The best pubs in Kentish Town

The best pub in Kentish Town is the Southampton Arms on Highgate Road: seven casks and six ciders from small breweries, a fire, records on the turntable and roast pork in a bap. It opens at noon every day and takes no bookings. After that the NW5 run is long and very good, from a Grade II listed back street local with a Thai kitchen to a 29-tap house and a panelled corner pub with bar billiards. Here is the route, and what to order.

The Southampton Arms, 139 Highgate Road, NW5

It calls itself an ale and cider house and means it. One long thin bar, pew seating, a small garden out the back and a beer list that changes constantly. CAMRA counted seven cask beers, ordered palest on the left to darkest on the right, and six real ciders, with eight keg lines alongside. Food is snacks only: pork pies, sausage rolls, scotch eggs and roast pork baps, with veggie options. There is live piano on Sundays at 18:00 and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 20:00, and a quiz on Mondays. There is no tea, no coffee and no phone. It now takes cash and card and closes around 23:00 or midnight.

The Pineapple, 51 Leverton Street, NW5

Built in 1868 and kept open by its regulars when developers came for it, the Pineapple is the back street local everyone wishes they had. The Grade II listed bar back has etched mirrors and rare Bass mirrors, the house beer is Pineapple Ale, and three guests change. The kitchen is Thai. A reduced weekday lunch menu is £9.50 a dish, happy hour runs 15:00 to 19:00 daily and all day Tuesday, and the quiz is Mondays at 21:00. There is a conservatory and garden at the back. No under 18s after 19:00, and they only book for groups of ten or more.

The Grafton, 20 Prince of Wales Road, NW5

Choice. The Grafton reopened under the team behind the Gipsy Queen and the Victoria Stakes, and CAMRA counts 29 taps rotating weekly, with East London Foundation and Landlord on cask. The ground floor is a big tiled horseshoe bar with plenty of corners, upstairs is a second bar and function room, and there is a covered roof garden. Sunday quiz at 19:30, Taco Tuesdays, and ticketed comedy upstairs.

The Lord Southampton, 2 Southampton Road, NW5

The pub to show anyone who says London boozers have all gone gastro. It had a refit between the wars, faced outside in buff and dark blue faience, and inside it still has the wall panelling, darts and a bar billiards table, plus a cabinet of sports trophies. London Pride and Dark Star Hophead on cask. It is closed on Mondays and opens at 16:00 in the week, noon at weekends, with a Sunday roast from noon until it sells out.

The Assembly House, 292 Kentish Town Road, NW5

Two hundred metres from Kentish Town station and the grandest room on the strip: Grade II listed, with French embossed and cut mirrors, mosaic floors in the lobbies and a turret on the corner. It is a big screen sports pub these days, with a Tuesday quiz and 10% off cask for CAMRA members. Come for the glass, stay for the match.

The Lion & Unicorn, 42 Gaisford Street, NW5

A comfortable back street pub with award-winning gardens front and back, an open fire, Young’s on cask and the Giant Olive theatre upstairs. Sunday quiz. Families welcome until 20:00.

Up Highgate Road

Keep walking past the Southampton Arms towards the Heath. The Duke of St Albans at number 15 sits opposite the Parliament Hill gate, run by the group behind the Saint Monday brewery, with five casks, four Saint Monday kegs and real cider. It is card only. Further up at number 168, the Bull & Last is a pub with seven rooms upstairs and a weekday set lunch at £20 for two courses, £25 for three.

And two more

• The Parakeet, 256 Kentish Town Road: 50 metres from the station, original 1863 mosaic tiles, an open kitchen, jazz on Mondays and a quiz on Tuesdays.
• The Rose & Crown, 71 Torriano Avenue: a 1930s local with an island bar, a slate floor, a coal fire and comedy downstairs, free on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays. Card only.

Tapping the Admiral on Castle Road, run by the Pineapple’s owners, is a short walk south and sits in our Camden pub guide. Hours move about, so check before you set off.