Where to take your dog for Sunday lunch in Camden

Sunday lunch with a dog is its own kind of outing. You want a proper table, a long afternoon and a dog asleep across your feet while the last round goes on longer than planned. The borough of Camden runs from the edge of Hampstead Heath down to Clerkenwell, and these twelve places are all happy to have the dog along. For the full lists, see every dog-friendly pub in Camden and every dog-friendly restaurant in Camden.

Hampstead, after a walk on the Heath

Walk the Heath until the dog is happily tired, then find somewhere warm to sit. Hampstead does this better than anywhere.

The Wells Tavern

If you want the full cosy treatment, start here. The Wells Tavern is a Georgian building at 30 Well Walk that was turned round from a run-down pub, and dogs are welcome indoors. The ground floor is made for a slow afternoon: a bar, bare tables, a fireplace, board games, squashy sofas and dog bowls already out. It's a Free House, so the beer choice is wide, and the menu sticks to pub classics. Upstairs are three dining rooms, each decorated differently. The Wells confirmed its listing with us itself.

Gaucho Hampstead

Gaucho sits at 64 Heath Street, just yards from the Heath, among Georgian buildings and alleyways. Alongside the steaks it serves a Sunday roast, with vegan and vegetarian dishes too. Dogs are allowed on the courtyard terrace, which has an Asado fire pit, and in the indoor dining room, so the weather can decide where you sit.

The Magdala Tavern

The Magdala, a much-loved local at 2a South Hill Park, does Sunday roasts alongside pub classics and specials that change every day, all cooked on site from British ingredients. Any surplus food goes to the food-waste charity FareShare. At the bar there are 20 keg beers, 7 casks and ciders, plus whiskies and small-batch spirits, and there's outdoor seating for a dry day.

Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia

The Queens Larder

This Bloomsbury pub at 1 Queen Square is very small and intimate inside, almost like a private club, with a large outside seating area and an enclosed garden. The water bowls are ready, and the staff will happily bring your dog a drink. Lunch is traditional pub food, including roast rib of beef and steak and ale pie. The history is good too. The earliest record of the pub is a deed from 1710, and its name honours Queen Charlotte, who the pub says rented a small cellar underneath to store food for George III while he was being treated nearby. The Queens Larder confirmed its listing with us itself.

Catalina's Fitzrovia

This is the one for a dog who loves lunch. Catalina's is a small Mexican street food restaurant at 72 Cleveland Street, and dogs eat free before 6pm, which makes a Sunday lunch here a very good deal for them. There's a dog menu, and during Yappy Hour the Gourmet Doggie Bowl is free. Dogs are welcome inside and on the patio. For you, the cooking is home-style and based on grandmother Catalina's family recipes: slow-roasted brisket, tequila lime chicken, enchiladas and street tacos, with vegetarian and vegan dishes and tres leches cake to finish.

Clerkenwell

The Gunmakers

The Gunmakers, at 13 Eyre Street Hill, has been a pub since 1920 and calls itself a cosy cross between a London boozer and a cocktail bar. The kitchen makes tacos to order, and the enclosed garden has outdoor seating and heating lamps. Paloma's Garden is covered and heated and named after the palm tree that grows in it, so it works in November as well as July. You can book a table or just turn up.

Ruby Stella Hotel London

Further along the same street at 15-28 Eyre Street Hill, Ruby Stella takes its name and inspiration from Charles Dickens. The bar is open 24 hours and themed around publishing, with vintage books and print-room touches, signature Negronis and a ground-floor terrace. It's a good place for a drink after lunch at The Gunmakers. If you'd like to make a weekend of it, dogs can stay at the hotel for a charge.

Camden Town

The High Street is busy and loud, and plenty of dogs love watching it all go by.

Bucks Head

Bucks Head is at 202 Camden High Street, right next to Buck Street Market, so you can wander round the market afterwards. Well-behaved dogs are welcome and there are water bowls out. The kitchen does burgers (including chicken and vegan), stone-baked and Detroit-style pizzas, loaded nachos and wings, and you order from the table with a QR code, so you never have to leave the dog to queue at the bar. DJs take over at weekends and there are big screens for sport, so it suits a dog who likes a lively room.

Camden Head

Camden Head is further down at 100 Camden High Street. Food comes from Russell's Kitchen: pie and mash, fish and chips, burgers and wings. Upstairs is the Camden Comedy Club, open since 2014 and running seven nights a week. Camden Head confirmed its listing with us itself.

The Sheephaven Bay

There's plenty of room at this Irish pub at 2 Mornington Street. It has two bars, three separate seating areas and a conservatory that opens onto the beer garden. The biggest room is the one for a long lunch, with couches, a fireplace and the pub's gin and malt whiskey collections on show. Another room is full of signed sport memorabilia, and 14 screens show the sport. The food is traditional English home cooking, with veggie dishes available.

King's Cross and West Hampstead

Drake & Morgan at King's Cross

At 6 Pancras Square, a few moments from King's Cross and St Pancras, this cocktail bar and restaurant is easy to reach if you and the dog are coming in by train. It's spread over two floors with two bars and an open kitchen, and the large outside space is open all year, so you can eat outdoors with the dog beside you. The menus change with the seasons. Drake & Morgan confirmed its listing with us itself.

Wolfpack West Hampstead

Craft beer fans, this is your Sunday. Wolfpack at 291-293 West End Lane pours the group's own beers, from House Lager and Sesh IPA to Alpha Stout, with smash burgers, wings and pizzas to go with them. There's an enclosed garden as well as outdoor seating. Every major sporting event is shown live, so on a big match day expect a crowd.

A good Sunday for the dog

Walk first. A loop of the Heath before Wells, Gaucho or the Magdala, or a stroll round Queen Square before the Queens Larder, means a dog who's ready to sleep under the table rather than one who wants to play.

Bring water for the walk. Several of these places have bowls ready, but a collapsible bowl in your pocket covers the walk there.

Match the room to the dog. A nervous dog will be happier by the fire at The Wells Tavern, in the garden at The Queens Larder or out on Gaucho's terrace than in a busy bar during a big match or a weekend DJ set. In a crowded room, keep the lead short and tuck the dog in by your chair, away from the route to the bar.

Bring a blanket or a chew. A long lunch is all about staying put, and something familiar helps the dog settle while you order pudding. If you're heading to Catalina's, get there before 6pm so the dog eats free.