9 best London pubs for a pint of Guinness revealed

Guinness doesn’t half like to bang on about its pints being poured properly. And to further cement the legend, it has now punted out the Guinness Harp Guide 2026, which highlights the 35 UK pubs that really serve a pint properly.

Nine London pubs make it into the list for this inaugural Harp Guide, no doubt to the chagrin of pint pullers and pub managers who have served thousands of pints of Guinness over 2025.

Here’s the full list of nine London Guinness star pubs:

• Bricklayers Arms (Putney)
• Mc & Sons (London Bridge)
• Skehan’s Freehouse (Nunhead)
• The. Audley Public House (Mayfair)
• The Auld Shillelagh (Stoke Newington)
• The Coach & Horses (TBC)
• The Devonshire (Piccadilly)
• The Fox & Pheasant (Chelsea)
• The Toucan (Soho)

We’ve tried to hunt down the location of each of these — Guinness’s own pub finder is not great — but none of the many The Coach & Horses pubs we’ve found in London appear to have been crowned with the Harp guide 2026 label. That includes the famous and popular Soho and Covent Garden pubs of that name.

“By shining a light on these exceptional venues we want to recognise pubs and help to drive footfall throughout the year, as well as giving our drinkers advice on where they can find a perfect pint of Guinness,” says Head of Guinness at Diageo, Nicholas Payman.

Each of these winners will receive a Guinness plaque to proudly display on the premises. And London is of course proudly over-represented in the list, snagging 25 per cent of the picks.

There’s a solid reason for Guinness to want to highlight London as a national highlight, though. The brand is opening up the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Covent Garden this very week, on December 11th.

It’s home to a couple of restaurants, a bar and a mini brewery operation, which you can book tours of. And, yes, that includes a “pint pour” experience.

• London's top 10 busiest pubs this Christmas predicted

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