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I agreed to start this channel for two reasons. One, to share lots of facts on traveling throughout Europe. Number two, talk about English pubs. We're in London right now. I'm going to show you around some of my favorite pubs in London, plus give you tons of facts about them, history, and how to enjoy a pub, how Londoners do. Hi, I'm Jordan, and this is your Guides Abroad.
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Jumping right in, number one, finding a good pub when you're in London, easier said than done, but depends. I'm picky, right? I like a nice historical pub from the 19th century. I like it to be cozy. I like a nice selection of craft beers, kind of a revolving selection of them. I say that's harder done because most pubs, actually half of all pubs in the UK are owned by nine pub co. And also a lot of breweries like Fullers own pubs and Youngs, so they put their beers in them. If you're looking for a cold beer and you just like want to escape the heat, the St. Hope across the street here is a perfect example of a pub that is good for cold beer, but maybe not for food or for like a true experience of a London pub. It's across from a tube station, it's on the High Street, dark exterior, plexiglass over the top, chalkboard. They say like they have fish and chips and cask ales. It's kind of a given, right? Good place for a drink, like I said, but for like a better pub experience, in my opinion, like a true London pub, try to go deeper into the neighborhood to find those ones like on the mews, on smaller streets. They're more like, I don't know, community. I love free houses. Free houses are independent pubs. They're not linked to a brewery or a pub co. They have a revolving selection of beers, usually craft beers, and like a little better selection of food too. If you can find a free house, go for it. Also, just keep it simple. Open up Google Maps, type in pubs wherever you're staying, and then go look for a good pub around. Do walk in, see if it's the right vibe for you, see if it's good for the family, and then you can move on, you know, go in, move on to the next one. Maybe you'll find your local on this trip. I don't know.
And we're at the Queen's Arms right now. This is in Kensington. In the Venn diagram of things I love, mews and pubs, this one's right in the middle. So it's one of our favorites. We used to live down the road too, so it wasn't our local, but it's pretty close.
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Your favorite is your local. That doesn't mean it's the pub close to your house. It's just your favorite pub. Maybe you like the drinks, maybe you like your friends who hang out there, but everyone has their local that they go to. So it's kind of fun. We live there. My favorite local, the Flimber Arms, closed down unfortunately. That was a great pub. I'm going to miss it a lot. It is a free house, so it had a great selection of revolving beers on tap and in a cooler. Anyways, I'm going to miss it. The number one name for a pub in the UK is the Red Lion. You can usually tell a pub 'cause it always has the pub sign up above, and the depiction or the image on the pub sign depicts what the name of the pub is. Like the Nag's Head will show a Nag's Head. A King's Head will show, well, you can guess it, a King's Head. They're not very creative with these signs, but makes it easy to see them, right? Interesting thing about pubs. All right, gin palaces really popular in the 18th century in London. By the 1740s, gin was sold or produced six times more than beer, so it was pretty much an epidemic of gin drinkers and alcoholism, right? So what Parliament did to combat that was they did the Beer House Act of 1830. That allowed any publican or somebody who owns a house to open up a pub in their house. It created the golden era of pubs around London. They started exploding all over the place. Some of them became really ornate and well-decorated. And as well, in London, you'll find most pubs are from the 19th century, specifically around the 1850s. I hope you got that little pub history for you.
Winner pubs open? Number two. All right, based on numerous acts of Parliament, pubs are usually open at 11:00 a.m. or noon, and we're open to 11:00 p.m. That was more historical. In 2003, they passed the law allowing pubs to apply to be late open as long as they want, even 24 hours. But most historical pubs in London still abide by that 11:00 to 11:00 p.m. You can get your last drink about 11:20 p.m., but they do shut down pretty early. We're always surprised when we first moved here that pubs, not like we're big late-night partyers, but pubs do close at 11:00. During the week, pubs will get busy starting around 4:00 p.m. It's the after-work crowd, and then during the summer, you'll see that crowd spilling out in the street. During the weekend, drinking can start around noon, and if there's a busy football or rugby tournament going on, then the pubs will be busy. They'll even recommend reserving a table at some pubs.
It is 6:00 a.m. and made it down to Borough Market for a tradition that's been going on for probably centuries now. Is the pub here? The Market Porter opens up at 6:00 a.m. from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. to service all the porters who are at Borough Market. So those porters who need a drink before they go home for the night or for the day, they come here for a pint.
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Don't be shy about ordering a pint at the bar. Just go up to the counter, make eye contact with the barman, and then order your pint or half-pint. Usually specify, I want a pint, and then you say the name brand of the beer that you like. You can point at it also, or a half-pint and the name brand of it. If you're in a group, the whole group doesn't go up. Just one person goes up and orders for the group. If there's a crowd around the bar, that happens a lot. British to queue? Not really in pubs, I've noticed. They kind of just line up. The barman can kind of keep track of who's who, where they're at. Most pubs nowadays are cashless, which is nice. You use your contactless payment card or any payment you want to pay there. If it's cash only, you know what? I haven't seen a cash-only bar in a very long time. And if you're not a big drinker, I am not. You can also order half-pints, which I feel like just hits the spot. Most pints are served as imperial pints, and it is 20 imperial ounces. Look how cute this little one is.
