The Queen Adelaide

You're walking down Hackney Road and you push through the door of The Queen Adelaide—it's the kind of place that doesn't need to shout about itself. Dark wood, worn-in comfort, and the sort of regulars who've probably been coming here for years. The bar staff actually know their stuff, whether you're after a pint of something unpretentious or you want to get into the weeds about a particular spirit. It's Cambridge Heath done properly: no trying too hard, no Instagram angles, just good drinks and better company. This is where locals actually go, not where they go when they're trying to seem like locals.