The Wells Tavern

Tucked away in the heart of Hampstead, North London, this place is an absolute hidden gem that you won’t want to miss! With incredible food, impeccable service, and an atmosphere that strikes the perfect balance between cozy and vibrant, it’s a must-visit for anyone exploring the area. Located just a short stroll up Flask Walk towards the stunning Hampstead Heath, it’s easy to find, but hard to leave once you’re there. I highly recommend making a booking, especially on weekends when it gets super busy, though if you’re feeling lucky, you can always try your chances. And did I mention it’s dog-friendly? Yes, bring your furry friend along to enjoy this unique spot with you! Whether you’re a local or a tourist, this place will definitely be one of the highlights of your visit!

This can be easily my new favourite pub. We made reservations on a Friday night after a show in the nearby theatre. What a wonderful experience. Initially we went there for a quick bite but the choises in the menu were so good that it quickly transformed in a 3 course meal evening! I pictures: blue cheese, pear salad with pecans, chateaubriand for two and banoffee pie. If you're in the area this place is a must. If you look for a more "casual" dining, they so offer burgers and other more pub-like dishes in the restaurant too. I'll definitely return!

Lovely experience sitting for a quick lunch with friends! Excellent food, friendly service despite being super busy and very accomodating to a group with dogs and a baby! My cauliflower steak lunch special was gorgeous. Proper hampstead pub :) apologies for the half eaten photo

Perfect pub located near the Heath. Service is lovely, vibe is lively, and the food is great (and not a copycat of every other London pub!). Best of all? They allow well-behaved dogs indoors!!!

Used to go years ago when food was superb but then booked more central London restaurants. Parked outside with no table booking on a Monday night 8.30pm but got a table straight away. Service prompt and helpful when discussing options as wanted gluten free. Both the steak Bavette and Sea Bass were outstanding and the steamed broccoli just right. The Pavlova was prepared to a perfection with just the right amount of meringue, cream, strawberries and coulis. £85.00 for two. Outstanding and will be back!!

We came here for some drinks. The cocktail of the week was great! A cucumber smashed gin tonic, really surprising. Great atmosphere!

Lovely pub but the sunday roast dinner was quite shockingly poor.. A very ungenerous plate, two bits of boiled vege and hard roast potatoes. Chicken breast was dry. Such a shame. Can’t quite understand why it remains booked out. Hopefully just having a bad day.

Enjoyed sitting outdoors with a pint and a roast! Good food and friendly service.

Excellent location, old fashioned, great Guinness, chips and hamburgers. Staff is courteous and my wife and I always enjoy ourselves. Also fun to sit outside!

This seems a popular pub so I hope our experience wasn't common but it happened so I'm sharing it because people need to know. When we arrived, on our table was a drink menu and nothing else. A frumpy woman eventually came and grunted something about cocktails. We ordered drinks and she brought them. She immediately asked us to pay, which we thought was odd and bit rude but did as she asked. She never came back - not to check on us, offer 2nd drinks, bring food menus, or to take a food order. The table next to us had been there awhile and eventually asked for the bill. Wait a minute. Why had we been asked to pay on delivery if nobody else had? We watched other tables and confirmed that not only were none of them asked to pay until their meal was over, they were each offered the option to actually order food. I'm not sure what prejudices they have here but it was pretty obvious that something was up and we were not welcome. I considered that it could have been just ludicrously bad customer service. But, it was too specific and targeted.

I can't believe I haven't written about The Wells Tavern in Hampstead yet - although I've been here at least a dozen times! The Wells is great - mostly I like fact that staff is always super-friendly and that the food never disappoints. In terms of food, I usually go for the burger, which is a very solid but delicious choice. However, I can also heartily recommend the duck confit, which my partner orders every time and sometimes even dreams of at night. They used to have home-made ketchup, which was to die for and I'm still mad at them that they don't do that anymore. My tip: since It's always super-busy here at the Tavern and you might not be able to be seated right away - I suggest you order a drink at the bar (the Black Sheep Ale is nice) and relax at the couches or by the fire...your table will be ready in no time! Also: this pub is very dog-friendly, which is one of the main reasons why we come back here so often...oftentimes when we have visitors in town and we've just finished an invigorating walk through Hampstead Heath. (In fact, they have dog food on the menu!!!)

