Pubs Near Twickenham Stadium: A Match-Day Plan for England v Australia

Opened in 1856 and still full of its original character, this St Margarets inn takes its name, the story goes, from a Victorian landlady; local legend adds a secret passage to a dignitary's house for discreet assignations. The likelier truth sits almost opposite: the Kilmorey Mausoleum, whose garden really was reached by tunnel from the Earl's house. Inside it is stone floors and wooden beams; outside, wisteria on the walls and a sizeable garden with covered tables and heaters, rare in this leafy, well-to-do corner. Most days the crowd is local, but rugby fans pile in on international weekends, drawn by screens throughout (seven TVs, by the pub's own count) and around 43 malt whiskies for anyone wanting something stronger than Spitfire. It sits around a 15-minute walk from the stadium, and with doors open from 11am on Sundays, it works as both first stop and the place to regroup after.

Ringo Starr, dressed as a tramp to dodge fans, tried his hand at darts here in A Hard Day's Night, and Beatles devotees still make pilgrimages to the 1964 corner pub on Winchester Road. Built in 1902 for Fuller's, probably by the architect T.H. Nowell Parr, it earns a place on CAMRA's National Inventory for its interior. The red-brick turret and carved stone heads outside give way to wide Tudor-style arches, banded green-and-yellow windows and a glazed-brick lobby. CAMRA calls it a genuine local corner pub and a popular meeting point for rugby fans on international weekends, and with St Margarets station five minutes away, trains from Waterloo deliver you almost to the door. It opens at midday and closes at 8pm on Sundays, so treat it as the pre-match rendezvous rather than the post-match lock-in.

Down on the Embankment, facing Eel Pie Island, the old Queen's Head Hotel got its current name in the 1970s; the tale is that a landlord insisted on hanging the Christmas tree upside down. Whether or not that's true, the place has never been quiet. It was the last stop for crowds heading over to the island to see the Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart, and a board outside still honours those music legends. Look up near the road sign for the mark showing how high the river flooded in the 18th century. Today's rugby fans keep the singing tradition alive, and the Thames-side garden is where you'll want to be on a dry November morning. Food runs until 9pm, which matters when you stumble back from the ground hungry and it's already dark.

Climb the steps to a first-floor bar and you're in one of Twickenham's oldest drinking rooms: Grade II listed, dated by CAMRA to around 1690, with a Samuel Scott print from 1760 above the fire showing the pub much as it stands now. The walls are crammed with rugby memorabilia, and the window seats of the three-sided triclinium look straight out over the river to Eel Pie Island. Across the lane, the riverside garden belongs partly to the Thames; at high tide the water floods in, sometimes stranding drinkers until it drops, and staff are well used to wading with plates in hand. In early November the real draw is indoors, with the fires lit and the room filling with shirts of both colours. Check tide times if you fancy the garden, and expect to queue on the stairs.

For the earliest start of all, this Young's pub with rooms on Cross Deep serves breakfast from 8am, coffee and a Full English included, to anyone who wanders in. The name carries real local history: the poet Alexander Pope built his villa nearby, and the first Pope's Grotto pub went up in 1852 on part of his old garden. Wartime bombs destroyed it; the current building opened in 1959. When owners tried to shorten the name in 2009, residents petitioned, and the poet kept his full billing. The garden runs down towards the river, with an outdoor pizza oven for later in the day. Pitched by the pub itself as a pre-rugby stop, it suits groups who want a slow morning, a riverside pint and a gentle walk towards the stadium rather than a scrum at the bar.

Television fans know it as the Crown and Anchor, AFC Richmond's local in Ted Lasso, and the pub leans into it, with team kits and cast-signed photos on the walls. Only the exterior was filmed here, but visitors arrive from all over the world regardless. The real history runs deeper: CAMRA dates it to 1740, it was the Duke's Head until 1778, and cricketer Tom Richardson once held the licence, fitting for a pub on a Green that has hosted cricket since the 17th century. Wood-panelled rooms, Fuller's ESB and London Pride, and outside seating overlooking the grass make it the base for a fuller Richmond day. It opens at 11am on Sundays and closes at 8pm, so watch the match here, then move on if the night is young.