UK’s best beer garden hotspots revealed for 2026
In the build-up to beer garden season, the top hotspots in the UK for alfresco drinking have been identified in new research. But which areas make the top 10 for 2026? Find out here.
The ranking, put together by Heineken-owned Beavertown which has breweries based in both Tottenham Hale and Enfield, assessed the number of beer gardens, sunshine hours and average ratings of pubs with outdoor areas across the UK’s biggest cities and towns.
Where to go
According to the data, London tops the list with a perfect score of 10/10. The capital has been revealed to lead largely due to the volume of beer gardens on offer, with 547 in total.
The 2026 analysis looked at how sunshine hours between March and September reach more than 1,195 and indicated that, for Brits, there will be plenty of opportunity to make the most of the city’s venues. With more outdoor drinking options than anywhere else in the country, the data showed that the average rating of pubs with beer gardens sits at 4.25/5.
Recommendations
Looking at what is best to drink, a Beavertown spokesperson told the drinks business that the emphasis for beer orders would be to focus on the beer being “crisp”.
The spokesperson explained: “Beer garden season is what Brits wait all year for — that first pint in the sun just hits differently. For alfresco drinking, keep it crisp, easy and full of flavour.”
According to the spokesperson, the beers from Beavertown that hit the right spot for drinking outside are “Neck Oil IPA [because it] brings that zesty, sessionable hit.”
But, the spokesperson advised db that for beer fans “leaning sweeter” then its beer “Cosmic Drop lands with a juicy berry punch that tastes like summer dialled all the way up”.
In terms of recommendations on pubs, the brewery spokesperson also offered up suggestions of five London beer garden favourites across the capital. These include: The Old Thameside Inn; The Mitre; Clissold Park Tavern; The Ship and the Royal Inn on the Park.
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Whatever the choices on what to drink, the spokesperson added that the important thing was to “round up your mates, get yourselves outside and don’t overthink it” and warned that “the sun doesn’t hang around in the UK, so get stuck in while it’s here”.
Best of the rest
Assessing the rest of the top hotspots, the research also showed that, on the coast, Brighton ranks in second place with a score of 9.70/10. According to the analysis, the seaside city ties with nearby Eastbourne with the highest number of sunshine hours – at 1,469. In fact, Brighton offers 63 beer gardens to choose from, which carry an average rating of 4.28.
Bristol rounds off the top three, with a score of 9.39/10. With 183 beer gardens, Bristol has been recognised by the research to offer the second-highest number of venues in the study. Added to this, Bristol pubs with beer gardens have an average rating of 4.29/5 and receive 1284 total sunshine hours between March and September.
Cities such as Bath, Exeter, Oxford, and Sheffield were also identified as other metropolitan hotspots, each scoring solidly on average pub ratings, the analysis has shown. Plus, Bath and Exeter have the highest ratings in the study at 4.34 and 4.35, respectively.
Other seaside favourites shown to be popular include: Eastbourne, Portsmouth and Poole which each also emerge on the list as hidden gems. Eastbourne records 1,469 sunshine hours between March and September, while Poole offers visitors 1,388 hours and Portsmouth follows with 1364 hours.
Top 10
The top 10 for 2026 are:: London, Brighton, Bristol, Bath, Exeter, Eastbourne, Oxford, Portsmouth, Poole and Sheffield.
Other areas of merit, but which did not make the top 10 but were also shown to have placed well. include: York, Leeds, Plymouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Norwich and Edinburgh.
Last year, db revealed London’s top 10 beer gardens for summer sipping. Additionally, the best locations for beer gardens last year was identified by db in research led by credit experts Aqua which also took into account the average price of a pint.
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