When in search of a proper British pie venture to The Wells. After their rib eye steak 16.00, I will never be! the same again. This Alfresco style gastro pub also boasts a good selection of beers and wine. For desert I highly recommend the Creme Brulee which comes with Blueberries 5.00, delicious. There is a decent walk up from the Hampstead Heath British Rail Station to get to the Wells, but the houses in that area are really nice to look at and the streets are quiet so it is definitely worth the trip.

A very nice terrace outside with a feeling of a small town. Had a Sunday Roast here with nice lamb and Aperol spritz, amazing April sunny day...it's like I was enjoying holidays! A break from the crowded city. Only downside the service could be faster.

Didnt eat or drink here but the maitre was such an absolute jerk with such an air of arrogance that we decided not to stay for dinner. It was such a turn off to be greeted by such snobbery that all the great reviews, history and the dog friendly atmosphere was still not enough to excuse his rudness!

Great experience. Warm, inviting and festive. Wonderful special of portobello and red pepper veggie burger. Great staff. Close to the heath if want to walk off the calories afterwards.

Imagine, if you will, a warm summer's day in London (hell...just a summer's day in London because that warm part doesn't happen too much around here does it?)...Why not take a stroll through Hampstead Heath? That, my friends, is a great idea because when you're done strolling/traversing/trolling/hiking/walking the Heath you can head to The Wells to recover from London's treacherous wilderness. Just make sure your trip through the bush puts you on the right side of the Heath and you're golden. The front patio bit is great if you have a dog with you (I believe they even have dog treats on the menu). When it inevitably begins to rain, head inside... The ambiance inside is simply perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon or a simple date night outside of central London. They did this roast chicken dish with some mash and lovely grilled spring onions a while back that was delicious. They have a much better selection of wines than many gastropubs and a full bar for those who emphasize the 'gastro' rather than the 'pub' like I do. I remember having a very good bloody mary there at one point in summer as well if I'm not mistaken. I had my birthday dinner here this past summer and they were super easy to work with and made the meal quite a success. Great, attentive service and easily accommodated our party of about 12. A trip to Hampstead Heath just isn't complete without at least a quick drink here.

A little slice of city heaven, otherwise known as the Wells Tavern. Everything you could want from a pub after a long walk across beautiful Hampstead Heath, when you're in need of a decent glass of wine, or hangover cure Bloody Mary. The Sunday Roast is worth going miles for too, so stick this one on your radar at the weekends, get your walking boots on, dog in the car, hit the heath and work up an appetite. It's perched so sweetly in the back streets of one of London's most elegant, affluent and covetable areas, but there's no pomp and grandeur, just cool staff and great food. And the outside seating area allows you to gaze on to homes worth millions, dreaming of the day you can come here every day and not worry about the cost!

We stumbled across the Wells one evening after getting pissed watching the World Cup at the Flask. Unfortunately, by the time we made the short trek through the backstreets of Hampstead and arrived at the Wells, it was past 10 and the kitchen had closed. However, we new we would make an effort to come back - the decor was warm and cosy inside, with people playing board games while enjoying their tasty looking food and wine. A week later, we returned to the Wells on a busy Thursday evening. The four of us made reservations and were first seated upstairs in a more formal dining setting, which was quite lovely, but not what we were looking for. Instead, we asked to dine downstairs in the more casual setting with more of a warm, woodsy, gastropub feel. We began our evening with a delicious bottle of sauvignon blanc, which was perfect for the warm evening. Three of the four of us enjoyed the confit duck for an entree, which was supposedly incredible. I enjoyed the seafood salad with octopus and scallops. The seafood was so perfectly cooked and seasoned and complemented the light, citrus dressing and wine so well - it was the perfect summer's meal. The service was also very friendly and accommodating. Now that the weather is stunning outside and the days are long, the Wells is the perfect place to unwind with good food and wine in lovely Hampstead. I'll definitely be back more than once this summer. Hopefully next time we can snag a table outside to enjoy some of that rare but lovely London sunshine.

