Hampstead has more genuinely good pubs per square mile than almost anywhere in London. The area's residents are demanding, the rents are high, and the competition is real — which means the pubs that survive are, by and large, excellent. This is the current guide to ten of them: what makes each one worth visiting, what to drink, what to eat, and when to go.
The Spaniards Inn — Spaniards Road, NW3 7JJ
The oldest pub in Hampstead and, by almost any measure, one of the finest in London. The Spaniards has been standing on the edge of the Heath since the 16th century — the building itself is a former coaching inn, with the original tollbooth still visible across the road. It appears in Dickens (The Pickwick Papers), in Keats's letters, and in Bram Stoker's Dracula, where Mina and Lucy take tea in the garden while Van Helsing plots his next move inside.
The interior is exactly what a pub of this age should be: low ceilings, dark oak beams, fireplaces that burn from October through March, and a warren of small rooms that reward exploration. The beer garden is among the best in London — a large, tree-shaded space that fills with Heath walkers on summer weekends and feels genuinely festive on warm evenings. Food is gastropub standard: good Sunday roasts (around £22), decent burgers, and a solid wine list. Arrive before noon on a summer Saturday if you want a spot in the garden.
Best for: Historic atmosphere, summer evenings, post-Heath walk pints. On tap: London Pride, Doom Bar, rotating guest ales. Food: Lunch and dinner daily.
The Holly Bush — Holly Mount, NW3 6SG
Reached via a steep climb up Holly Hill and Holly Mount, the Holly Bush is the pub most Hampstead regulars eventually settle on as their favourite. The effort required to find it — and the hill genuinely discourages the casually curious — means it has remained an authentically local pub despite being one of the most celebrated in North London.
The interior is extraordinary: a Grade II listed building with original 18th-century features intact, including four separate rooms, working open fires, gas-lit snob screens, and low doorways that enforce a certain humility on arrival. Harvey's Sussex Best is the house ale — one of the few London pubs to stock it regularly — alongside Fuller's London Pride and a changing guest. The food is serious: fish and chips £19, Sunday roast £24, a wine list of around 80 bottles. Get there before 6pm on Friday or Saturday evenings; the bar fills quickly. Dining-room bookings are taken; bar seating is first-come.
Best for: Cold evenings, serious drinkers, the best pub interior in Hampstead. On tap: Harvey's Sussex Best, Fuller's London Pride. Food: Lunch and dinner daily.
The Flask — Flask Walk, NW3 1HE
The Flask takes its name from the 17th-century practice of bottling Hampstead's famous spa waters here for dispatch to London. The building dates to around 1700, though it has been sympathetically extended since. It sits at the north end of Flask Walk, the pedestrianised lane that runs south from Heath Street, and its position makes it the natural endpoint of any walk through the village.
It is a Young's pub, which means reliable ales (London Original, Special) and a consistently well-kept bar. The interior is divided into several distinct spaces — the front bar, the back bar (quieter, more comfortable, the better choice on busy evenings), and a covered heated courtyard that holds around forty people and is one of the more pleasant places to drink in the village on a cool evening. Sunday roasts are around £22 and book out early; arrive before noon or book ahead.
Best for: Village atmosphere, post-market Saturday afternoons, reliable ales. On tap: Young's Original, Special, seasonal ales. Food: Lunch and dinner daily, Sunday roast.
The Wells Tavern — Well Walk, NW3 1BX
Well Walk was the epicentre of Hampstead's 18th-century spa boom — the chalybeate spring that made the village fashionable is still marked at the end of the street — and The Wells Tavern is one of the more civilised survivors of that era. It operates primarily as a gastropub, with a food offer that takes itself seriously: seasonal menus, good sourcing, and a kitchen that clearly has ambitions beyond standard pub fare.
The ground floor is classic pub — bar stools, good natural light, a well-chosen selection of draught and bottled beers. Upstairs, a dining room handles the more formal food operation. The wine list is one of the better pub wine lists in NW3. Go for a weekday lunch in autumn when the street outside is quiet and the kitchen is at its best.
Best for: Serious food, wine drinkers, weekday lunches. On tap: Rotating craft ales, lagers. Food: Lunch and dinner daily, strong brunch at weekends.
The Duke of Hamilton — New End, NW3 1JD
The local's local in the middle of the village. The Duke of Hamilton sits on New End, a quiet street that runs behind the High Street, and it has the feel of a pub that has been quietly resisting the forces of gentrification for several decades. Cash preferred at the bar. The interior has not been dramatically refurbished. The Guinness is reliably well-kept.
Live jazz on Thursday evenings — genuinely good jazz, not background music — makes this one of the more unusual mid-week options in Hampstead. The crowd is mixed in the best sense: locals of all ages, NHS staff from the Royal Free nearby, students from the area's various schools. A good pub to have in your rotation when you want a drink without the weekend crowds or tourist-facing service.
Best for: Thursday jazz, no-fuss local drinking, the Guinness. On tap: Guinness, standard lagers and ales. Food: Limited bar snacks.
The Old White Bear — Well Road, NW3 1LJ
Situated on the Hampstead–Highgate border, the Old White Bear is the choice for those who want a quieter evening away from the village centre. It is a traditional pub in the proper sense — no loud music, no craft beer theatre, no extensive food operation trying to be a restaurant. Just a well-kept selection of ales, a heated garden that works in most weather, and an unhurried atmosphere that has become genuinely rare in North London.
