The Haverstock Tavern

You'll find yourself on Haverstock Hill in the thick of Camden's quieter northern reaches, where this place sits as the kind of pub that rewards regulars but won't make you feel like an outsider. The crowd's mixed—everyone from accountants to artists to parents grabbing a pint after the school run—and there's a comfortable, worn-in quality that suggests they've been doing this right for years. The food's proper pub fare done without pretension: think good sandwiches, classic mains, the sort of thing that tastes better when someone's made it with care rather than speed. It's the pub you'd genuinely want living round the corner from you.