The Gladstone Arms

Located just far enough away from London Bridge and Borough Market to escape the tourists and city workers, the Gladstone is a real find. Always on our radar but never visited, this is the ideal bolthole to escape to whenever the prospect of being shoulder-to-shoulder, fighting for service down Borough Market way doesn’t appeal – which is almost always. A local in an area where locals aren’t easy to find, the Gladstone is all dim lighting, dark hues and wood – a traditional boozer with a twist.

Despite the fact that the Gladstone – or ‘the Glad’ as they call it – is the kind of cosy pub you can sit down in, start drinking, get talking and then leave several hours later wondering where the time went, it has more than its ability to keep you comfortable and chatty going for it. Excellent live music regularly makes nights at the Glad that little more interesting and without coming over all bleary eyed, after just two visits we can say we’ll miss it if it goes. Which might be soon.

Developers want to knock it down and replace it with a ten-storey block and there is little that can be done to stop it. Fingers crossed that plans are halted but we advise you to make the most of one of our most recent finds.