Eight New London Restaurants, Pubs and Cafes Where You Can Drink and Dine Outside

As the heatwave rolls on and London continues to swelter, it’s tempting to head to the nearest chain pub garden and soak up the rays over a couple of pints. But why not cross a couple of new spots off your hitlist, while also enjoying a cool breeze or revelling in some vitamin D? Below, we’ve rounded up a raft of new London venues where you can also enjoy a spot of sunshine.

Lonsdale Road in Queen’s Park has experienced a renaissance and has become a hotbed of good times that regularly spill out into the street – from the weekend queues for pastries at Don’t Tell Dad to the crowds that congregate, pint in hand, outside Wolfpack. Adding to that vibrant atmosphere is the just-opened Bar Blondie, by the founder of Milk Beach Elliot Milne and award-winning sommelier Alexandra Price. Take a seat on its shaded terrace for bowls of handmade pasta and glasses of meticulously selected wine, or simply grab a Martini or beer and hit the street to soak up the atmosphere.

The pub garden at new Stokey boozer the Mary Wollstonecraft – from Nick Bailey, who has turned Crouch Hill’s The Robin into a local institution in the space of just a couple of years – is hot property this summer. Bailey has planted the surprisingly spacious garden with apple, pear and olive trees, jasmine, wisteria, roses, geraniums and begonias, making it the perfect spot to perch up with a British ale from the pub’s rotating selection.

The wraparound terrace of Rosina, opposite Wandsworth Common, is an oasis away from the traffic of Trinity Road on one side and Bellevue Road on the other. And it’s a lovely spot to work your way through the Italian restaurant’s menu of Negronis and spritzes before heading inside to make a good dint in chef-patron Adam Byatt’s menu of comforting Italian dishes and a stellar tiramisu to finish.

It’s the restaurant opening of the summer – so it’d be a real letdown if Cafe Clement, in the new St Clement hotel complex, was sans-outdoor drinking and dining spaces. Out back there’s a leafy spot for drinks that backs on to a soon-to-be-unveiled public square, while the terrace out front offers privacy (and almost a view of the Thames) for tucking into chef Danny Bohan’s lobster omelette and gruyere souffle. If it’s just drinks you’re after, next-door bar Bobby’s has a similarly positioned and sized terrace, brilliant Martinis and spectacular people watching.

Its off-menu burgers have grabbed headlines (they’re made with patties brushed with beef stock that’s infused with parmesan rinds – and there’s only 10 available each service). But not enough people are talking about the outdoor dining options at Jackson Boxer’s (Dove, Brunswick House, et al) latest, Vesper. Diners can sit Exmouth Market-side, dining on spring onion pancakes loaded with raw tuna and anchovy, and plump little agnolotti filled with chicken liver. It’s also a fab setting for one of its Vesper Martinis (from which the restaurant does not take its name).

There are few bad places to nosh on a bagel – but at a seat on a bustling pavement in the sunshine has to be up there with one of the best spots to tuck into one. Along with truly excellent bagels, that’s the USP at south London fave Banook Bagels, which opened its new spot in East Dulwich in June. Our pick of its Montreal-meets-New York-style bagels? We’d be ordering the Fish One – chalk stream trout, cream cheese, pickled red onion, capers, lemon, dill and black pepper. And a miso-sesame cookie on the side wouldn’t hurt, either.

Eating fish al fresco just feels right. Chelsea’s Pavilion Road may be several hundred miles from the nearest shoreline, but it’s nonetheless a great backdrop to dine on The Sea, The Sea head chef Nick Marsden’s creative seafood dishes. The beloved seafood restaurant and fishmonger moved to the other side of the charming pedestrianised street back in May, and has already retaken its mantle as a superb spot for dining on the daily catch. Its sunny terrace just sweetens the deal.

Spread has taken over former changing rooms on Clapham Common – and there’s far more space inside than outside. Even if you don’t nab an al fresco table to enjoy one of its seasonal sarnies or cooling coffees (we’re looking at you, mont blanc) the entirety of Clapham Common is at your disposal.