitzrovia its name. Between the 1920s and 1950s it was the headquarters of London's literary and artistic bohemia, and it still serves Samuel Smith's cask ales straight from the cellar.
King's Cross
The Queen's Head is an independent pub in a Grade II-listed building thought to date from about 1764. It has a one-star national heritage interior, was named North London Pub of the Year in 2022 and keeps a long whisky list alongside its cask ale.
Kentish Town
The Assembly House on Kentish Town Road has a spectacular interior of mirrors, dark wood and etched glass that has barely changed in over a century. It is one of the most impressive Victorian pubs in this part of north London.
Hampstead
Up the hill, The Holly Bush is tucked into a cobbled alley above Hampstead, with gas-and-wood interiors that are almost untouched since the nineteenth century. Close by, The Flask has a Victorian façade on a pedestrian street and the classic etched-glass screen that once separated the "public" bar from the "private" one.
Planning your visit
- These pubs are spread across the borough, so pick a neighbourhood and walk between two or three rather than trying to see them all in a day.
- The Holborn and Bloomsbury pubs are an easy walk from each other and from several Tube stations.
- Opening hours change, so check each pub before you set off. Full details, addresses and maps are on each pub's page on The Pint Alley.