O'neill's Ilford

Head to O'Neill's and you'll find yourself in that rare kind of pub that actually feels like a proper local rather than a corporate exercise in theming. It's the sort of place where you can nurse a Guinness, catch the match on one of the screens, and genuinely chat to the person next to you at the bar. The crowd's mixed—office workers from the surrounding area, regulars who've been coming for years, groups meeting up before heading into town. You get decent pub food that doesn't try too hard, and the staff know what they're doing. It's honest and unpretentious, which is exactly what Ilford needed.