Stormbird

Part of our Best Pubs in London microsite. See if we've included your local.

There is a phenomenon in Stormbird that we refer to as The Magic Table. However busy this contemporary Camberwell boozer gets (and it does), a lone table miraculously appears.

Perhaps the real magic, though, is the beer selection: an array of pumps — many with cute, hand-scribbled beer clips — runs with a constant supply of juicy IPAs, knock-out strength porters and usually a sour or two (we still fondly remember a cherry cola sour).

Mikkeller, Burnt Mill and Moor are among Stormbird's usual keg suppliers, but you never quite know what you're going to find in this wonderland of brews. There is pretty much always a high-strength offering Kernel on too — for a very competitive price.

Cask-heads have nothing to moan about either, with a choice of three or four very well-priced numbers (this is London, right?), which regularly include beers from Titanic, Siren and Five Points. Even the lager's excellent — there is always Pislner Urquell on tap while fridges brim with enough exotic concoctions to keep you entertained for years. (May we also suggest a packet of piquant jalapeno pretzel pieces to keep you going.)

Adopting the rules usually applied to micropubs, Stormbird plays no music — the soundtrack here is of long-time locals and art students sipping world-class beer (until midnight or beyond — even on a Monday). And if that all sounds pretentious, then good luck in your local Young's. Otherwise, gaze out of Stormbird's oversized windows with a brew in one hand and a chicken wrap from next door in the other, while watching buses and ambulances whiz and up down Camberwell Church Street.

This is not just one of the best pubs in London, but the country.