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Since you're visiting, you're not going to have a local. But if you're looking for some unique pubs, here's some to check out. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street is the skinniest pub in London. The Old Bank of England on Fleet Street, right across the street. You can drink in a Routemaster bus on the back patio, and it's in an old bank. The Black Friars is decorated with bronze motifs of monks from the Black Friar Monastery. The Cockpit was the pub and a fighting pit at the same time. And The French House, they sell only half-pints, and electronics are not allowed. Those are some cool pubs to check out.
Tipping. When we moved here, tipping was not normal at all. I even left money on the pub counter one time. It was very faux pas. You don't do that, right? But nowadays, I've got them. It'll say if tipping is appreciated. Like, I know at Borough Market, there's the Porter there. They have a sign up saying tipping is appreciated, and you can do contactless to pay right there for a tip. But most places, you don't tip. If it's food and you're having dinner or lunch, like we are right now, then they'll do what a lot of restaurants do around here is they'll add 12.5% a discretionary service charge to the bill. So that's tipping. Like I said, if you're just ordering drinks at the pub, no tipping's required. Typically nowadays in London, it's about £6.50. That's normal. If you're in a pricey area like Covent Garden, you can run up to like £8 for a pint. If it's lower alcohol, give this. If it's 3.5% ABV or below, they can, it's less tax, so those are cheaper. When we lived out in the countryside in England, I saw drinks or pints as low as £4. It's kind of for those pensioners who sit at the bar all day and drink. That's another big one. The British like session beers, low alcohol beers. They can just relax, sit, watch football all day long. It's a great custom to say hang out at the pub for a long afternoon or on the weekend. This was £4. £4. Not London anymore. Not in London anymore.
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Okay, fun fact. Since the public house didn't come into being until the 19th century, before that, most pubs were called inns or taverns. So some of the oldest pubs in London will be referred to as inns or taverns. Where the George, which is a coaching inn, it's actually the oldest living gallery coaching inn that existed. It survived the Great Fire. This is an old pub. As the sign behind me says, also the Spaniard of Hampstead dates from 1585. Keep watching because we have more of our favorite historical pubs down below. And if you want to visit pubs where Charles Dickens went to, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was included in one of his novels. The George was included in Little Dorrit, and he's also been to the Spaniard. So essentially, if it's an old pub, Charles Dickens drank there. As we're leaving the Lamb Tavern, I realized this pub is four years younger than the United States of America. It's pretty crazy. Talking about old pubs, two tips for stay to the end because we list our favorite historical pubs and do a historical walking tour of London. I did one of those. It was so much fun. It's not a pub crawl. It's great. Take you to different pubs, tell you the history about those pubs, history of London. They put it all together. It was just a wonderful experience. Click down below for some great.
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PBS. Make every meal count. Not hard in England. Lots of great places to eat. We love going to a pub. I think it's a must-see experience. The food has got a lot better in London. There's a lot of gastro pubs all over the city. Find some really good stuff. We have some listed in our pub guide, so check that in the link down below. We are at Sunday Roast right now. The Builder's Arms. It's a Georgian pub. Not only that, it's a corner pub. Two of my favorite things. Wonderful selection of food. We got a Sunday Roast right here. It's got a Yorkshire pudding, chicken or beef on it. You got some chips and vegetables. It's really good to get. But just go anytime. They have specials there. Locally sourced food, meat locally sourced from British farms. You can go downstairs for dining, you can go upstairs. Usually reservation is required nowadays for like the good ones, like scars. The Old Tavern. Also too, though, sometimes you can sit in the front of the pub without reservation, but they'll have dining upstairs or in the back, like its own dining room. So just ask them. Just ask them what's required. Sure, you can get fish and chips. Recommend get that. But bangers and mash, shepherd's pie, Scotch eggs for an appetizer. There's a lot of great food to try. Check the daily specials too, and just enjoy yourself at a pub. Now, just for the drinks, but the food too. All right, this place is getting busy now. All right, time to eat.
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Please don't forget to order sticky toffee pudding. We're at the pub. And by the way, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese has really good sticky toffee pudding. It's one of our favorites. On a wet, rainy day in London, Sunday Roast is a thing to do. The sticky toffee pudding is good during the winter and the summer. Gosh, there's so many great tips to this pub guide. Thanks for watching.
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So we're at the Churchill Arms right now in Kensington. This place is very popular for the beautiful exterior covered in flowers, and the inside decor is also very interesting. You can get very busy. What a lot of people don't know is an excellent Thai restaurant inside. And we've been in London for 3 days, and this is my first Guinness, and I am so excited. Really is better here. Fact, the Guinness Book of World Records was invented to solve arguments at pubs.
