A red phone box on a side street in Ipanema is the first clue, and the pint of Guinness behind it is the confirmation, that Lord Jim has been keeping a corner of England in Rio since 1974.
Published June 11, 2026 · By Daniel Okafor
Lord Jim Pub sits at Rua Paul Redfern 44, a short walk from the Ipanema beachfront. It opened in 1974 and has held its English character ever since, the rare expatriate room in Rio that aged into an institution rather than a novelty. Tripadvisor reviewers still rank it among the city's most reliable spots to catch a game with a proper pint in hand.
The room reads like a transplanted London local. Dark wood walls carry English memorabilia, a London-style phone booth stands at the front entrance, and rock music fills the gaps between conversations. Staff switch into English without trouble, which makes it an easy landing for visitors finding their feet in the city.
Sport is the engine. Lord Jim beams English Soccer League matches in by satellite, and on a big Premier League weekend the room fills with a mix of homesick Brits and curious cariocas watching football the English way. It is a genuine fixture of the Rio de Janeiro sports bar scene, the address expats name first when the question is where to watch the match.
Drink like you mean it. The bar pours English and Irish ales including Guinness, the pint that anchors any pub claiming the name, alongside the lagers a Rio night demands. Prices hold in fair $$ territory for Ipanema, and the kitchen backs the bar with proper pub grub, Bangers and Mash and Shepherd's Pie among the plates that travel best from London to the tropics.
The week has its rhythm. Wednesday is Quiz Night, the question-and-answer ritual that turns strangers into rival teams, and Thursday through Saturday bring live music to keep the room loud past midnight. That swing from match-day pub to weekend music bar is what keeps the regulars on rotation.
The crowd is the most international in Ipanema. British and Irish expats, traveling football fans timing a trip around a fixture, and locals who took to the English game all share the bar. After midnight on a Friday or Saturday the energy lifts as the live set takes over and the pints keep landing.
The pub has outlasted nearly every rival on the expat circuit. Through five decades of World Cups and league seasons it has stayed the address travelers get pointed to first. That kind of longevity is what turns a themed room into a genuine local, and it explains the loyalty of the regulars who treat the bar as a second home.
Go for a marquee Premier League fixture and arrive before kickoff, because the screens draw a committed crowd. A Wednesday quiz is the lower-key way in, and any weekend night rewards anyone who wants the music as much as the match. For the wider city, our roundup of the best bars in Rio de Janeiro covers the rooms beyond the expat circuit.
Lord Jim sits at the heart of Rio's pub cluster. Nearby, The London Pub keeps the English theme going, The Shamrock flies the Irish flag downtown, and Blue Agave rounds out the expat crawl with a different accent.
What keeps Lord Jim essential is its half-century of consistency. A real English pub pouring Guinness and screening football in the middle of Ipanema, holding the same character across 50 years and countless seasons, is a rare and useful thing in a beach city. Judged on Rio's own terms, it is the city's definitive pub for the match.
Sources: Tripadvisor Lord Jim Pub, Rio de Janeiro (2026); BeerAdvocate, Lord Jim Pub profile; Guia da Semana, Lord Jim Pub.