3 Miles
We start at Tufnell Park Underground Station where opposite you will see our first pub.
You can download the route here – https://www.bar-trek.com/crawl/719
1. The Boston Arms
178 Junction Rd, London N19 5QQ
It is Grade II listed and was built in 1899, nothing of the interior remains just the wonderful facade. The building was built as a pub, community center and swimming baths. It is also a famous music venue called ‘The Dome’ and has survived everything from World Wars and infernos to hardcore punk shows. In recent years, both stages have housed chart-toppers like Lily Allen, Florence and The Machine, Khalid, The 1975, Declan Mckenna, Twenty One Pilots, Nothing But Thieves to pop punk heroes The Wonder Years and Neck Deep, grime pioneer Giggs, hip hop trio Kneecap, and rock band legends like Enter Shikari, Placebo, Bad Omens, The Hunna and Touché Amore. They also host the occasional boxing, wrestling and art battle event.
When you exit the pub head straight across along Fortress Road and it’s a short walk to our next pub.
2. The Junction Tavern
101 Fortess Rd, London NW5 1AG
New tenants have taken on this pub in April 2024 and hopefully it will return to its glory days when it was CAMRA’s North London Branch Pub of the Year. The pub was build in 1885 and the Victorian interior is well worth seeing along with the wonderful beer garden and conservatory.
When you exit the pub look across the road at ‘The Spaceman’ which was part of the new science lab at the primary school and the lab has won a prestigious award for its design. The children spoke to an astronaut on the International Space Station and the Spaceman was installed to remind them of that fantastic event. Now head back to Tufnell Park and turn right next to the school down Raveley Street, turning right again down Lupton Street past St. Benet’s and All Saint’s Church.
Building started in 1885 and by 1901 the structure of the church was causing concern, due to the enormous weight of the nave and the insufficient foundations. In 1925 the nave was in urgent need of being saved, but it was decided that the only sensible course of action was to pull it down. A new aisle-less church was designed just in time, for in November 1927 the London County Council condemned and closed the nave as a dangerous structure. £14,500 was found to demolish and rebuild the nave, this time with foundations going down 29 feet.
At the end of Lupton Street quickly turn right and then left into Leverton Street and our next pub.
3. The Pineapple
51 Leverton St, London NW5 2NX
A Grade II listed pub and a rare gem hidden in the local streets just off Kentish Town that was previously subject to a very high profile campaign in 2001 and 2002, by both local people, CAMRA and the London media, to prevent its closure. There are mementos (including a new plaque) and news articles on display in the pub, along with Pineapple ephemera from all over the world. Also note the rare Bass mirrors. Twice a CAMRA North London Pub of the Year, most recently in 2012 and in 2024 it was declared the Pub of Pubs after voting by CAMRA members. It is listed on CAMRA’s Historic Pubs Register of historic pub interiors and if your are a card-carrying CAMRA member, you will receive a 20p a pint reduction on cask beer.
Turn right when you exit the pub and continue down Leverton Street turning right into Falkland Road. At the end turn left on Fortress Road and our next pub.
4. Clapton Craft
326 Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2TH
Clapton Craft have several locations dotted around London but this one is quite small with space for 8 people inside and 6 outside. There are normally four beers on tap (no cask) but a large selection of cans which can also be purchased and drunk on the premises.
Now head straight across Highgate Road to our next pub.
5. Bull and Gate
389 Kentish Town Rd, London NW5 2TJ
The Bull and Gate was built in 1871 and is Grade II listed. The pub had a long history as music venue from the 1980s to the early 2000s, with bands such as The Pogues, Coldplay, Blur, Suede, My Bloody Valentine, Jesus Jones, Pop Will Eat Itself, Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, The Pogues, The Housemartins, PJ Harvey, Ash, The Darkness, The Libertines, Muse, Manic Street Preachers, Keane, and more. playing there towards the start of their careers.