This place is so worth the trip and, mentioning trip, perfectly placed for a day outing to either Hampstead High Street or Hampstead Heath. Great menu, drinks selection and quality service. It offers both inside and outside seating and has a lovely dining room upstairs for a more intimate setting. Enjoy!

About 5 hours later, I am still groaningly full. The onglet steak with "fine" chips and diable sauce was really delicious and well-cooked. It was rather covered in pepper, which I don't like very much, but appreciate that lots of people do. All went really well together and would happily have eaten a lot more, even though it was a good size. The chocolate pecan pie was a bit less exciting - I think a plain pecan pie would be better, as the chocolate overpowered the rest of the pie, I thought. Attractive building and the pub feels friendly and cosy. Quite a few dogs when I was there, which were all well-behaved.

It was at the Wells Tavern in 2007 that I was first introduced to bangers and mash. I was smitten at first bite. In a nostalgic moment two weeks ago I made my way back to the Wells for the second time, a strong sense of nostalgia and a hungry belly driving me to the outer regions of London in the direction of Hampstead heath. I was delighted to find the restaurant was still in tact, and positively radiant for that matter, with neighboring cherry blossoms in full bloom. My friends and I shared plates of bangers & mash and "chips" dipped in mayonnaise, all washed down with refreshing Kopparbergs pear cider. If I lived in Hampstead this would be my local, where I'd hole up for hours eating bangers, drinking cider, thumbing through Thomas Hardy novels, and watching the locals "pop-in" with their lookalike, stately setters and springer spaniels. It's the epitome of quaint.

This is another one of those pubs that I haven't been to for 30 years and which I now find a tad gentrified. The pub is now largely given over to food though you can still order a drink only. I recall their ploughman's lunch which had gone down in my memory as the best I had tasted. However, sadly branston pickle is now nowhere to be seen. Instead the menu is sort of modern British, but certainly enticing. For the location many dishes are very reasonably priced. I plumped for the kedgeree which was frankly delicious. Service was good and I welcomed being asked if I preferred a starter portion. Beers are well kept and I'm pretty sure they have a decent wine list. I will return assuming I return to Hampstead.

Years ago, (and you'd better sit down, this is a boring story) I lived in Hampstead. Our local was a superb pub called The Wells Tavern which had, amongst other things, a golden retriever called Samuel Flowers O.B. (Original Bitter) and a dart board. It was kid-friendly, had a restaurant area, but was to all intents and purposes, a pub of the grandest kind. Situated 400 yards or so from Hampstead Heath, it made a perfect rest stop on the way home after a long walk, and the food was gratefully received. However, none of this is actually useful information - but it gives you a bit of background at least. My rating is biased heavily on what the pub used to be - so that isn't necessarily fair. They changed the name to The Wells, and it became a gastropub. The food isn't bad. The ambiance is pleasant but characterless. For me, the reason that I'll avoid this pub is simple, and is found on the Bar Snacks menu. One of the offerings is Crab Bisque. Crab Bisque as a bar snack? You decide.

My favourite pub in walking distance of our house! Located on a cozy tree-lined residential street in Hampstead, it truly feels like a neighborhood gem (although it must surely be in a tourist guidebook or something as there are often tourists there). The perfect place to go for a drink in nice weather and sit outside taking in the atmosphere and people watching. Also a wonderful place to visit in the winter to cozy up inside the lovely pub. Food is tasty - I love their sausages and mash and their pavlova is absolutely to die for. Casual dining downstairs, nicer dining environment upstairs (same menu). Lovely staff, we always a very enjoyable time here.

Can't believe I haven't written about this place before. I would call the Wells Tavern more of a destination rather than a local. I've eaten in both the upstairs dining room and the downstairs pub. We visiting the dining room on Thanksgiving, and the tavern even hung an American flag outside. The food is sometimes out of this world, and they serve Grolsch lager on tap funnily. I'm sure many people consider the wells tavern to be their local, and they must chuckle (or roll their eyes) every time people flock from around London to the small residential gastropub. I live down the road and stop in occasionally when I'm walking through. It's always packed and continues to feel like a cosy hideaway

CELEB STOP: Will Young Okay so after a picnic with a good friend in the glorious London sunshine (hell yeah!) on Hampstead Heath we stumbled into this pub for a spot of icy refreshment and a toilet break. This pub is just gorgeous, nice service, fabulous layout, reasonably priced drinks. I didn't eat here but I've heard great things about the menu and they looked to have an extensive wine list behind the bar. To top it all off there seemed to be a very attractive gent wandering around setting up tables and parasols for people to sit outside. There is a bit of seating outside but to tell you the truth, it's quite pleasant to sit on the old stone curb and pavement just outside and bask in the afternoon sunshine. The whole of Hampstead and their dog seemed to be here, as well as Will Young and other young hip cool things. Great for a sunny weekend afternoon!

