No bookings for the pub; the Thai dining room takes reservations for dinner and fills early.
The Churchill Arms stands at 119 Kensington Church Street, a five minute walk from Notting Hill Gate station, and it is impossible to miss. The Victorian frontage carries hundreds of flower baskets in summer and a wall of Christmas trees in December, a display the pub has built since the 1980s. It has traded on this corner since 1750, and the current name honours Winston Churchill, whose grandparents were regulars. Inside, the ceilings are crowded with Churchill memorabilia, copper pots and butterfly cases, in a style Secret London calls one of the most photographed pub interiors in the country.
This is a Fuller's house, so the cellar is the serious part of the proposition. London Pride and Fuller's seasonal ales are kept well, and the pub pairs them with a full Thai kitchen at the back, an unlikely combination it has run since the late 1980s and one of the first of its kind in the city. The result is a proper London boozer up front and a plant-filled conservatory restaurant behind it.
The room
The front bar is low, dark and packed with objects, the kind of room that rewards looking up. The rear conservatory is the opposite: bright, green and dense with hanging foliage. Reviewers on Yelp, across more than 450 entries, consistently flag the contrast between the two spaces as the reason to come.
What to order
Start with a pint of Fuller's London Pride, the house benchmark and the ale the cellar is built around. Then move to the back for the Thai kitchen, where curries and pad Thai start around 9 pounds and rarely climb far above 12. The green curry and the pad Thai are the two dishes regulars order first. A pint and a plate here comes in well under 20 pounds, which is rare value for this stretch of Kensington.
The pub's character is in its layers. Fuller's keeps a rotating cask beside the Pride, so it pays to ask what is freshest on the day. The Thai kitchen has run since 1988, one of the first pub-restaurant pairings of its kind in London, and that longevity shows in the cooking. Secret London notes the flower display alone uses around a hundred baskets in summer, maintained by the landlord at his own cost, which explains why the frontage draws photographers year round.
Who it is for
It is for visitors who want a single stop that delivers the picture-postcard London pub and a real meal, for ale drinkers who trust a Fuller's cellar, and for anyone in Notting Hill who wants dinner without a tasting-menu bill. Avoid the front bar on a sunny Friday evening if you want elbow room; the flowers draw a crowd two deep. For other classic rooms, see our pick of London's best traditional pubs and the wider London bar guide.
The crowd
The front bar runs on Kensington locals, ale drinkers and a steady stream of visitors drawn by the flowers. The conservatory crowd is quieter and more meal-focused, often booked weeks ahead around Christmas when the tree display goes up. Weekday lunch is the local hour; weekend evenings belong to the cameras and the queue along the railings.
Best time to go
Weekday afternoons are calm and the conservatory is at its best in daylight. Book the dining room for dinner; the bar stays walk-in only. For more in the area, our cocktail bar collection covers the after-dinner options nearby.
Sources: Churchill Arms official site (Fuller's, 2026); Secret London; Yelp reviews (n=453); Time Out London.
