London has 3,500 pubs.
Most of them are fine.
Short Hops is a guide to the ones that aren't merely fine — assessed against 13 named criteria, described with two things only: what each pub is known for, and what to order.
A significant minority of London's pubs smell faintly of regret and serve lager that has never been cold enough. Short Hops is not interested in those.
— Editorial position, stated once and not revisited
What it is
This is not a directory. There is no star rating, no booking widget, no paid-for prominence, no relationship with any pub group. There is an opinion — a single editor, an unreasonable set of standards, and roughly a hundred pubs that have passed muster. The list grows slowly, on purpose.
The Canon
Each pub is assessed against thirteen named criteria — The Orwell Standard, The Withnail Index, The Flann O'Brien Pour, and ten others. They are grounded in literary and cultural reference. They are, frankly, a little bit much. That is precisely the point.
Editorial stance
The pubs are curated rather than comprehensive. Independent rather than corporate — though a chain pub can earn its way in if it genuinely warrants it, which occasionally one does. Errors happen. Pubs change. Short Hops is updated when it is updated, with no particular apology for the interval.
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