The landlord of “the best pub in London” has lifted the lid on the key secret that makes his boozer so brilliant.

Bryan Fitzsimons runs Skehan's in Nunhead, southeast London, which is currently regarded by Time Out as the best the city has to offer. Bryan has managed to capture something that landlords across the city and beyond would kill for, but what is this magic ingredient and can you just bottle it up?

For Bryan it’s quite simple – you have to live it. He’s been working in pubs since he was 10 “stacking the shelves” alongside his brothers. He’s 39 now and those 29 years of experience have accumulated to make a boozer that has it all, from vibes to food, to music and everything else. The pub's slogan is even “purveyors of craic”.

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Heralding from Limerick, Ireland, Bryan comes from a long line of landlords. His father and brother run the revered and adored Faltering Fullback in Finsbury Park, a boozer regularly praised for its immaculate vibes.

Bryan took Skehan’s over eight years ago from his uncle and since then it has been going from strength to strength.

But what is it that makes Skehan's so special? Like the Fullback, but unlike most of the city’s boozers, it is independent, a true free house. Whileso many of the city’s watering holes are strangled by expensive pubco arrangements, Skehan's is free to manoeuvre as Bryan and his team see fit.

“It’s small, it’s independence,” he told the Daily Star. “It must be very hard to run 50 pubs. It’s like if you’re going to a restaurant, your favourite is probably the one by the family. You know, they use all the old recipes… they’ve just done it for generations… for my family it’s pubs.”

He’s spent “pretty much my whole life, on and off, inside of pubs” and, for Bryan, the magic comes from living it. His family all reside upstairs and live and breathe making the pub as good as it can be every single day.

“I don't think there's anything we’re doing really different to pubs back in Ireland,” he explained. “We’re a family, we’re upstairs, you know. It’s our business, we’re not working for a pub company.

“It’s an independent pub, which is pretty rare. If it’s your thing you’re going to work extra hard on it, you know it’s like our home.”

He took his inspiration for Skehan's from the Fullback, “The Fullback was always the most amazing pub I ever worked at, so I just tried to do what we were doing there just down in south London.”

And now it seems the decision was the right one, as Bryan pointed out, the Nunhead area is a good place to be at the moment – all the pubs and restaurants are always heaving. “There’s something about the vibe in south London at the minute, especially in Nunhead. Everywhere seems to be busy there’s a real buzz about the place… We just came at the right time,” he said.

And what of the future, does he have grand plans for expansion? “I was thinking about getting another pub, but why would you want to if [what you’ve got already] is going good? Just try and keep it doing good, which is very hard in itself.”

Bryan added: “If it’s your thing, if you think of it that way, would you work harder for a boss or would you do it for you?”

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