Jugged Hare, The

The Verdict

If you've been to The Jugged Hare before and are wondering whether a return visit holds up, the short answer is yes; with some caveats. Under chef Rafael Liuth, the kitchen has sharpened its focus on proper British pub cooking, the pub's Opinionated About Dining recognition has strengthened year-on-year: ranked #390 in Europe for Casual dining in 2024, up from a Recommended listing in 2023, holding a ranked position again in 2025. That's a meaningful upward trajectory for a gastropub in a competitive city. This is a genuinely good place to eat, not just a convenient one. Book it for a weekday lunch or an early dinner if you want the room at its finest.

The Room and the Feel

The visual anchor here is the pub interior itself: Victorian-era bones, dark wood, the kind of unhurried layout that most modern London restaurants have given up on in favour of tight covers and high turnover. The bar runs along the length of the ground floor, it earns its keep. For food-and-drink enthusiasts who care about the drinks side of a meal, this is worth flagging: The Jugged Hare operates its bar program with the same seriousness applied to the kitchen. British cask ales, a considered wine list calibrated for pub food rather than fine dining, a spirits selection that skews toward depth rather than novelty. If your usual complaint about gastropubs is that the bar is an afterthought, this one is an exception. Sit at the bar for a first visit; it gives you a better read on the operation than a table in the back.

What to Eat and Drink

The cuisine type is listed as gastropub, The Jugged Hare takes that category seriously. British game cookery is the kitchen's territory; the name itself is a reference to jugged hare, a traditional slow-cooked British dish, the menu reflects a commitment to seasonal, often nose-to-tail British ingredients. Chef Rafael Liuth has maintained that identity while tightening execution, which is what the OAD ranking trajectory suggests. On the drinks side, this is one of the better pub wine lists in SW1: the selection is compact but purposeful, with options that pair genuinely well with strong, meat-forward cooking rather than generic crowd-pleasers. If you're visiting as a food and drink explorer, bring the appetite and be open to the pub classics, they're the point here, not a fallback option.

Who Should Book and When

Jugged Hare works well for a range of occasions, but it performs leading in two specific situations: a relaxed weekday lunch where you want serious food without a serious dress code or price tag, an early evening dinner before a nearby event at venues like the Tate Britain or the Apollo Victoria. The address on Vauxhall Bridge Road puts it squarely in Pimlico, within easy reach of Victoria station, useful context for timing. Open daily from 11am to 11pm, it offers more flexibility than most comparable London restaurants. Walk-ins are generally possible, booking is rated easy, which makes it a practical fallback if your first-choice dinner plan falls through. That said, booking ahead on weekends is advisable given the OAD recognition pulling in new visitors.

Ratings and Recognition

• Opinionated About Dining, Casual in Europe: Ranked #426 (2025)
• Opinionated About Dining, Casual in Europe: Ranked #390 (2024)
• Opinionated About Dining, Casual in Europe: Recommended (2023)

OAD trajectory is the most useful signal here. Moving from Recommended to a top-400 European casual ranking inside two years means the kitchen is either improving or finally getting the attention it deserved. Either way, it's a meaningful credential for a gastropub, a category where serious recognition is harder to earn than it looks.

Practical Details

Jugged Hare is at 172 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1DX, close to Victoria station. It is open Monday through Sunday, 11am to 11pm. Booking is easy and walk-ins are generally available, though weekends may fill. No dress code information is confirmed, but gastropub-casual is the safe assumption.

Quick reference: 172 Vauxhall Bridge Rd, SW1V 1DX. Open daily 11am–11pm. Easy to book. Walk-ins possible most days.

How It Compares

Explore More in London

• Our full London restaurants guide
• Our full London bars guide
• Our full London hotels guide
• Our full London wineries guide
• Our full London experiences guide

More Gastropubs Worth Knowing

• Hand and Flowers in Marlow, the benchmark for ambitious British pub cooking outside London
• High West Distillery & Saloon in Park City, for comparison on what a drinks-led gastropub concept looks like at its finest
• Second Draft in Hong Kong, the gastropub model applied in a very different market

Great British Restaurants Beyond London

• Waterside Inn in Bray
• L'Enclume in Cartmel
• Moor Hall in Aughton
• Gidleigh Park in Chagford
• hide and fox in Saltwood

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Jugged Hare good for a special occasion?

• It works well for an occasion where the mood is relaxed and the food should be the focus, not the formality.
• For a milestone dinner with serious ceremony, consider CORE by Clare Smyth or Restaurant Gordon Ramsay instead. The Jugged Hare is better suited to a birthday lunch or an informal celebration than a wedding anniversary dinner.

What are alternatives to The Jugged Hare in London?

• For a comparable British-focused experience with more fine-dining ambition, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal is the obvious step up in price and theatre.
• For modern British cooking at the highest level, CORE by Clare Smyth is the city's reference point, though the booking difficulty and price point are in a different league.
• If you want something equally approachable but outside London, Hand and Flowers in Marlow is the gastropub standard-bearer in the UK and worth the trip.

Can The Jugged Hare accommodate groups?

• As a full-size Victorian pub, it has the physical space to handle groups more comfortably than most London restaurants of comparable quality.
• No confirmed private dining or group booking policy is available in our data, so contact the venue directly to confirm arrangements for parties of six or more.
• The daily 11am–11pm hours give group diners plenty of flexibility on timing, including early evening slots that work well for pre-theatre or post-work gatherings near Victoria.

Is lunch or dinner better at The Jugged Hare?

• Lunch is the stronger call, particularly on weekdays. The room is quieter, walk-in availability is higher, the British game-focused menu reads well as a midday meal.
• Dinner works for the bar program: evenings give you more time to work through the drinks list alongside food.
• Both services run from the same 11am–11pm daily schedule, so timing flexibility is genuinely good by London standards.

What should I order at The Jugged Hare?

• The menu centres on British seasonal cooking with a game and nose-to-tail emphasis, the name is a direct reference to jugged hare, a traditional slow-cooked British dish, so lean into that direction rather than avoiding it.
• Chef Rafael Liuth has sharpened the kitchen's focus under his tenure; dishes rooted in British pub tradition are the point, not the consolation option.
• On the drinks side, the cask ales and pub wine list are worth exploring rather than defaulting to a standard order. This is one of the better-considered bar programs in the SW1 gastropub category.