In an enviable location at Smithfield Market, this handsome Grade II-listed Georgian pub features a fluted bell window, etched mirrors and elaborate Victorian tiles. It has recently received a pleasing-enough refurb by owners Bermondsey Pub Co (part of Enterprise Inns), whose portfolio includes The Duchess Of Cambridge and The Marquis Of Wellington. Park yourself on high stools at butcher’s block tables for a pint (from Deuchars, Hammerton or Sambrook’s) and a Pieminster pie (steak, chorizo and butter bean, perhaps). Failing that, choose any of a dozen well-priced wines with pork or veggie sharing platters followed by ice cream pies. Clattery acoustics and live music make for a noisy venue, but you can escape up a steep staircase to The Juniper Room – the clue’s in the name. Among the collection of two-dozen gins here, highlights include Broker’s, Edinburgh, and Herefordshire small-batch distillation, Sly: big on apple, mint and English garden herbs.