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Outdoor Restaurants and Terraces in London
Outdoor Restaurants and Terraces in London
The sun is coming out and the temperatures are rising so that means it’s time for outdoor drinking and dining, so round up your mates and check out the best terrace restaurants in London.
London’s not got the sunniest reputation, so when those blue skies do finally make an appearance, you can bet Londoners will be making the most of it. And by making the most of it, we of course mean drinking outdoors. While autumn and winter are the perfect time for pints in a cosy pub with a fireplace, spring and summer are reserved for beer gardens and al fresco terraces – and there are plenty of those in town. East London’s got the Five Points Brewery & Courtyard, south of the river has got Vinegar Yard, out west you’ll find The Hawk’s Nest, up north you can sip on wine while looking out over one of the best views in the city at Alexandra Palace. And that’s just naming a few.
If your priority is food, though, there are also a tonne of restaurants with picturesque terraces. Acme Fire Cult, a Dalston fave, has a killer outdoor space that’s also heated and covered – just in case. For a more central London option, Kingly Court is an al fresco space with a whole range of restaurants to choose from, including plant-based Mexican spot Club Mexicana and modern Filipino spot Donia. Ready to explore the great outdoors? Get browsing below.
They already had their indoor taproom, but in 2023 Five Points launched a new courtyard outside their Mare Street-based brewery. The al fresco bar is a huge 300-cover space where you can not only drink the brand’s own beer but also a range of cocktails and low-intervention wines. Food-wise, they’ve got From The Ashes, a nose-to-tail concept created by Martin Anderson and Curtis Bell who met at temper Soho in 2019 where they decided to start a delivery service before graduating to their east London collection spot. Following an incredible customer response, the pair outgrew their place in Hackney Wick and now they’re serving their signature BBQ, including the pork & nduja Del Piero doughnut, pork adobo tacos, steak frites with chimichurri and whole smoked chicken. You could easily spend the whole day here.
If you’re catching a show this summer, head out to the Forza Taps terrace at the National Theatre for some drinks beforehand. An extension of Forza Wine, the terrace is serving a range of snacks and picky bits, including taralli, garlic toast, and arrosticini, skewers of bavette with lardo, pork with nduja, and polenta with Chianti tomato sauce, all served with pink onions and crisps. There’s also wines on tap, spritzes, negronis and spicy Palomas to sip on out in the sun.
Acme Fire Cult, the live fire kitchen from Andrew Clarke and Daniel Watkins, has opened a permanent restaurant, with a covered and heated terrace, at 40FT Brewery in Dalston. Here the pair are taking the concept to the next level by collabing with Steve Ryan of 40FT, to use beer brewing by-products in their cooking – hello Acme Marmite and hot sauce made from beer-soaked chillies. The menu showcases veggies, dayboat fish, and native breed meat from regenerative farms, with dishes like grilled leeks with pistachio romesco; char siu of monkfish with jalapeno verde & grilled sea vegetables; and smoked shortrib (glazed in molasses made from 40FT Eccles Cake Stout), mustard greens, beef fat cream & ancho koji flatbread. And the restaurant has ten beer taps pouring fresh brews, with 40FT knocking up a special edition beer each month to go with the menu.
Elevated from street level, with plenty of space for tables, plants running the entire border, and an awning just in case the weather turns, Toklas is home to one of the best terraces in central London – you really don’t feel like you’re just off the Strand at all. You can enjoy Toklas’ Mediterranean menu – there’s nothing like mozzarella & broad beans, courgettes & romesco, lobster with panzanella, and pistachio ice cream on a gloriously sunny afternoon – but drinkers are welcome too. There’s a dedicated bar menu, featuring snacks like courgette fritti, boquerones, arancini, and those famous Toklas chips, which are the perfect pairing for a couple of limoncello or white sbagliato spritzes.
Umbrella Cider House in Bethnal Green, London’s first and only working cider house, is the latest venue from the team behind The Sun Tavern and Discount Suit Company. Naturally there’s plenty of cider on offer at the bar, including Umbrella London presses brewed on-site, with flavours like rhubarb and blackcurrant, plus beers from Two Tribes, wines, and bottled Umbrella Workshop cocktails. There’s a pool table, dartboard and DJ booth inside the Cider House but the 60-capacity terrace is where you want to be on a sunny day.