The food is excellent and a perfect example for modern British quality cuisine. The builing is beautiful, the interior is tasteful, and the atmosphere is comfortable. They also make some damn good cocktails ;)

Okay, our friends took us here when we were in London and this is the epitome of quintessential existence in the cutest town ever! We had the tasty scotch angus burgers which were quite amazing as well as the french fries. It was raining outside and we were cozied up on couches in a nook of the restaurant. They also let you bring your dog which was such a great thing to see. This local restaurant makes me want to move to Hampstead Heath ASAP! This is my perfect vision of what London should be!

Gawd bless this place... always beautifully run ... always great food.... always staff who know and do their job really well ... always great food and excellent drinks ....always the same . Can't ask for more .No bother , go to the Wells , book a table its always full!

Okay, here's my "ode to the Wells". This place is our "local" as we live right around the corner in Hampstead. With several other pubs in our area to chose from, this is hands down our favorite. The food is great (as far as pub food goes). Especially the burgers and chips and seasonal specials/salads. The atmosphere is very friendly and casual but not a dive like some English pubs. It's still a chic atmosphere. In addition to a good beer and wine selection, this is pretty much the only pub in the area that serves mixed drinks - and they are AMAZING. My girlfriends and I are addicted to the "drink special of the week" which is usually something fruity and delicious. Bottom line, best pub in Hampstead all around for food, drinks and atmosphere. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is it's slightly overpriced.

Great everything. Service, food, ambiance location, beer and wine list. Staff is very friendly and helpful. Always a good time.

Such a cute place! Great food selection (vegetarian Shephard's pie was an interesting lentil based take on the meaty original), pleasant service and lovely outdoor seating.

This is a great pub, which still retains a bit of a community flare, despite being a 'destination'. The food is fantastic here, and there is a large selection of wines. It is a bit pricey, but well worth it. It's a place to go with a couple friends or family for something special.

This place used to be great. But now...what a disappointment. They actually tried to top up a glass of beer that was sitting out and sell it to me. I refused to take it and they complained. Bartender finally agreed to start fresh beer. Never seen anything like it.

Amazing food and lovely wine! Conversation seems to stop minutes after the food arrives - it's that good. And if you like you can always go for a wonderful ramble on the Heath - the pub is only a minute from the heath and five minutes from Hampstead Tube station. If you haven't been go for sure! You'll love it!

Decent place although slightly cheeky with its pricing. I've never paid more for a hot chocolate made from Cadburys Drinking chocolate in my life. But that said the wines are interesting (mainly supple whites that wont offend the fruit-driven paletes of the local soccer moms) and the food is fine. If you dont like David Gray Id suggest you stay away from here - he's in there all the time. The addition of a plasma was welcome but unexpected. I think more gastropubs are now going the other way and getting back old pubby things. It will be darts next!

Well located for Hampstead Heath, this has been upgraded tastefully to be a restaurant with pub attached. Fresh ingredients and attentive service, I enjoyed my lunch of peppers stuffed with risotto.

A wonderful pub I have been going to for many years, perfect place to have a drink on the way from the Heath. Food is very good and sometimes great, Sunday roast is fab and so was the venison dish. Pretty front garden, friendly and fun.

this place is great, so glad that my friend brought me here to cheer me up when i was feeling more than a little blue. we only had snacks and a few glasses of wine so i can't really speak to the kitchen's abilities, but the place felt relaxed and inviting with its many windows affording the room a pleasant, airy feeling. bonus is its proximity to hampstead heath.

Excellent meal. Roasted beet salad with mint as the highlight. Bangers and mash was delicious. Bangers tasted like home made sausage.