4 Best Bars in Bloomsbury, London

Located between the British Museum and the West End, this pretty Victorian-era pub with its stained-glass windows and varnished wooden floors and paneling is the perfect place for a pit stop. Legend says it was the final watering hole for condemned criminals en route to Tyburn gallows at Marble Arch. A good selection of pub fare is served all day.

Charles Dickens and his contemporaries drank here, but today's enthusiastic clientele make sure this intimate and eternally popular pub avoids the pitfalls of feeling too old-timey. One interesting feature: for private chats at the bar, you can close a delicate etched-glass "snob screen" to the bar staff, opening it only when you fancy another pint.

Across the street from the British Museum in Bloomsbury, this friendly and classy Victorian pub makes an ideal resting place after the rigors of the culture trail. Karl Marx unwound here after a hard day in the British Museum Library. If he visited today, he could spend his kapital on its excellent selection of craft beers and spirits.

Queen Charlotte, the wife of "mad" King George III, is said to have stored food for him here in the basement while he was being treated nearby. The interior of this tiny pub preserves its antique feel, with dark wood and old posters, and in the evenings fills up quickly with office workers, medics, and students from the nearby hospitals. It's located on the corner of pleasant Queen Square; if the weather's good, grab one of the outside tables.