The Best Sports Bars in London: 40 events this week (18 Aug to 24 Aug)

London is one of the best cities in the world to watch live sport, and most of it happens in the pub. On a big match day the city fills with screens: corner boozers that wheel out an extra TV, dedicated sports bars built around a wall of HD panels, beer gardens that take the football outside in summer, and purpose-built fan zones that turn railway arches and warehouses into stadium-scale watch parties. Whatever the fixture, somewhere nearby is showing it.

The best sports bars in London tend to share a few things: enough screens that there is a clear view from anywhere, decent sound so you hear the commentary over the crowd, and a layout built for a busy room rather than a quiet pint. Some lean into a single sport, with rugby crowds, NFL nights, or boxing pay-per-views drawing their own regulars. Most show live football week in, week out, from the Premier League and Champions League through to the major international tournaments.

Where to watch football in London depends a lot on the part of town. Central and the West End have the high-capacity sports bars geared to tourists and after-work crowds. East London, around Shoreditch and Hackney, mixes craft-beer bars with screens and converted-warehouse fan zones. South London, from Brixton to Peckham and Clapham, has a strong run of football pubs with a loyal local following. North and west fill in the rest, so wherever you are, there is usually a good screen within walking distance.

This is an evergreen guide to sports bars and football pubs across London, with a link to every venue we cover so you can check screens, area, and what each one is like before you head out. For a big tournament such as the World Cup or the Euros, expect the busiest venues to add fan zones and ticketed watch parties on top of the usual free pub screenings.