It attracts a neighbourhood crowd: people who live within ten minutes' walk and regard it as their local rather than a destination. That is the highest compliment a pub can receive. Good for a weekday evening when you want a couple of quiet pints and conversation.
Best for: Quiet evenings, neighbourhood locals, no-fuss drinking. On tap: Rotating real ales. Food: Bar snacks.
The Freemasons Arms — Downshire Hill, NW3 1NT
The Freemasons Arms occupies a large, handsome building on Downshire Hill, close to Keats Grove and the southern edge of the Heath. It is a Fuller's pub — London Pride on tap, reliably kept — with a food operation that leans gastropub without abandoning its pub identity. The beer garden is substantial: one of the larger pub gardens in the area, with enough space that it rarely feels overcrowded even on warm weekends.
The interior has the slightly schizophrenic character of a pub that has been partially upgraded without losing its original character — there are corners that feel genuinely old and corners that feel recently refurbished. This is not a criticism; the overall effect is comfortable. It is a good middle-ground pub: better than a chain, less precious than the Holly Bush, well-suited to groups who want food and drink without strong opinions about either.
Best for: Groups, summer garden drinking, pre- or post-Heath walk. On tap: Fuller's London Pride, ESB, seasonal ales. Food: Lunch and dinner daily.
The Magdala — South Hill Park, NW3 2SB
The Magdala is known, in certain circles, for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of its beer: it was outside this pub, in 1955, that Ruth Ellis — the last woman to be hanged in Britain — shot her lover David Blakely. The bullet holes in the exterior wall are still visible. The pub has worn this history with varying degrees of comfort over the decades; the current management acknowledges it factually without exploiting it as a gimmick.
As a pub, it is a solid neighbourhood option near South End Green, serving good ales and a reasonable food menu in a comfortable Victorian interior. The crowd is local — families from Belsize Park and South Hampstead, Heath walkers coming down from Parliament Hill. A good option if you are approaching Hampstead from the south end.
Best for: South Hampstead locals, post-Parliament Hill walks, historic curiosity. On tap: Harvey's, rotating ales. Food: Lunch and dinner daily.
The Garden Gate — South End Road, NW3 2RB
A large Wetherspoons-adjacent pub in appearance but considerably better in execution: the Garden Gate is a local landmark on South End Road with a sprawling interior, a generous food menu, and — unusually for this end of Hampstead — genuinely affordable prices. It operates as a proper local pub for the South End Green area, drawing a more mixed crowd than the village-centre pubs and offering better value for money than most of its NW3 neighbours.
The beer garden, which runs along the side of the building, is one of the more family-friendly options in the area. Good for groups with children, post-lido (Parliament Hill Lido is a five-minute walk), or anyone who wants a pub lunch without the gastropub markup.
Best for: Value, families, post-lido afternoons. On tap: Standard ales and lagers. Food: Lunch and dinner daily, good value.
The Horseshoe — Heath Street, NW3 1DR
The Horseshoe sits on Heath Street close to the tube station, which makes it simultaneously the most convenient and most tourist-adjacent pub in Hampstead. That sounds like a criticism; it is offered as context. The Horseshoe handles its position well — it is a Fuller's pub with a well-kept bar, a two-floor interior that can absorb large numbers without feeling chaotic, and a food menu that is a cut above the convenience pubs that populate tube-adjacent locations elsewhere in London.
The terrace on Heath Street is the draw in summer: a decent-sized outdoor space with good people-watching along one of Hampstead's busiest pedestrian stretches. Come here when you have just arrived and are working out where to go next, or when you need a drink with a group of varying tastes and want something that reliably serves everyone well.
Best for: First-timers, large groups, convenient location. On tap: Fuller's London Pride, seasonal ales. Food: Lunch and dinner daily.
How to plan a Hampstead pub crawl
The geography of Hampstead makes an organised pub crawl surprisingly manageable on foot. A reliable circuit for a Saturday afternoon: start at The Horseshoe on Heath Street (convenient if arriving by tube), walk up to The Flask on Flask Walk (five minutes), continue up Holly Hill to The Holly Bush on Holly Mount (ten minutes, the hardest climb of the evening), then descend via Heath Street and cut across to The Duke of Hamilton on New End (ten minutes). Four pubs, a comfortable three-hour circuit, and you have covered the essential village geography in the process.
For those arriving from the Heath: the natural end-of-walk pub is The Spaniards Inn if you come off the northern edge, or The Freemasons Arms if you descend from Parliament Hill toward Keats Grove. Both are within reasonable walking distance of their respective Heath entrances.
Practical notes
Most Hampstead pubs are busiest between 1–3pm and 6–9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. If you want a seat at the Holly Bush or the Flask on a Saturday evening, arrive before 6pm. The Spaniards Inn garden is at capacity by midday on any sunny summer weekend. The Duke of Hamilton and Old White Bear are reliably quieter on any day of the week. Dogs are welcome at the Spaniards Inn, Holly Bush, and most pubs with gardens — call ahead to confirm, as policies occasionally change.