Devonshire, London

Previously a Victorian public house and most recently a Jamie's Italian restaurant and then chicken and burger concept Coqbull, this site has now blossomed again as The Devonshire. Publican Oisín Rogers, Flat Iron founder Charlie Carroll and Ashley Palmer-Watts, the former Fat Duck executive chef, joined forces to open the new pub and restaurant in November 2023.

The ground-floor pub is a “relaxed, top-quality pub honouring the building’s history as an inn since 1793”. Decor is authentic pub-style, burgundy leather banquettes, wood-panels and gleaming brass. The best seats in the house are three snugs literally behind the bar, but you will have to be invited or ask permission to come across!

There is home-made bar food including bacon sandwiches, scotch eggs, sausage rolls and cheese and ham hock toasties. Drinks in this free-house of course include cask ale, up to four ales from six handpumps, but there are in addition a large number of keg fonts with a major focus on Guinness. The latter has already been described as "perfect" and in April 2024 news reports stated that the pub sold around 15 thousand pints of Guinness a week and that over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend, 20 thousand pints were sold. Diageo has said that this site is now "the biggest Guinness account in the world". The story continued in August 2024 when the pub became the first in the country to sell Guinness 0.0 no-alcohol on draught. As at date of this entry the venue continues to be very popular indeed and hence often crowded.

Upstairs, there are three dining rooms with a total 150 covers and a wood-ember grill for steaks and seafood. A three-course set-price menu is on offer at both lunch and dinner featuring the likes of prawn and langoustine cocktail, steak and chips and sticky toffee pudding. The two-page wine list contains a fair selection including many bottles reasonably-priced for the area. A rooftop area is also there for sunny days.

The venue staff are stated by the owners to be women-led in order to counter the blokiness marring some other pubs.

NB the pub management requests no laptop usage or loud phone calls whilst in the pub.

Winner in the 2024 National Restaurant awards of the Gastropub of the Year and of the Opening of the Year awards.