1. Olde Coach House, Northamptonshire

Olde Coach House pub, Northamptonshire

There'll be fireworks and a bonfire at this pub tonight. It's a fitting celebration as the Olde Coach House stands where a gatehouse on the Catesby estate played a central role in the Gunpowder Plot. Robert Catesby, his servant Thomas Bates and other conspirators made the room above the gate house their command centre in the plot to blow up parliament. The manor and its grounds passed to the Catesby family in 1375, who were dedicated Roman Catholics and almost ruined by fines imposed on them for their religious beliefs. The present-day inn has a large garden, tiled floors inside, old settles and prints on the wall. The food is highly recommended and accommodation is available.

• Olde Coach House, Ashby St Ledgers, Northamptonshire, off A5; +44 (0)1788 890349.

2. Museum Tavern, London

This sumptuous pub stands opposite the British Museum and has been frequented by many eager beavers following their labours with the museum's tomes. Karl Marx would take ale there after long hours planning the proletarian revolution with Das Kapital. Marx was quite a toper and frequently went on rowdy pub crawls in London with visiting German revolutionaries. The pub dates from the 18th century and was first known as the Dog & Duck but was renamed in honour of the museum when it opened over the road in 1823. Inside there are engraved mirrors and windows, an ornate ceiling, and red painted walls. Beers include Fuller's London Pride, Sharp's Doom Bar and Theakston Old Peculier plus many guest ales.

• Museum Tavern, 49 Great Russell Street, London WC1; +44 (0)20 7242 8987.

3. Star Tavern, London

The Star was once home to a large retinue of servants who worked in the houses and embassies in Belgrave Square. They mingled in the years after World War Two with a demi-monde of chancers, spivs, third-rate actors and slightly shady aristocrats. The pub's main claim to fame is that the gang who organised the Great Train Robbery in 1963 met in the long, narrow upstairs bar, reached by a narrow and circuitous staircase, to plot their audacious crime. Today, this Grade II-listed, late-Georgian mews pub has several cosy nooks, with comfortable benches and settles, and a large bar serving beers from Fuller's of Chiswick.

• Star Tavern, 6 Belgrave Mews West, London SW1; +44 (0)20 7235 3019.

4. Crown & Treaty, Middlesex

This marvellous inn dates from 1576. Its name comes from the protracted talks, lasting 20 days, in 1645 when representatives of Charles I and Cromwell's parliamentarians attempted to reach a settlement to end the rebellion against the crown. The talks were held in the oak-panelled Treaty Room and broke down without reaching agreement on a single point. The war continued, leading eventually to the death of the king and Cromwell's Protectorate. The panelling has its own fascinating history: it was dismantled in 1931 and sold to an American oil magnate, Armand Hammer, who used it to decorate his offices in the Empire State Building in New York City. The panels were returned to the inn to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The former coaching inn serves Fuller's London Pride and retains much of its Tudor charm among the modern houses and shopping arcades of Uxbridge.

• Crown & Treaty, 90 Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex; +44 (0)1895 812803.

5. Bat & Ball, Hampshire

The Bat and Ball pub, Hampshire

Surely there can't be plots involving cricket? The answer is an emphatic yes, for in the 18th and 19th centuries the game was supported by wealthy backers who wagered vast sums on the outcome of matches. Cricket needed to attract large paying crowds and Broadhalfpenny Down, despite its isolated position, drew attendances of 20,000 as the Hambledon Club took on the might of All England and other major teams. In the Bat & Ball, landlord Richard Nyren and fellow players planned a revolution in the game. By the time Hambledon went into decline and the game moved to Thomas Lord's ground in London, it had changed out of all recognition. The first laws of cricket were hammered out in the Bat & Ball, a tiny wicket of two stumps had become the familiar tall one with three stumps, curved bats like hockey sticks had become straight and underarm bowling was replaced by a round-arm version (over-arm bowling came later). Both pub and ground remain today and the pub has many artefacts of the ancient game, including a curved bat. Cask beers are served from Fuller's and Gale's.

• Bat & Ball, Broadhalfpenny Down, Hyden Farm Lane, Clanfield, near Hambledon, Hampshire, off A3; +44 (0)23 9263 2692.