After turning Pidgin into Sesta last autumn, Drew Snaith and Hannah Kowalski have now opened the restaurant’s terrace on Wilton Way. Sesta’s full menu is available to order on the 16-cover terrace, including dishes like cajun ham chou farci with smoked eel: devilled ox heart skewer with pickled magnolia and green chillies; courgette with black garlic purée, fromage blanc, pickled limequat and Mexican rayu; and tiramisu & brown butter semifreddo. You’ll be able to pair that with natural wines by the glass and bottle from Hannah’s list.
Peckham’s become a bit of a rooftop terrace hub lately, but anyone after some al fresco dinner and drinks might be hard-pressed to find it at the usual suspects, which are typically rammed. So, if you don’t mind being closer to the ground, the terrace at Peckham Arches has you covered – literally. The canopied space is heated, so you can enjoy fresh tank beer from Bird House Brewery and tacos from Angele whatever the weather.
The younger but bigger of the two Padella restaurants, Padella Shoreditch, is the perfect place for some al fresco pasta thanks to its 26-cover terrace – it’s heated and covered in the rain and uncovered in the sunshine (the restaurant’s glass barriers are also retractable to really open up the space) so it works whatever the weather decides to do. The menu is packed with all the Padella classics including courgette fritti, pici cacio e pepe, pappardelle with 8-hour beef shin ragu, and tiramisu.
Three friends teamed up to sail De Hoop (a 114-year-old Dutch Barge) from Holland to East London’s Hackney Wick, and after mooring up along the canal they’ve converted it into a floating restaurant and canal side garden which seats a whopping 300 people. Their menu focuses on street food classics, like buttermilk fried chicken burgers; bacon and sage scotch eggs; deep-fried apple tart; and roast beef buns, with locals East London Liquor Co, Beavertown and Three Choirs supplying the brews and cocktails. Whether it’s brunch, lunch or sometime in the evening, get yourself aboard.
Hoppers’ latest – and largest – restaurant in King’s Cross has a big, weatherproofed outdoor terrace that faces the Regent’s Canal, making it a great summer spot. The two outdoor bars serve up a menu of cocktails and Sri Lankan snacks, as well as an IPA made exclusively for Hoppers in collaboration with Two Tribes Brewery. Plus, during the summer they host a series of DJ sessions programmed by Two Tribes and Voices Radio. Inside, it’s bright, spacious and vibrant, with the kitchen knocking out all the Hoppers Sri Lankan and South Indian classics such as Swimmer Crab Kari; Bone Marrow Varuval; Lamb Kothu Roti; and of course the signature string and egg hoppers.
The 1500 square metre south-facing terrace, aka the largest beer garden in London, is back at Ally Pally with mega views of the city, and this year you don’t even have to book tables so you can just turn up and get the drinks in. The bar will be serving softies, wine, beer and cocktails and there’ll also be stone-fired pizzas on offer, with street food traders popping up on weekends.
Take a trip to France without leaving London by heading to Galvin Bistrot & Bar (just next door to Galvin La Chapelle in Spitalfields which knocks up one of the best Sunday roasts in London). The restaurant’s terrace, which does have covering and heaters should the weather turn, is inspired by the bistros and wine bars of Paris and Lyon, and is continuing the legacy of the Galvin brothers’ bistrot concept following the closure of Bistrot de Luxe on Baker Street. The concise menu is full of well-executed and hearty classic dishes like tarte flambée Alsacienne, endive & Roquefort salad, entrecote steak frites and the famous Galvin brothers’ apple tarte tatin. Pair your food with a glass or two from the French-heavy wine list and you really will feel like you’ve crossed the Channel.
The Circolo crew is bringing the Italian sunshine to Fitzrovia with their festoon lighting-adorned, plant-filled terrace (they also have parasols and heaters should the sun be feeling a little shy). As well as those all-important outdoor seating, the terrace has a brand new menu including truffle crocchettas, carbonara pizzas and fritto misto platters as well as the signature cacio e pepe cheese wheel spaghetti and that massive lemon meringue pie.
15,000 sqft of garden area and over 500 seats… Mercato Metropolitano is a winner in the terrace stakes. As well as all that space, there are over 40 traders on site, including Badiani, V for Vegan, Leggero, Molo, Baba G’s and Ze Spatzle Club, plus the German Kraft microbrewery and the Jim and Tonic urban gin distillery.
