One word bargain hunters: Wetherspoon's. Okay, so sometimes they're full of broken dreams and ruddy-faced old men with thousand yard stares but this one in super-posh Highgate attracts well-to-do-locals, and the prices? £2.99 for a main meal and pints of ale for less than £2 - you can't argue with that!

Lecture-dodging students mix with local east Londoners at this converted theatre on Mile End Road. Just in case you're wondering - yes, it is another Wetherspoon's, but it's a good one all the same. Expect cheap pints, even cheaper grub and deals on wine and spirits that the local offy would be hard pushed to match.

As part of the Nicholson's chain, pints of real ale can be snapped up for around £2.50 a pop at this historic pub on the border of east London and the City. The selection isn't shabby either: expect to see some very respectable tipples like Timothy Taylor Landlord on rotation.

Cast in the shadow of a church, not far from Smithfield Market, the Rising Sun is one of the nicer examples of a Sam Smith's pub in the capital, especially when the weather permits drinking outside in the cobbled passageway. Pints weigh in around the £2 mark and even if you decide to get on the shots and spirits, it's all Sam Smith's own label gear, so it's still dirt-cheap.

Another Sam Smith's pub, the Champion is set over two floors and has a remarkable original interior dating back to Victorian times. There's plenty of room upstairs and the prices are the usual - with pints hardly troubling the £2 mark.

This grand old pub in Leyton sits next to the Brodie's brewery and their real ale is the centrepiece. A magnificent selection of 14 are normally available on draught during the week and this becomes a bewildering 20 at weekends. The best part? Pints start from as little as £1.99.

The Samuel Smith classics of Alpine, Old Brewery Bitter and Extra Stout are pumped from behind the bar and there are non-branded cognacs, vodka and gin for the those on a tight budget. All drinks at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese are excellent value, as you’d expect from a Sam Smith's pub.

Pints of very well kept real ale start from just over a couple of pounds at this Wetherspoon's in Hammersmith. Don't expect anything fancy from the decor - it's a functional, modern, uninspired pub - but when you can buy Deuchars for £2.30 a pint and double 7-year Havana Club rum plus Pepsi for around £3.50 a pop, you'll soon be raving about how much money you've just saved at the bar.

Another Sam Smith's pub that makes it onto our list, the Angel in the Fields is one of the smarter sites in the group, very much in keeping with its moneyed Marylebone surroundings. One thing that doesn't change: the prices of beer are the same here as at all Samuel Smith pubs, so a couple of pints of Old Brewery ale won't set you back much more than £5-£6. Nice.

Leading beer writer Des de Moor rates this historical Sam Smith's pub very highly and you can see why: it's a traditional pub with lots of history embedded into its weathered walls. And the prices? Alpine lager and Old Brewery cask ale are not much more than a couple of quid a pop, and you can fill yourself up with pub grub for somewhere in the region of £5-£8.