Best Irish Pubs in London 2026: 12 Proper Pubs to Visit

London's best Irish pubs are rarely the ones visitors find first. The bars around Leicester Square will pour you a decent Guinness — two of them make this list — but many of the pubs most closely tied to the city's Irish community are neighbourhood locals in Stoke Newington, Nunhead, Camden, Forest Hill and the old north-west heartland of Kilburn and Cricklewood.

The short answer, if you want one: our pick for the best Irish pub in London is The Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington, with Blythe Hill Tavern in Forest Hill a photo-finish second. Based on Craic Map's verified listings — pub histories, music schedules, features and public reviews, weighed with editorial judgement — these are the twelve pubs that best reflect the city's living Irish pub culture.

Craic Map London, at a glance (reviewed July 2026): 52 independently verified Irish pubs · 10 with recurring trad sessions · 39 with regular live music · 40 showing GAA and other sport. Music and sport schedules change — check each pub's live listing before you travel.

The best Irish pubs in London at a glance

Pub	Where	Go for
The Auld Shillelagh	Stoke Newington	The Guinness, the garden, the lot
Blythe Hill Tavern	Forest Hill	Thursday trad session
Nancy Spains	Shoreditch	Live music every night
Skehans	Nunhead	The all-rounder
The Faltering Fullback	Finsbury Park	GAA and the beer garden
The Porterhouse	Covent Garden	Stout brewed in-house

How we picked these

Every pub below is independently verified on Craic Map for Irish identity — ownership, community, history and programming, not just theming. The ranking itself is editorial, built from three inputs: our directory data (music schedules, sport, food and features, reviewed July 2026), public reviews where the sample is meaningful — every ranked pub here clears 1,000 Google reviews — and judgement about what a pub is like on an ordinary Tuesday rather than Paddy's Day. Chains aren't excluded on principle; one made the list, but it had to beat the local alternative, not just outspend it.

The 12 best Irish pubs in London

1. The Auld Shillelagh — Stoke Newington

A narrow room on Stoke Newington Church Street that turns up at or near the top of most of the best-Guinness-in-London rankings the city's press produces — and at 4.7 stars across 1,300+ Google reviews, the crowd broadly agrees. There's GAA on the screens, live music through the week, and a back garden that fills the moment the sun appears. It's been at the heart of North London's Irish community for decades, and it still feels like a pub first and an institution second.

Good to know: it's small — on match days, arrive before throw-in or drink standing up.

2. Blythe Hill Tavern — Forest Hill

Three tiny wood-panelled rooms, a Grade II listing, and the Riordan family behind the bar since 1988. Time Out has called it one of the finest Irish pubs outside Ireland, and the Thursday night trad session is the real, unamplified thing — musicians in the corner, no stage, no setlist. There's cask ale alongside the stout, which tells you how comfortably this pub sits in both of its traditions.

Good to know: no kitchen — eat before you come, stay for the session.

3. Nancy Spains — Shoreditch

A Kerry family runs this Curtain Road pub, and as of our July 2026 review it advertises live music seven nights a week — the fullest schedule we've verified in London. Guinness and Murphy's share the taps, a nod to the family's roots. It holds 4.8 stars from over 1,000 reviews — and here's a detail our directory surfaces that a casual search won't: the family's second London pub, Nancy Spains Monument, holds the highest rating of any verified Irish pub in the city at 4.9.

Good to know: weeknights are the move; weekends get a Shoreditch crowd.

4. Skehans — Nunhead

An award-winning corner pub that does everything and does all of it well: Thursday trad sessions, Saturday bands, late DJs on Fridays, GAA and Premier League on the screens, a full kitchen, and a garden regulars will tell you is among South London's best. If you live south of the river and want one Irish local, this is the one.

Good to know: the garden is the summer draw — get there early on a warm Saturday.

5. The Faltering Fullback — Finsbury Park

Famous for a tiered, plant-tangled beer garden that looks like a treehouse designed by a publican, the Fullback has long been one of North London's main GAA pubs — county matches on the screens and a Tuesday night trad session that's run for years. The kitchen is Thai, a London-Irish pub tradition all of its own at this point.

Good to know: the garden queue on summer Saturdays is real; the front bar is quicker.

6. The Sheephaven Bay — Camden

Named after the Donegal bay its landlord left behind, this is Camden's Irish local — a well-kept Guinness with a strong local reputation, GAA screenings, and a fiercely loyal Irish crowd in a part of town otherwise ruled by tourists.

Good to know: it's ten minutes' walk from Camden Town station, which is exactly why it's still good.

7. Mc & Sons — Borough

The Mc & Sons family runs this modern take on the Irish pub a few streets from Borough Market: an Irish-leaning menu that goes well beyond stew, weekend live music, GAA and rugby on the screens, and a 4.6 rating from a demanding SE1 crowd. Proof the format doesn't need Victorian wood panelling to work.

Good to know: it does a proper Sunday roast, and it books out.

8. Molly Mc's — Waterloo

A self-described singing pub on Isabella Street's railway-arch strip, advertising trad sessions Thursday through Sunday — one of the most frequent schedules in the city — plus karaoke rooms and a busy outdoor terrace. It's the loudest, least reverent pub on this list, and on the right night that's precisely the point.

