The Owl and The Pussycat

When it wasn’t being overrun by film crews, this grungy Grade II-listed boozer was the haunt of ‘cor blimey’ night owls and some very peculiar pussycats. That was before the team behind Keston Lodge and The Fellow tarted it up as a born-again watering hole for today’s Eastenders. This is now a chi-chi neighbourhood, so expect prices to match: £7.50 for negroni, sidecar or elderflower and apple martini; from £15 for wine, and upwards of £7.70 for a quartet of Kentish sparklers by the stem. Food-wise, the best all-round deal in the downstairs bar is a combo of chorizo, duck egg and dripping chips with a pint of ale for a tenner. Meanwhile, you can enjoy revivalist English cooking (honey-glazed duck breast with parsnip purée) in the slightly more formal upstairs dining room amid throngs of new Dickensians.