My geography of London is oriented around pubs. I was a late adopter of the smart phone and so through my 20s I developed my own internal GPS. Here is a list of my favourite landmark boozers to navigate you through the city.

On a mews street off Belgrave Square this tiny little pub with a coal fire and a ban on phones is an absolute gem. Beer snacks are limited to cheese and onion crisps, the lunch menu is Irish stew and the bar staff are rude. I love it.

This narrow 1602 pub tucked behind the Royal Courts of Justice is full of barristers celebrating and commiserating at the end of the day. A resident bar cat called Thomas Paine wears an Elizabethan ruff and catches mice. Proprietor, Roxy Beaujolais is a boisterous hostess and an excellent cook.

I love this pleasingly stripped-back place. Its no-frills but the well-worn wooden benches, open fires and massive sausage rolls feel luxurious.

Cheese and ham toasties served with jars of chutney and english mustard. Sorry to be size-ist but this pub is not for tall people.

This Docklands drinking den has been around for 400 years. Go for a sauna in the undercroft of the Finnish Church in old Rotherhithe and then settle in for a couple of drinks overlooking the river.

This place has got soul. Buddy Holly on the jukebox, Elvis’ face in stained glass in the window, a honky tonk piano, sit by the fire, the bar is cash only.

Hidden away on a 60s housing estate by the river in Deptford this pub was lucky to survive the Blitz. Sea shanties on Wednesday nights are a nod to its maritime past.