Best-of list · City Guide
London's best dog-friendly bars: welcoming pubs, craft taprooms and neighbourhood gems where four-legged guests get a water bowl and a biscuit.
The short answer
8 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
London is, in theory, a dog-friendly city. The parks are excellent, the pavements are wide, and the British relationship with dogs is deep enough to have produced an entire cultural tradition of treating them as near-equals in public spaces. The bars, however, vary enormously. Some welcome dogs with water bowls, biscuits, and staff who crouch down to say hello. Others technically permit dogs but make you feel like you've committed an offence by bringing one. These are the genuine article — the bars in London where your dog gets as warm a reception as you do.
A genuinely dog-friendly bar provides water without being asked. It has staff who notice the dog and react positively. It has flooring you can clean without drama, space for a dog to settle without blocking everyone, and a management culture that chose to welcome dogs rather than merely tolerate them. The difference is palpable: a bar that welcomes dogs feels relaxed and warm in a specific way. The best ones in London are below.