Here’s a list of “proper old” Brit pubs, for those who are either of a Brit persuasion or else part of a vanishingly-small number who actually want to visit Britishland.
For the record, I’ve been to four of them (The Bell, The George, The Coach & Horses and The King’s Head) and had a great time in all. (By the way, the interiors of The George and The King’s Head are stunningly alike — when I saw the pic of the latter in the article, I thought for a moment that it was the George.)
That said: when I was at The Bell, the beer selection was absolute shit — even Mr. Sorenson had trouble finding something decent, and we ended up drinking cider (ugh). The George, of course, serves Wadworth 6X and their lamb pie is excellent. I don’t recall much about the C&H because I was drinking there with either The Englishman or Mr. Free Market, and after those kind of epic sessions, memory is frequently foggy: probably caused by sundry pints of Fuller’s London Pride, in retrospect.
I don’t know about the other pubs mentioned in the article, but they look excellent.
Missing from the list, however, is my absolute favorite, The King’s Arms in All Cannings:
…as is Salisbury’s Haunch of Venison:
Very much worth a visit, despite the lack of 6X.