London has always been dogged by the canard that the Guinness here can’t compete with what’s served across the Irish Sea. It is certainly difficult – perhaps impossible – to replicate the quality of the pints in Mulligan’s on Dublin’s Poolbeg Street, or at the Gravediggers by Glasnevin Cemetery. However, there are pubs here that do it admirably – if you know where to look. Whether you’re a lifelong aficionado, or you’re merely observant on St Patrick’s Day, these are some of your best bets for a great London Guinness:
The Auld Shillelagh, Stoke Newington
A stone-cold classic of a pub, the Auld Shillelagh’s deceptively small frontage on Church Street leads to a longitudinal bar that serves some of London’s finest pints. In any given week they’ll crack into north of 40 kegs, but come St Patrick’s Day this figure will be far, far exceeded. Take a seat at the bar and you’ll see the well-practised, and generally excellent, staff demonstrating the two-step pour. The first stage, where the beer is poured at an angle into the glass, creates a thick head of foam, which further develops as the pint is left to settle. The second pour lifts the head to the point where it stands in a low dome above the top of the glass.
Now, it’s true that this part of Guinness culture has been greatly played up over the years, both by marketeers and members of the diaspora enjoying a shared cultural touchstone. However, proper service does make a difference to texture and flavour. And anyway, ritual is important. At the Auld Shillelagh you can enjoy your pint with sport on the TV most days and some Irish traditional and other live music towards the end of the week. It is, quite simply, a delight.
Pint £5.60, cheese and onion Taytos £1.40
The Audley, Mayfair
This handsome pub on Mount Street has recently upgraded its Guinness offering with a little help from landlord-at-large Oisín Rogers. Last seen behind the bar at the Guinea Grill (and set to return to launch a new venue later this year), Oisín has long been the man you go to for Guinness in London. ‘The installation at the Audley was all bespoke,’ he tells me. ‘Including a faster beer flow and amended dispense temperature, as well as a few more training, gas and maintenance secrets. I spent a few days in Dublin a couple of weeks ago and got to meet quite a few people who sell loads of stout, so I’ve gleaned a few further tricks from over there too.’
This is the level of investment it takes to serve competition-level Guinness. Getting the equipment and the execution right is key. ‘It is always good. But people who enjoy Guinness really care about how it’s presented, how it tastes, and what the texture of the head vs the beer is like. I think it’s the only product that people buy in a pub which elicits debate and conversation every time.’ At the Audley you could easily spend a few hours discussing the quality of the pints over some food, including such chemically perfect pairings as oysters or bone marrow on toast. This is a real gem in the centre of town.
Pint £7, half a dozen oysters £21
Homeboy, Islington
Launched in 2018 by industry veterans Ciarán Smith and Aaron Wall, Homeboy offers a slice of modern Irish hospitality on Essex Road. The cocktail menu is well worth working your way through, but serious Guinness drinkers will want to order the Twelve Quid Special. This top shelf shot-and-a-brew comprises a perfectly executed pint with a measure of Midleton distillery’s peerless Redbreast 12-Year-Old on the side. The sherried single pot still whiskey picks up the fruitier notes in the Guinness and makes for a perfect eye-opener to kick off your evening.
The Homeboy boys are fanatical about the quality of their pints, holding every element from the temperature of the cellar to the condition of the glassware to the highest possible standard. But they also offer a warm welcome, a hip-hop soundtrack and a generally excellent vibe that makes the pints taste all the better. A reminder that the setting and the company is as important to the enjoyment of Guinness as any of the technical stuff. For a truly great pint, you really do need both to be on point.
Pint £5.50, whiskey pairing £12
Gibney’s, Old Street
This smart sports and live music spot underneath Richard Corrigan’s upscale grill joint Daffodil Mulligan is your best bet for a good pint near the City. Named for the original Gibney’s in Malahide, north of Dublin, the place offers a surprisingly harmonious blend of slick London restaurateur-ing and that famous Irish hospitality.
The kitchen upstairs supplies an enticing selection of bar snacks to pad out your pints, including deep-fried pork nuggets with lime and wasabi and cod roe with chips and scratchings. As drinking food goes, it is pretty unbeatable. The Guinness can come slightly on the colder side, which is notable as temperature is one of the many factors that affect how we perceive the taste and texture of a pint. But if you’re watching the rugby or sinking a much-needed after work refresher then that’s probably exactly what you need. Another great argument for the quality of London Guinness.
Pins £6.45, bar snacks from £6.50
Sheephaven Bay, Camden Town
While contemporary Guinness culture may have its contrivances, a good pint really does indicate that you’re drinking in a quality establishment. A particularly magnificent specimen – dark ruby in colour with a head standing proud above the glass – suggests that beer is running regularly through the lines, which indicates fresh product and robust trade. There is also, as evinced by the other pubs on this list, a level of training and care involved in serving great Guinness. All of these things are embodied at Sheephaven Bay, an old-fashioned Irish pub on an unassuming street near Mornington Crescent Tube station. Whether you’re a North Londoner or you’re passing through on general Camden business (seeing a show, being a goth, whatever it is people do) then you really have to stop by. A Celtic pub with a healthy emphasis on sport, the walls are lined with scarves and jerseys and other paraphernalia. They show the Irish racing and Gaelic football and they serve pint-absorbing plates of nachos. You have a choice of seating in the public bar or beer garden and the saloon can be booked for gatherings as needed. They genuinely don’t make them like this any more.
Pint £4.50, nachos from £5.95
This list is by no means exhaustive. Honourable mentions must go to perennial favourites The Faltering Fullback in Finsbury Park, The Old Justice in Bermondsey and The Coach and Horses in Covent Garden. But thanks to a general upping of London’s Guinness game there are pubs doing good work in every corner of the city just waiting for you to find them. There’s a reason that Instagram is awash with accounts like @AnotherGuinnessPlease and @BeautifulPints that seek out and document perfect pints – half the fun is in the discovery. Slàinte mhath.
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