Part of our Best Pubs in London microsite. Is your local listed?
This place leapt from nowhere, shortly after the pandemic, to become the buzziest pub in London. Celebrities haunt the place. Any lifestyle magazine you care to name has written a feature about it. Walk past any time of day or night, and you'll spy vast crowds inside and out. It is a story of instant and unstoppable success.
By reputation, the place does some of the best pub food around; simple homely classics like rib-eye steak and potted shrimps, prepared and cooked to perfection. Uniquely, the place maintains its own in-house butcher and baker, guaranteeing the freshest food. It's not great for everyone, though. The vegetarian offering is meagre; vegans are not catered for.
Meanwhile, half of the city is packed into the main bar. This wide space is handsomely furnished, with dark wooden partitions and chequered floor. Not that you'll notice them. The place is so permo-rammed that you're lucky if you can see anything beyond the people. There's a marvellous buzz to the place, but don't come here if you're after a quiet drink. Or a seat.
The pub's most famous attribute is the Guinness. The Devonshire reckons to serve the best pint in London thanks to some shenanigans with gas pressure. It certainly sells the most Guinness, a staggering 20,000 pints per week, more than most pubs manage in a year. The orders fly in fast, and the army of bar staff are quick to cater. They have to be with these crowds.
The Devonshire also contains a roof terrace and various smaller rooms and dining areas, some of which are invitation-only and the preserve of celebrities and lifestyle magazine writers. Us humble drinkers are in good and plentiful company on the ground floor.