Aussie restaurant Milk Beach has doubled in size in Queen’s Park as they’ve taken over the restaurant space next door. The expansion has allowed the team to put in a new bar area, with a new natural wine list, as well enlarge the heated outdoor seating area making it perfect for some al fresco socialising. Meet up and feast on the likes of Cornish sprats with yoghurt tartare & Tasmanian pepperberry, koji marinated chicken ‘schnitty’ with fermented chilli mayo, squid ink tagliatelle with cock crab & tomato fondue, and coffee custard tart.
Ciao Bella is a traditional Italian restaurant in the heart of Bloomsbury, the kind of place where the walls are covered with photos of Sophia Loren, there’s someone playing the piano, the portions are big, and everyone there seems to be celebrating something. The menu of eternal classics is a safe bet – pizza, pasta, gelato; what’s not to like? And so you have the best possible experience, you’ve gotta sit on the terrace for some of the finest people-watching in London.
Borough Market has plenty of outdoor options – as well as the main bit of the market, traders like Tacos Padre, Mei Mei and Shuk; in the Borough Market Kitchen area have covered space, and restaurants like Arabica, Elliots, El Pastor and Applebees all have little terraces out the front if you’re after a proper sit down.
The London Bridge outpost of Bar Douro has a spacious outdoor terrace, where you can prop up a barrel with a white port & tonic and a bifana sandwich or sit at a table for some Portuguese sharing places. And you can do both whilst staying covered and heated.
The restaurants on the ground floor of Kingly Court have the space for outdoor tables, both inside the central (covered and heated) courtyard and outside on the street facing sides. That means you and your pals can meet up and eat at the likes Pizza Pilgrims, Shoryu Ramen and Club Mexicana.
Tomos Parry has taken Brat al fresco with a residency at Climpson’s Arch. Home to the coffee roasters by day, the arch hosts some of the city’s best chefs and restaurants by night, with Tomos having cooked there a few years back. He’s serving Brat’s signature whole roasted turbot, spider crab and grilled bread from the wood ovens in the courtyard, as well as new dishes like Basque fish soup with Cornish velvet crabs, roasted Game rice, fried pork with anchovy & hay butter and winter tomatoes with aged mutton. Brat’s wine selection is available alongside bottled and on-tap cocktails from Climpson & Sons, including fermented Bloody Marys, Pineapple Tepaches and Espresso Martinis.
If the dumpling cravings strike during a designer shopping trip, the new Dim Sum Terrace at Harrods is the perfect place to go. Taking over one of only two terraces at the department store, the all-day restaurant on the fourth floor has a conservatory area and an outdoor space with awnings – if the weather is good, it’s a lovely sundowner spot with a cocktail in hand. Handmade dumplings and other dim sum dishes are the order of the day, with the likes of pork xiao long bao, turnip cake with XO sauce, duck spring rolls with hoi sin, BBQ pork char siu bao and lava custard buns on the menu. But this is Harrods so, of course, you can expect some extra high-end flourishes, like wagyu & taro croquettes topped with caviar, foie gras on scallop & prawn siu mai, and venison puffs finished with gold leaf. That means the dim sum here will set you back more than you’d pay in Chinatown, so head up to the terrace if you’re ready to splash out.
Brixton Jamm has made over the Brixton Courtyard with covered booths, a retractable roof, an outdoor bar and a DJ area with 360-sound. There’s also a food menu featuring fried chicken and halloumi burgers, mac & cheese dippers, chicken tenders and loaded fries, and a selection of classic cocktails and jugs.
Vinegar Yard is an eating, drinking, art space and shopping market located a stone’s throw away from London Bridge station. It’s the second site from the team behind Flat Iron Square and has both inside and outside space. Food traders include Nanny Bills, Baba G’s and Nik’s Kitchen and there are a handful of bars, including two on the mezzanine, serving local beers, wines and cocktails. The Yard is also home to a range of resident shops and the weekly Flea vintage market.
New England-inspired spot The Maine Mayfair boasts 350 covers across five different rooms but there’s only one place you want to be in the summer and that’s out on the terrace. The Georgian Grade II-listed building is just off Hanover Square and accessed through the Medici Courtyard, so it has a secluded feel, something that’s emphasised on the terrace, which is surrounded by foliage. Given the New England influence, seafood features heavily on the terrace menu, with dishes like tuna tartare, lobster rolls, fish tacos, octopus a la plancha and oysters on offer, alongside other treats like beef carpaccio, short rib croquettes and mushroom & truffle flatbreads – oh yes this is one luxe terrace. There’s an extensive wine list but don’t skip the cocktails, you can’t beat a couple of spicy palomas on a warm summer night.