It ceased operations as a venue in 2013, after being sold by previous owners to the Young’s pub chain. However, some of the music video for the Taylor Swift song End Game was shot at the pub in October 2017. The pubs current name is in honour of its original name, the ‘Boulogne Gate’ coaching Inn – so-called to commemorate Henry VIII’s victory in France in 1544. It is a fine Victorian pub in the Gin Palace tradition and a well surviving quality pub interior, that furthermore has group value, particularly with the Assembly Rooms pub at the same historic junction. So it is another one on CAMRA’s pub interior of special national historic interest register.
Now exit the pub and turn left up Highgate Road passing Kentish Town Fire Station on your right. This was built in 1971 to replace the original 1883 fire station on Fortress Walk, which was subsequently closed and demolished. It’s a terrible building and defiantly some remnant from the 1960’s. Keep walking along Highgate Road to our next pub.
6. The Vine
86 Highgate Rd, London NW5 1PB
This pub’s wonderful exterior is worth a stop but the beer choice could be better. The revamp of this Edwardian pub’s interior is smart and clean, it certainly won’t win awards but the front beer garden is a nice place to rest your feet on a sunny day. Other than that keep walking up Highgate Road underneath the train lines to our next pub.
7. The Southampton Arms
139 Highgate Rd, London NW5 1LE
This brilliant pub is on CAMRA’s historic interior list but it is not listed by English Heritage. Built in 1938, so it is an inter-war pub probably built to cater for the needs of the locals. There are normally 7 cask ales on offer and they are handily arranged from the palest on the left to the darkest on the right. Also, a good selection of cider can be had as well as a good selection of craft beer delivered via 8 taps. The pub won the Greater London Cider Pub of the Year Award 2010 after earlier winning the Branch Award. After being the Branch Pub of the Year in 2011 it then went on to be crowned the 2011 London Regional Pub of the Year. In 2024 it once again was voted Branch Pub of the Year. For 2017 and again in 2019, 2022 and 2023 it was the North London Cider Pub of the Year. It is a proper boozer with no tea or coffee offerings, just beer, cider and spirits.
Exiting the pub, turn left and left again down Gordon House Road towards Gospel Oak Station. Opposite the station turn left into Oak Village then right into Lamble Street. Head towards the park at the end, Lismore Circus and down Haverstock Road.
Looking left, there is a strangely different style of church spire which belongs to St Martin’s Church. This Grade I listed building was built between 1864 and 1866 to a curious-looking design by Edward Buckton Lamb. The church was built at the personal cost of John Derby Allcroft to commemorate his late wife. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described it as “the craziest of London’s Victorian churches”. The tower is most notable for its pinnacles, which make it resemble a fairy-tale castle. These pinnacles were removed due to bomb damage in World War II, but were restored in works finishing in 2015.
At the end of Haverstock Road is our next pub.
8. The Gipsy Queen
166 Malden Rd, London NW5 4BS
This pub serves beers from local breweries such as East London Brewing, Hammerton, or Southwark. A pub has occupied the site since the 1850s. Known as the Gipsy Queen for a century, the current building in fact dates back to the 1930s when the original pub – it’s believed – burnt down.
Turning right when exiting the pub, walk up Malden Road and in front of you there is St. Dominic’s Priory (The Rosary Shrine). It is one of the largest Catholic Churches in London and is Grade II listed as well as being on the National Heritage List for England. It has been served by the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) since 1861, the community living in the adjacent Priory. If it is open, it is certainly worth a look inside to see how the design is based on the structure of the Rosary prayer: fourteen side chapels flank each side of the nave. Each chapel commemorates a Mystery of the Rosary: Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious. The fifteenth Mystery (the 5th Glorious Mystery) is depicted in the apse of the church around the main High Altar.
Now continue along Malden Road as it turns into Southampton Road. At the main junction, turn left into Fleet Road. Underneath your feet was the old River Fleet which this road now follows to South Green End. Here you will find a green cabman’s shelter though this one is not listed by English Heritage. It is probably used by TfL as a rest place for their bus drivers.
