Judges from Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) voted The Little Green Dragon in Green Lanes as the capital’s best boozer

Richard Reeve, The Little Green Dragon publican — Publican Richard Reeve outside The Little Green Dragon

A Winchmore Hill micropub has been named the best boozer in London for an incredible third time since opening only seven years ago.

The Little Green Dragon in Green Lanes opened in 2017 after publican Richard Reeves quit his job in IT to launch the pub on the site of a former shop. He named it after the former Green Dragon pub, around the corner, which closed in 2014 and is now a Waitrose.

The boozer is a regular winner of the best pub award given out by the Enfield and Barnet branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), and first won the London-wide award in 2018 just a year after opening. It also won London’s best pub prize in 2022, and might have won more times were it not for a rule that pubs can’t re-enter the competition in the year after they win.

Little Green Dragon will now go on to compete against 16 other regional winners to be named ‘Pub of the Year’ for the whole of the UK, as voted for by Camra judges.

Andrea Briers, national co-ordinator for the competition, said: “These amazing pubs really are the crème de la crème and I would encourage the public to seek out the 17 winners – they are top-tier pubs serving excellent beer, cider and perry, run by welcoming, hardworking staff.

“It’s also important to support your local all year round. With constant pressure from stubbornly high energy prices, fluctuating running costs and grossly unfair business rates threatening to drown pubs across the UK, it’s vital to get out and support the licensed trade.”

Camra describes The Little Green Dragon as “providing the community a place to socialise with a drink, free from TV screens and slot machines”.

It continues: “Focusing on the quality and diversity of real ale, The Little Green Dragon has an everchanging selection of four cask beers sourced from local microbreweries and other independent brewers from further afield, plus real cider, perry and four keg beers. Traditional pub games such as table skittles and shove ha’penny are available for pub-goers.

“The Little Green Dragon’s interior features an eclectic range of seating, from wall-mounted benches to low sofas, and even repurposed bus seats.”

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