The yard at Shepherd’s Bush Market has been transformed into The Hawk’s Nest, a 180-cover space from Bird House London (run by Wil Fuller of Soho House and Frazer Timmerman of Incipio Group). You can feast on stonebaked sourdough pizzas, with the fully stocked bar pouring fresh fruit margs, spritzers, frozen cocktails, rosé wines and Camden Town Brewery beers. And you can win a £150 bar tab to spend at their bi-weekly quiz nights, hosted by MC and comedian Jamie Allerton.
Yauatcha City has not one but two wraparound terraces overlooking Broadgate Circle, so there’s plenty of space to feast on their epic dim sum – don’t miss the prawn and bean curd cheung fun, xiao long bao and venison puffs.
Flat Iron Square is an indoor/outdoor venue and street food market that’s home to a rotating line-up of traders, so you can expect to see the likes of Flock, Dough and OPA, serving up fried chicken, pizza and souvlaki. There’s also a craft beer brewery and taproom on site to keep you well-watered and sheltered should the weather take a turn.
Neighbourhood bistro and wine bar The Laundry, run by The New Zealand Cellar founder Melanie Brown, boasts a south-facing terrace out at the front. It’s the perfect place to work your way through the wine list and there’s also a new all-day European-inspired sharing menu to tuck into too.
Hidden away on Pollen Street you’ll find Jason Atherton’s Little Social. This hidden gem offers the perfect spot for a post-work drink or decadent lunch after a morning of shopping in central London. Expect to indulge in a selection of British classics from rock oysters, beef tartare and Loch Duart salmon to Cornish lobster salad, Dorset plaice and a maple-cured pork chop. With plenty of wines also to choose from, you’ll be in for a treat.
After popping up all over town, Night Tales finally settled down with a perm spot in Hackney Central. Set over two railway arches by the overground, it’s got a 300-capacity nightclub, a cocktail bar, a Japanese-inspired garden, on-site pizza slingers, and a whole host of DJs hitting the decks.
If you’re looking for somewhere to eat, drink and enjoy the weather in Earl’s Court, head for The Prince. Not only does the venue have a retractable roof to really maximise the sunshine (and to protect against the rain), it’s decked out like an English summer garden thanks to loads of flowers and foliage. There’s an in-house kitchen, plus Crust Bros and Temaki Bros serving up the grub with beers, cocktails and frosé available at the bars.
There’s nothing like a bit of BBQ in the sunshine and that’s exactly what you can get on SMOKESTAK’s terrace. It’s south facing so you can catch the rays and it’s also got heaters and festoon lighting on the canopy for after dark, so you can tuck into those brisket buns and pork belly ribs all day long.
As if this huge restaurant set inside a Grade-II listed building wasn’t big enough already, German Gymnasium has added a botanical-inspired outdoor terrace to its space. It features tropical plants, greenery and floral trellises, making it a proper tranquil escape in the heart of King’s Cross. Of course, you can expect traditional German grub on the menu too, including all sorts of schnitzels, sausages and sarnies stuffed with sauerkraut as well as plenty of cocktails to choose from. Going to the gym just got a lot more fun, right?
As well as being The Standard London’s relaxed all-day dining restaurant, serving everything from pancakes at breakfast to tuna tartare and ribeye with bone marrow at dinner, Isla also has a terrace that’s a right little sun trap. Head out there for a meal al fresco or just to sink some spritzes in the sun – or whatever the weather, as it’s got a retractable roof to keep you dry.
Situated at an absolutely prime position, Between the Bridges is an open-air bar and events venue right next to the Thames, just in between the Southbank Centre and the London Eye. It’s free to enter, so you can walk up and grab a beer or a cocktail – or some street food – and soak in the skyline sights. There’s also a huge programme of events that runs throughout the summer, featuring a number of special guests. There’ll be music from the likes of Guilty Pleasures, Old Dirty Brasstards, Barrioke, and Swiftogeddon; drag brunches with drag superstars Trinity The Tuck, Tayce, and Cara Melle; Whitney bottomless brunches; and more.