Best-of list · World Lists
The 20 best pubs in the world for 2026 — historic boozers, cask ale temples, and Sunday roast institutions. Read the full editorial guide on barsforKings.
The short answer
10 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
A great pub is built around the regulars, not the menu. A cask ale list with at least four hand-pulls. Staff who recognise their regulars without being matey to outsiders. A room that doesn't try too hard. The 20 below all qualify. From Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese (1538, where Dickens drank) to The Brazen Head (Dublin's oldest, since 1198) to The Long Hall (Victorian Dublin perfection), these are the rooms that have earned the word 'pub' — not gastropub, not bar, not lounge. Pub.
Beyond the 10