There's a particular kind of London pub that only really works because of where it's standing — right on the water, often centuries old, with a view of the Thames that no amount of interior design budget could buy anywhere else. We run tours a stone's throw from the river ourselves, down in the Bermondsey railway arches, so we spend a fair bit of time walking past — and occasionally into — the pubs that line the water on either side of us. This is our honest, area-by-area guide to the best of them, running roughly east to west, with a few practical warnings about tides, tourists and opening hours along the way.
Why riverside pubs are worth the detour
London's relationship with the Thames used to be entirely functional — docks, wharves, watermen and warehouses — and a lot of the best riverside pubs are survivors of that working river rather than pubs built for the view. That's part of what makes them worth seeking out: low beamed ceilings, flagstone floors and the odd smuggler's-tunnel story that may or may not be true. We've covered London's older pubs more broadly in our guide to historic London pubs, but the riverside ones deserve their own list, since the water genuinely changes the experience — you're drinking with the tide going in and out a few feet away, not just admiring a plaque on the wall.
East London: Wapping and Limehouse
Start east and you land on two of the most-photographed pubs on the entire river. The Prospect of Whitby in Wapping is regularly named London's oldest riverside pub, tracing its licence back to the early 1500s, with a genuine flagstone floor, a huge pewter-topped bar and a rickety riverside terrace that's earned its reputation over roughly five centuries of use. A little further east in Limehouse, The Grapes is a tiny, wood-panelled pub with a balcony that hangs directly over the water — it's changed hands a few times over the years, so it's worth checking current opening hours before a special trip, but the setting alone makes it one of the most atmospheric stops on this whole list.
Bermondsey and Rotherhithe: our own patch
This is the stretch we know best, since it's a short walk from where our own tours start on Druid Street. The Mayflower in Rotherhithe has one of the best river-pub stories going — it stands close to where the Pilgrim Fathers' ship is said to have set sail for America in 1620, and it's kept a genuinely old, low-beamed interior along with a small wooden jetty out over the water. A short walk along the river brings you to The Angel, another historic Rotherhithe pub with a long riverside terrace and views stretching across towards Wapping and the Isle of Dogs — both are the kind of pubs that reward a slow pint over a quick one. If you're basing a day around this part of the river, our guide to things to do near London Bridge and our piece on craft beer near London Bridge both cover the wider Bermondsey area if you want to build a fuller afternoon around it.
Bankside and Southwark
Closer to us again, The Anchor Bankside is the pub most people picture when they think "riverside pub with a view of St Paul's" — a sprawling, multi-level Georgian building with a large riverside terrace right by Southwark Bridge, and genuinely one of the busiest sunny-day pub gardens in central London. A few minutes along the South Bank, Founders Arms is a more modern spot but does the view just as well, looking straight across to St Paul's Cathedral over the water — a good option if The Anchor's terrace is already full, which on a warm weekend it often is. This stretch sits right next to Borough Market and a short walk from our own tour's starting point at Southwark Brewing Co, 46 Druid St, if you fancy combining a riverside pint with a proper tasting afterwards.
South-east: Greenwich
Cross (or tunnel) further south-east and Greenwich has its own strong riverside pub, The Trafalgar Tavern, a grand Regency building right on the river next to the Old Royal Naval College, with a genuinely impressive dining room and a view across to Canary Wharf. It's a bit further out than the other pubs on this list, so it works best as part of a dedicated Greenwich day rather than a quick stop, but it's one of the handsomest riverside buildings anywhere on the Thames and worth the DLR trip on its own.
West London: Hammersmith and Chiswick
The river pubs further west have a completely different character — quieter, more residential, and often tucked down alleyways you'd never stumble on by accident. The Dove in Hammersmith is a genuinely lovely, low-ceilinged old pub with a tiny riverside terrace and a strong literary reputation (there are competing claims about which poets and writers drank there). A little further along, The City Barge in Chiswick has a similarly historic feel and a riverside garden that's popular enough on a warm evening that it's worth arriving before the crowds. Neither is a quick trip from Bermondsey, so we'd treat this pairing as its own day out rather than tack it onto anything else on this list.
Tides, terraces and practical tips
A few things are worth knowing before you set off. First, tides genuinely matter at some of these pubs — the little beaches and jetties around Wapping and Rotherhithe disappear completely at high tide, and a handful of the oldest riverside pubs have been known to take on a bit of water during exceptionally high spring tides, so check a tide table if a riverside terrace is the whole point of your visit. Second, opening hours, ownership and menus at pubs like these change more often than a guide like this can keep up with, so it's always worth a quick check of the pub's own website or a recent Google listing before you travel, especially if you're heading somewhere off the beaten path like Limehouse or Chiswick. Third, the famous names on this list — The Prospect of Whitby and The Anchor Bankside especially — pull serious weekend tourist crowds, so a weekday early evening or a Sunday afternoon tends to get you a table without the queue.
Getting between them
Very few of these pubs are a comfortable walk from each other — this isn't really a crawl in the Camden or Bermondsey sense, more a set of destinations dotted along a very long river. Wapping and Limehouse are a short walk apart and both sit near the Overground and DLR; Rotherhithe and Bankside are a bus ride or a longer riverside walk from each other, roughly 25-30 minutes on foot along the Thames Path; and Greenwich and the west London pubs are really their own separate trips. If you're planning a single day out, we'd pick one cluster — Wapping/Limehouse, Rotherhithe/Bankside, or Hammersmith/Chiswick — rather than trying to string the whole list together.
How this compares to a guided tasting
Part of the appeal of riverside pubs is exactly that they're not organised — you wander, you find a table with a view, you stay as long as you like. Where a guided tour earns its keep is when you'd rather someone else had already worked out which taprooms are genuinely worth your time and had the beer and the story ready to go. That's the gap our own Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour fills, a short walk from the Rotherhithe pubs on this list — 2-3.5 hours, £49 per person, beer included, across four independent taprooms in the Bermondsey railway arches, starting at Southwark Brewing Co, 46 Druid St. Our full Bermondsey Beer Mile guide is worth a read too if you want to see how the taproom route sits alongside the riverside pubs covered here.
Bringing a group
A riverside pub crawl is a genuinely nice format for a relaxed birthday or a work catch-up, precisely because nobody needs to rush between stops. If you'd rather have something a bit more structured for a bigger group, we run private tastings for parties of 6 up to 60+ people, and gift vouchers for our tours are bought directly on our gift vouchers page, delivered instantly by email and never expiring — a good option for anyone on your list who'd enjoy a guided taproom afternoon as much as a pint with a view.