Good to know: if you want to hear the music rather than join it, come Thursday, not Saturday.

9. The Porterhouse — Covent Garden

Dublin's Porterhouse brewery built this multi-floor labyrinth in Maiden Lane — a rare thing in central London: a pub pouring stout brewed by the company that owns it. The Oyster Stout is the classic order. Seven thousand reviewers hold it at 4.4 despite the West End footfall, which for this postcode is remarkable.

Good to know: the lower floors are quieter than street level; keep descending.

10. Philomena's — Covent Garden

An Irish sports bar on Great Queen Street that has become a favourite central fixture for Irish rugby supporters — Six Nations matches on the big screens, a breakfast menu for early kick-offs, and an atmosphere on Ireland match days that borders on a home crowd.

Good to know: for Six Nations Saturdays, book a table or arrive an hour early. Not negotiable.

11. Waxy O'Connor's — West End

Yes, it's on every tourist list. It's on this one too, because the room is worth seeing once: a cavernous maze of six bars off Leicester Square, fitted out with salvaged church interiors — pulpit included — and dark timber that swallows the light. The Guinness is well kept, the crowds are constant, and 9,500 reviewers still rate it 4.5.

Good to know: go mid-afternoon on a weekday to actually see the building.

12. The Claddagh Ring — Hendon

North-west London is the historic heart of Irish London, and the Claddagh Ring is one of its landmark survivors — a Grade II-listed pub trading under this name since 1991, with weekend live music, Premier League sport, and a kitchen that runs from full Irish breakfast to stew. Worth the Northern line ride.

Good to know: Friday and Saturday nights are the music nights; Sundays are for the carvery crowd.

Bonus mentions

The College Arms, Bloomsbury — Whelan's group pub with 15 taps and a Thursday music night.
The Dublin Castle, Camden — more indie venue than Irish pub these days, but the back room launched Madness and the name isn't an accident.
O'Neill's Wardour Street — the chain is the chain, but this branch is a reliable central meeting point.

Kilburn and Cricklewood: the old heartland

The Kilburn High Road was famously the most Irish street in Britain in the post-war decades, and while the emigrant boom that filled it has faded, the area still holds verified locals that this guide's ranking criteria — big review counts, packed schedules — will always undersell. The Sir Colin Campbell on the High Road itself still hosts trad sessions and is the essential stop. McGlynns on Willesden Lane, and Barretts Free House and Lucky 7 up in Cricklewood, carry the tradition with live music and a local crowd the West End couldn't manufacture. If this guide has a field trip, it's here — and it's the most historically important stretch on the list.

Three pub crawls that actually work

Schedules move — check each pub's listing on the day before you commit a route.

The West End run — 4 stops, about a mile on foot, 3–4 hours. Best on a weekday evening. Waxy O'Connor's → O'Neill's Wardour Street → The Porterhouse → finish at Philomena's. No tube required.

The North London pilgrimage — 3 stops linked by the Northern line and a bus or Overground hop; allow a full evening. Best on a GAA final day. The Sheephaven Bay in Camden → The Faltering Fullback at Finsbury Park → end at The Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington.

The South East session — 3 stops, one short train leg, best on a Thursday. Molly Mc's at Waterloo → a 20-minute walk to Mc & Sons in Borough → train to Skehans in Nunhead. Optional fourth stop if the night is young: the Thursday session at Blythe Hill Tavern, a short hop down the line — check last trains before you push on.

Where to go for what

Best Guinness (our pick): The Auld Shillelagh
Best trad session: Blythe Hill Tavern on a Thursday
Best for rugby: Philomena's
Best for GAA: The Faltering Fullback
Best food: Mc & Sons
Best building: Waxy O'Connor's, whatever else you think of it

FAQs about Irish pubs in London

Which Irish pub in London has the best Guinness?

Our pick is The Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington — the perennial front-runner in the city's best-pint debates, and the reputation held up on our review. The Sheephaven Bay in Camden is the strongest counter-argument.

What's the best Irish pub near central London?

If you're staying central and not travelling for a pint: The Porterhouse in Covent Garden for the beer, Philomena's for sport, and Waxy O'Connor's for the building. All three are within ten minutes' walk of each other.

Are there real trad sessions in London?

Yes — 10 of London's 52 verified Irish pubs host recurring sessions as of our July 2026 review. The most reliable: Blythe Hill Tavern and Skehans on Thursdays, The Faltering Fullback on Tuesdays, the Sir Colin Campbell in Kilburn, and Molly Mc's from Thursday to Sunday. For what separates a real session from a covers duo, see our guide to trad session pubs worldwide.

Where do Irish people in London actually drink?

The pattern in our data is consistent: the community's pubs are in the neighbourhoods, not the West End. North of the river: Stoke Newington, Finsbury Park, Camden and the Kilburn–Cricklewood corridor. South: Nunhead, Forest Hill and Borough.

Is Waxy O'Connor's a tourist trap?

It's touristy, and it's also an extraordinary interior with a well-kept pint. Once is worth it. Making it your London Irish pub would be the mistake.

Last reviewed: July 2026. Every pub above is independently verified on Craic Map, and each listing shows current music and sport details. Know a London Irish pub we're missing? Add it in 10 seconds — or browse all 52 verified Irish pubs in London.