Pub plate of three cheeses (a hard, a blue, a soft), crusty bread, butter, Branston pickle, pickled onions, pork pie, an apple. Eaten cold with cask ale.
While bread-cheese-pickle lunches have been farmworker's fare for centuries, the formal ploughman's lunch as a named pub dish was a 1950s invention of the English Country Cheese Council, who promoted it to drive cheese sales after the end of WWII rationing in 1954. By the 1960s every pub in the country had it on the menu, and London's Victorian pubs adopted it as the signature cold lunch option. The modern London ploughman's leans heavily into artisan British cheeses (Stichelton, Cornish Yarg, Stilton, Westcombe Cheddar) and small-producer pickles; pubs like The French House and Andrew Edmunds keep the format alive.
6 editor picks for Ploughman's lunch in London, ranked by editorial score. All London signature dishes · Ploughman's lunch across every city.
Andrew Edmunds ★ 4.8
soho · 46 Lexington Street, London W1F 0LP
The candlelit Lexington Street bistro in Soho London, opened 1985 by print-dealer Andrew Edmunds, still runs a daily-handwritten Modern European menu.
Rochelle Canteen ★ 4.5
shoreditch · 16 Playground Gardens, Arnold Circus, London E2 7ES
Margot Henderson's daily-changing British canteen inside a converted bike shed off Arnold Circus in Shoreditch London, open since 2004 for lunch.
The French House ★ 4.3
soho · 49 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 5BG
Neil Borthwick's upstairs dining room above the historic French House pub on Dean Street in Soho London, opened 2017 in the room Free French resistance used.
The Eagle ★ 4.3
clerkenwell · 159 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3AL
Britain's first gastropub on Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell London, opened 1991 by Mike Belben and David Eyre, still serves Mediterranean-leaning.
Quality Chop House ★ 4.3
clerkenwell · 92-94 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3EA
The 1869 Farringdon Road working-class dining room in Clerkenwell London, restored under Will Lander since 2012, runs daily-changing British cooking.
The Jugged Hare ★ 4.1
clerkenwell · 49 Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 4SA
The Jugged Hare on Chiswell Street in the City of London, opened 2012 by ETM Group, runs a game-led gastropub menu with hung-game cabinets in the dining room.