The Holy Tavern

"What To Get: An ale, then a sausage roll when the candles start to look like a sea of lava. Time Capsule Factor: Open-plan design hadn’t reached the people who built The Holy Tavern 300-odd years ago. Although the Clerkenwell drinking den was reopened in 1996, it has kept the 18th-century hideaway nooks and crannies, ups and downs, and multiple fireplaces spread over higgledy-piggledy wooden floors. If that wasn’t charming enough, on Tuesdays it’s lit solely by candlelight." - jake missing, sinead cranna, heidi lauth beasley, rianne shlebak

"For Feeling Like A Hot Victorian Widow The look: sexy with a solid sprinkling of haunted. The outfit: anything that could belong to Florence Welch. The setting: The Holy Tavern, a tiny 300 year-old pub in Farringdon where wafting from the bar to dimly lit nooks just makes sense. Especially on Tuesdays, when this legendary fire hazard of a tavern is exclusively lit by candlelight and roaring fireplaces. So as well as being one of our favourite places to hardcore brood Dickens-style, it’s also the best pub in London in a power cut. " - heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, sinead cranna

"Don’t be spooked by the stuffed fox, we’re pretty sure they didn’t hunt it down themselves. You don’t get more traditional than this pub, built in 1720 and still going strong. Relaxed and intimate, the Jerusalem Tavern has it all including food and coffee, but most importantly serves some of the best ales in the area including their own specialities from St Peter’s brewery." - DesignStudio

"Long known as the Jerusalem Tavern and now The Holy Tavern, this Clerkenwell pub is one of the cosiest pieces of cosplay you can experience in London. Although it appears to be a wooden drinking den that’s served pints since ye olde times, the topsy-turvy space—full of nooks and crannies, ups and downs, dealmakers and drunkards—was fitted to look this way in the mid-'90s. Although the building itself has been around since the 1700s. Whatever your views on ‘authenticity’, this is a legendary London drinking establishment. From lunchtime onwards, office workers knock back ales and come evening things spill outside. If you’re looking for a full 18th-century experience, come by on Tuesdays in winter. It’s when the tavern is lit only by candlelight. A word of advice: watch your step. photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch" - Jake Missing

"Jerusalem Tavern, Barbican Old Street. Don’t be spooked by the stuffed fox, we’re pretty sure they didn’t hunt it down themselves. You don’t get more traditional than this pub, built in 1720 and still going strong. Relaxed and intimate, the Jerusalem Tavern has it all including food and coffee, but most importantly serves some of the best ales in the area including their own specialities from St Peter’s brewery."