Also here are the South End Green Public Toilets and they are certainly worth a peak. Built in 1897 for passengers at the tram terminus, it was Grade II listed in 1993 as one of the few remaining Victorian lavs in London, and lavishly restored a decade or so back. Look at that wrought-iron, for goodness’ sake. These toilets have seen a lot over the years and most famously was George Michael in 1987 on suspicion of possession of drugs in the Hampstead Heath area. He was taken to a north London police station where he received a caution for possession of class A and class C drugs.
Now continue up South End Road to Hampstead Heath Station where we turn right into South Hill Park and our next pub.
9. The Magdala
2a S Hill Park, London NW3 2SB
This pub is operated by the team behind the The Sussex Arms in Twickenham and The Express Tavern in Kew. They serve 20 keg beers and 7 cask ales which are constantly changing. The original 1885 pub was named after Lord Napier of Magdala but was rebuilt by Charrington’s in the inter-war period. It is in CAMRA’s list of a pub interior of special national historic interest. The pub has a famous historic association with Ruth Ellis, last woman hanged in England, for shooting her lover to death outside the pub on Easter Sunday, 1955. The alleged bullet marks on facade were put there in the 1990’s by the previous landlady probably in an attempt to drum up business.
Exit the pub and head back to Hampstead Heath Station but turn right up South End Road towards Hampstead Heath. It’s a bit of a slog up a gentle hill but keep going straight into East Heath Road and keep walking up that hill. After a short while you will see a small road on your left called Heathside, walk down this road and just before the gate there is a small path on your left. Behind the gate is Gainsborough Gardens and it was once the site of Hampstead Wells spa, which was popular with Londoners in the 17th century. The spa was built on six acres of swampy land donated to the “poor of Hampstead” in 1698. The waters of the spa were rich in iron and were known as chalybeate waters. The spa was demolished in 1882.
Follow this small path downhill and you will exit onto Christchurch Hill, turn right and head back uphill again to our next pub. The map doesn’t show this small path but it does exist.
10. The Wells Tavern
30 Well Walk, London NW3 1BX
Built in 1849, it is Grade II listed and it replace a previous pub called ‘The Green Man’ which itself replaced ‘The Whiteston’. The present name is probably associated with the Hamsptead Wells Spa. Apart from that I have no more details about this pub. There is normally two changing cask beers on offer but at it’s heart it is a gastro-pub. Rumour has it that it is the most gastro of gastro pubs in Hampstead, so the food must be good.
Now head straight opposite and down Well Walk. After a short while you will come across a small children’s bookshop / Theatre and it is worth a look. The Well Walk Theatre is tiny, holding only 50 seats and they put on puppet shows throughout the year.
Turn slightly to your right and walk up Flask Walk passing the The Wells and Campden Bath and Wash Houses on your right. Built in 1888 it provided both drinking water and facilities for bathing since many of the worker’s homes in Victorian Hampstead had no running water. Notable residents of Flask Walk have included the actor Peter Barkworth, the poet Al Alvarez, and the musician Sid Vicious. Continue along Flask Walk to our final pub.
11. The Flask
14 Flask Walk, London NW3 1HE
This is another Grade II listed building and it dates back to the time where the trade in Hampstead mineral water was run, and which is mentioned in the eighteenth century novel Clarissa. On the site stood the original Flask Tavern from where the Hampstead mineral water business was run from at least 1700. The distribution of the water, at 3d per flask, was arranged by a London apothecary called Mr Philips, who operated in Fleet Street from the Eagle and Child pub. It is one of north London’s best known pubs, rebuilt in 1874 and bought by Young’s in 1904. A veritable Hampstead institution, originally the Lower Flask, not to be confused with the Upper Flask, a tavern near the top of Hampstead Hill which was patronised by Whig grandees and writers but which closed in the 1750s.
It again is on CAMRA’s list for a pub interior of outstanding national historic importance.