A pub snack is a scotch egg, a sausage roll, a small beef pie, a pint of prawns. It is a native oyster covered in Tabasco, a bowl of steaming mussels and a sausage on a stick waiting impatiently for mustard. A pub snack is also a school of deep-fried whitebait doused freely in lemon and a newly greased up plate of Welsh rarebit blistered softly by the grill.
A pub snack is a means by which to continue drinking, London’s most popular pastime. No hazy afternoon, no darkening evening is better spent than with pints and small morsels singing mostly of pork and the dayboat sea.
There are countless pubs with fine snacks in London. It is a shame free roast potatoes are hard to find today — a sad RIP to the Railway Bell, where Kronenbourg came with baskets of them — but bar menus are still usually the most affordable way to fill up. For now, here are 10 of the fanciest, and the best.
Fish cakes at the Knave of Clubs
Irish oysters, good toasties, a venison sausage roll and Patrick Powell’s glorious fried chicken — some believe it to be the best in London — are among a score of highlights at the Knave of Clubs, Bethnal Green’s newest pub for modern times. But let’s talk for a moment about the fish cakes. A dish too rarely seen in 2025, fish cakes should be given far greater credence, especially when seasoned with Old Bay and served with a lemon aioli as they are here.
25 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6HT, theknaveofclubs.co.uk
Mackerel pate at The Hero
The Hero might be the fanciest pub on this list. It’s always full of indelibly beautiful people nibbling cocktail sausages and gazing at ox cheeks, their rich mahogany a mirror to the candlelit wood of the walls. You are more than likely to see PR-types there with names like Emily and Grace; they are among the few left with sizeable expense accounts and will not shy away from ordering decent white wine. Have it with the mackerel pate, which is superbly made, and some of the fried cod cheeks with curry sauce.
55 Shirland Road, W9 2JD, theherow9.com
A plate of ham at the Three Compasses
Below the imitable Bouchon Racine is the pub upon which Henry Harris’ classic Lyonnaise restaurant sits. A sense of old Farringdon boozer is maintained accordingly, that part of town where suits mix with butchers and where almost everyone will be drinking pints. Where upstairs brings an ever-changing a la carte, the pub offers a flurry of snacks and plates, from good baguettes with butter, spreads of silken ham, or Carlingford oysters. It’s distinctly high-end — the egg mayonnaise is likely to be topped with truffle — but a spirited menu and a happy one.
66 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6BP, bouchonracine.com
Iberica burger at the St John’s Tavern
This list aims to highlight the best upmarket snacks in pubs that are still pubs. That is to say, the likes of the Camberwell Arms and the Canton in Stockwell are basically restaurants in pub’s clothing — excellent ones, but the prevailing idea is to dine. There is a clearer division at the St John’s Tavern, with its dining room pocketed behind (rather than upstairs, as is often the case) and its public bar at the front. Or when the weather is fine, find a seat outside and order a plump sausage roll, else an Iberica burger where the pattie is straddled by ham, manchego and guindilla chillis.
91 Junction Road, N19 5QU, stjohnstavern.com
Smoked haddock croquettes at the Blue Stoops
It’s true, £6 for pork scratchings is lofty, but this is Kensington, so what do you expect? The cheeseburger for a tenner is a more reasonable pursuit, so too the smoked haddock croquettes which are salty and generous and perfect with a pint. There’s less point in the £14 pork belly skewers, but be sure to get the sausage roll and the fried chicken, both of which will satisfy.
127-129 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LP, thebluestoops.com
A scotch egg at The Audley
Few pubs offer a better bar menu than the Audley in Mayfair. There below the mad ceiling is a chalked up board that never tires, which always brings promise. It was early to the re-emergence of half-pints of prawns and bowls of sausages with chips, a necessity in boozers but strangely lacking this side of the Irish sea. Take note too of the London rarebit, the crab on toast and the lamb scrumpets (leftover lamb shredded, breadcrumbed and deep-fried), both of which should be sustenance enough to keep drinking. The scotch egg is among the best around: fatty, salty pork, a soft-boiled egg with a jammy yolk but not a stupidly runny one for Instagram, and golden breadcrumbs.
41-43 Mount Street, W1K 2RX, theaudleypublichouse.com
Whitebait at the Princess Victoria
Some might remember the Princess Victoria from the London episode of Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain’s seminal TV show. In it, he’s joined by Nigella Lawson and they sit at the bar and share a highly traditional collection of snacks: pork scratchings, whitebait, a scotch egg and a bowl of thick-cut chips, these doused heavily in salt and vinegar. To drink, two pints of Guinness, ever-essential and, back then, pre-boom. It’s hard to think about a better combination than the creaminess of stout with the citrus-wrought tang of whitebait.
217 Uxbridge Road, W12 9DH, princessvictoria.co.uk
Welsh rarebit croquettes at The George
It is a posh pub, the George, and it is no more evident than in the list of bar snacks, which includes a steak tartare and a delicate prawn cocktail. The Guinness is good here, as are the Negronis, and it is pleasing to combine any and all with a black pudding scotch egg, onion bhajis and Welsh rarebit croquettes. Be sure to order extra Oxford sauce, a condiment deserving of a place at the top table: the blend of molasses, tamarind, anchovies and chilli elevates just about everything. Oxford sauce should be in every pub. Why isn’t it?
55 Great Portland Street, W1W 7LQ, thegeorge.london
Steak sarnie at The Devonshire
The Devonshire, again? Why not? They do sausages on a stick for £2, a proper bacon sandwich on sliced white, and one hell of a cheese and ham toastie. A good one of those should proffer the notion of a heart attack. The chips? They’re fried in beef dripping; the scotch eggs and sausage rolls are lovingly and precisely made. But my favourite thing on the bar menu is the £12 steak sandwich. It’s so soft. Almost like a mirage. I’m not sure I’ve ever eaten anything so quickly with a pint.
The Devonshire, 17 Denman Street, W1D 7HW, devonshiresoho.co.uk
Shetland mussels at the Princess Royal
The pub menu at the Princess Royal is long and full, a restaurant du jour almost unto itself. Nevertheless the food is considered and to be made the most of, working well with pints as is customary. Be sure to order a small portion of Shetland mussels, bolstered by tomatoes, white wine and parsley, and the fried Cornish mackerel with lemon. Less convincing are beef ragu arancini, ever-prevalent in London today. Maybe it’s time to concede and welcome them to the pub snack canon.
47 Hereford Road, W2 5AH, cubitthouse.co.uk