Number six, are kids allowed at pubs? Absolutely. We bring our kids to all pubs, and you shouldn't judge us for that. They're pretty family-friendly. Say pretty, 'cause you just have to use your common sense. If it's kind of dingy and dark and rowdy, probably not the best for kids. We like courtyard pubs like this, patio pubs. It's all good. The drinking age in the UK is 18 years old, but you can drink. A 16 or 17-year-old can drink with an adult if they have a meal with it, beer, wine, or cider at a pub. And kind of the rule of thumb we found is at 9:00 p.m., really should have kids in the pub anymore. And we like taking our kids to dinner at pubs because this is a lot of fun. They usually have kids' menus, or at least they have stuff on the menu the kids will eat. And before we had kids, we lived out in the countryside for a while in England, and we saw playgrounds at pubs out there, and we're like, that's a little weird. But now that we have kids, that is the most brilliant thing I've ever seen. So smart.
Myth: English beer is served warm. That's not completely true. So the famous beer that you get in England is a cask ale. These are served about 54 to 57 degrees, or they call it cellar temperature, which is warmer than regular refrigeration temperature. And during the summer, cellar temperature can feel a little warmer 'cause it's so hot outside, but I still, they're still cold. It's still a refreshing beer. It's not served at room temperature. Why we're talking about that, let's talk about English ales. They pump it out when you're at the bar. It's really cool. They do this because it is not artificially carbonated. So they have to pump it up to bring it out of the cask into the cellar. English ales are really unique. They're a live beer. They don't kill the yeast inside. They use finings to clump the yeast together. And what they do is they ferment in a cask and then they deliver that cask here. Visitors may find them to be a little flat, hence you'll never find a big head of foam on top of them, and to be a little bitter also. I like English ales, don't get me wrong, but I like a lot of the other craft beers, regular ones like IPAs, lagers, and Guinness. When I'm here, Guinness in Europe is a lot better than America. So I do default to Guinness a lot when I'm over here. It's really good beer.
What order at a pub? You got wine, you got beer, you got some cocktails. You can get like a G&T, you can get a cider. Also, make sure you try an English ale when you're at a pub. They always have the best ones. If you're not sure what to order, just ask the bartender. They're super friendly.
The Anchor is behind me, built in 1615. Boom. Old. It's a nice walk, by the way. We have this part of our walk itinerary today. You can download the itinerary. You're off to explore the city of London. You can download it down below at yourguidesabroad.com.
London: How to find the oldest pubs in London? That's a great question, right? There's a lot of them. Like I said, the inns and taverns are a good sign that it's going to be an old pub. Now, since over half the city of London burned down in the Great Fire of 1666, that's why most pubs and inns and taverns date after that. But here's some of my favorite old pubs to go check out. Some of the oldest, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. It burned down in the Great Fire. It was rebuilt in 1667. A pub has been here since 1538. And if you want to see old parts, go down to the basement to see the ancient sections of the before the Great Fire. Okay, you can't. I tried to hit my head. You can't see us, but we're going down the cellar. You know, Cheshire Cheese is the oldest part. The top part burned down in 1666. It was rebuilt, but down here, it dates from the man, what did you say? Like the 15th century, even down back to the 13th century, I think. Don't quote me on that, but this is the old part. The old cheese. And the toilet's right behind me. The Old Bell Tavern dates from 1678. And get this, this was a Sir Christopher Wren-built pub, which makes it famous. And he built it for his Masons who were building St. Bride's Church right around the corner. And that was a deal that they used to do a lot. The landlord would build a pub first to house the workers and also to give the workers a place to drink while they were building their church or monument, whatever they're building. Pretty cool, right? The Lamb and Flag, oldest pub in Covent Garden, 1623. And here, the Georgian and Subic, which we're having a drink at today. I think it survived the Great Fire. I need to go read some plaques. Some great places to find some old pubs is Fleet Street. You know, the place where all the newspapers were. Great pubs there. Also, Little Venice has a lot of cool pubs. My coworker used to always organize a pub crawl from Paddington Station through Little Venice, hitting up a lot of great pubs. So that's a fun area to check out if you want to do a pub crawl.
The Temple behind us. The first pub we went, we moved to London. We were in corporate housing here for a little bit. We got fish and chips. We're like, what is mushy peas? It was awesome. This is our first place, and we lived just like two doors down. Very cool temporary housing. We have a few more pints to drink. But for you, go check out our website, yourguidesabroad.com. Two free things for you. A pub guide with even more information and more of our favorite pubs. List them all with directions on how to get to them. Number two, we have our London travel guide. It's free. It'll show you around London, where to stay, best place to eat, all that good stuff. It's a good grounding to help you get your planning started for London because you're going to have a great time. If you're watching this video, you're my type of person 'cause you like pubs. You don't have to drink to like a pub. My wife doesn't drink a lot, and she just finds them cozy and just a nice place to hang out, especially when it starts getting cold over here in London. Thanks so much for watching.
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