Mayfair
The Monocle Café is the magazine's café on Chiltern Street in Marylebone, with seats on the ground floor and in the basement. It opens from 7am to 8pm on...
Baker Street 6 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Cover story
Quiet pubs, bars and cafés in London to talk
Filtered for ££ + Daytime, then ranked by journey fairness for your group.
The little black book
Quiet pubs, bars and cafés in London to talk
Filtered for ££ + Daytime, then ranked by journey fairness for your group.
Central London
Chapter 1 · 8 pubs, bars and cafés
Bloomsbury
St JOHN at the Bookshop is the St JOHN bakery café next door to the London Review Bookshop at 14 Bury Place in Bloomsbury. It opened in October 2025, serving...
Holborn 7 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Bloomsbury
Store Street Espresso is a speciality coffee bar on Store Street in Bloomsbury, near UCL. It opened in 2010 and was among the first in London to feature guest...
Goodge Street 4 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Blackfriars
The Blackfriar is a Grade II* listed pub on Queen Victoria Street, opposite Blackfriars station. It was built in 1875 on the site of a Dominican friary and...
Blackfriars 1 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Mayfair
The Golden Lion is a Greene King pub on King Street in St James's, a short walk from St James's Square. The pub says it was once frequented by Lillie Langtry...
Green Park 6 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Bloomsbury
The Museum Tavern stands opposite the British Museum on Great Russell Street. It dates back to 1723, when it was the Dog and Duck, and took its current name in...
Tottenham Court Road 5 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Bloomsbury
The Queen's Larder is a small pub on the corner of Queen Square in Bloomsbury. You can book a table in the upstairs lounge, or the whole room, by calling 020...
Russell Square 6 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
St Paul's
Ye Olde Watling is a Nicholson's pub on Watling Street, a short walk from St Paul's Cathedral. It was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in 1668 for the workers...
Mansion House 1 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
North London
Chapter 2 · 2 pubs, bars and cafés
Gospel Oak
The Brew House is the café in the service wing at Kenwood, the English Heritage house on the northern edge of Hampstead Heath. It serves sandwiches, salads and...
Hampstead Heath 3 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Islington
The Duke of Cambridge, now The Duke Organic, is on St Peter's Street in Islington. It opened in 1998 as Britain's first organic pub, certified by the Soil...
Angel 3 min · Bookable
East London
Chapter 3 · 1 place
Whitechapel
Rochelle Canteen is Margot Henderson's restaurant in a converted school bike shed off Arnold Circus in Shoreditch. It opened in 2004, and its walled garden...
Shoreditch High Street 1 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
South London
Chapter 4 · 3 pubs, bars and cafés
Dulwich
The café at Dulwich Picture Gallery sits in the gallery grounds on Gallery Road, opposite Dulwich Park. It serves brunch, lunch and light refreshments from 8am...
West Dulwich 1 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Peckham
Petitou is a neighbourhood café on Choumert Road in Peckham, serving coffee and food since 2003. Its terrace is tiled with a ceramic aerial map of Peckham by...
Peckham Rye 4 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Tulse Hill
The Rosendale is a big food-led pub on Rosendale Road in West Dulwich, with plenty of garden space. It serves a weekday lunch menu from noon to 3.30pm, Monday...
West Dulwich 4 min · Bookable
West London
Chapter 5 · 2 pubs, bars and cafés
Kew
Newens The Original Maids of Honour is a bakery and tea room on Kew Road, opposite Kew Gardens. It has served Richmond for more than a century and a half, and...
Kew Gardens 2 min · Bookable
Mortlake
Orange Pekoe is a tea room and loose-leaf tea shop at 3 White Hart Lane in Barnes, a short walk from Barnes Bridge station. It serves breakfast, lunch and a...
Barnes Bridge 2 min · Walk-in
Walk-in
Frequently asked questions
What does the “££ + Daytime” filter show on Quiet pubs, bars and cafés in London to talk?
This view narrows Quiet pubs, bars and cafés in London to talk to venues tagged for ££ + Daytime. FairWhere can still rank that filtered shortlist by journey fairness when you start a plan, so the activity fit and the commute both work for the group.
When are these places quietest?
Earlier in the day, almost everywhere. Weekday mornings and early afternoons are the calmest at most of these quiet pubs, bars and cafés in London, and evenings get louder, with after-work crowds at places like Gordon's Wine Bar and The Wigmore. Several are daytime only. Each venue note says when it's calmest, and where a place is livelier than quiet, we say so. For a livelier after-work pint, see After-Work Drinks. For a louder City dinner when quiet isn't the point, see Square Mile Weeknights.
Can I work on a laptop in any of them?
In some. Store Street Espresso and Prufrock Coffee are the easy ones, and Age Exchange Cafe, Ink@84, Petitou, St John's Bakery and The Gallery Cafe also carry a laptop-friendly tag. Monocle Café is the exception: laptops are discouraged there. Most of these are daytime venues, so check hours before you plan a long session.
How does FairWhere pick a fair place?
Here, fair means the journey. Add where everyone is starting from and FairWhere ranks these quiet pubs, bars and cafés in London by how evenly the travel is shared across your group, using the FairWhere Score. The shortlist is picked for quiet. The ranking is not about popularity, sponsorship or who suggested it first.
Where next
Date SpotsWhen you want more atmosphere: speakeasies, rooftops, tea rooms, whatever the date is.
Free Museums: LondonA calm daytime plan, with the coffee saved for afterwards.
After-Work DrinksLivelier, bookable pubs for when the catch-up can take a bit of noise.
More from FairWhere
- Square Mile WeeknightsA louder City dinner, for when quiet isn't the point.
- Pubs Near Big StationsTerminus pubs when the group arrives on different trains.
- Hampstead Heath Meeting PointsA Heath pin first, then a calm room afterwards.
- Midpoint vs FairWhereThinking of meeting halfway? See why the midpoint is not always fair.
- Browse meeting pointsMeeting between areas rather than at a venue? Browse meeting points.