6. Ketts Tavern, Norwich

The tavern dates from 1832 but it's thought there has been an inn on the site for 300 years or more. Ketts Hill fronts the great open space of Mousehold Heath where Robert Kett and a peasant army camped in 1549. Kett was a landowner from Attleborough who had enclosed his land, saw the error of his ways and led a great rebellion against enclosures that had ruined peasants and agricultural labourers. By the time they reached Mousehold Heath, having laid waste to Wymondham and Lethersett, the army was 20,000 strong, an astonishing size that accounted for just about every adult male in Norfolk. The rebels broke through the city walls and defeated an army of 15,000 led by the Marquis of Northampton. It took a second army of 14,000 under the notorious butcher, the Earl of Warwick, to finally overcome the peasants. Robert Kett was hanged in Norwich. The pub named in his honour has a tremendous range of beers from craft breweries, including Blackfriars, Norfolk Square, Tipples and Woodforde's.

• Ketts Tavern, 29 Ketts Hill, Norwich; +44 (0)1603 449654.

7. Crescent, Greater Manchester

There's another Karl Marx connection with the Crescent. When the Great Bearded One went to visit his collaborator and financial backer Friedrich Engels in Manchester they would take refreshment in the pub, aptly named in those days the Red Dragon. The pub is Grade II listed and, perhaps inspired by the memory of Marx, regulars rose up in 2007 when a property developer announced he would turn it into student accommodation. The rebels won, the property developer backed off and used adjacent buildings for his student flats. The pub has a back room for live music, regular beer festivals and 13 hand pumps dispensing a wide range of beers from craft breweries, including Bazens, Black Dog and Roosters. A house beer is brewed by Mallinson's of Huddersfield run by a brewster (female brewer), Tara Mallinson.

• Crescent, 20 The Crescent, Salford, Greater Manchester, half mile from Salford Crescent metro and railway station; +44 (0)161 736 5600.

8. Traquair Arms Hotel, Scotland

Traquair Arms Hotel ale, Scotland

The hotel is close to Traquair House, the oldest inhabited stately home in Scotland and a place of stern resistance to the crown. The house dates from 1107 and was originally a hunting lodge for the kings and queens of Scotland. It became a refuge for Catholic priests at times of persecution. It's owned by members of the Stuart clan who supported both Mary Queen of Scots and the Jacobite rebellion: Prince Charles Edward Stuart visited Traquair to raise support for his cause. The main Bear Gates at Traquair remain closed until a Stuart returns to the throne: Ladbroke's aren't taking bets. In 1965 the 20th Laird of Traquair, Peter Maxwell Stuart, restored a small brewery that had once produced ale for the family and staff. The brewery, along with the estate, is now managed by his daughter Catherine. Beers include Traquair House Ale, which is widely exported, Bear Ale and Jacobite Ale, which are all on sale in the 18th-century hotel.

• Traquair Arms Hotel, Traquair Road, Innerleithen, Borders, Scotland, A72; +44 (0)1896 830229.

9. Lewes Arms, East Sussex

Lewes may seem a genteel old market town but rebellion bubbles beneath the surface. Tom Paine, author of the Rights of Man, lived and worked there while plotting the success of both the American and French revolutions. Lewes stages a massive Bonfire Night celebration and has recently introduced its own currency to give it a degree of freedom from Whitehall. The Lewes Arms has been the scene of a recent rebellion. In 2007 the pub's owner, Greene King, threw out Sussex Best Bitter brewed by local and revered brewer, Harvey's. Drinkers boycotted the pub until Greene King backed down and restored Sussex Best. Food is served until 8.45pm and mobile phones are banned.

• Lewes Arms, 1 Mount Place, Lewes, East Sussex; +44 (0)1273 473152.

10. Land of Liberty, Hertfordshire

Land and Liberty pub, Hertfordshire

The pub's fascinating name is taken from a 19th-century Chartist slogan. The leader of the movement for working-class rights, Feargus O'Connor, planned a settlement at Heronsgate in the mid-1840s where families would escape the tyranny of factory life for rural self-sufficiency. O'Connor bought the land and divided it into 35 plots with 15 cottages and other dwellings. Bad weather and lack of agricultural skills among the participants meant the experiment failed. In more recent times, Clement Attlee, the post-war Labour prime minister, and the spy Kim Philby lived at Heronsgate. The pub supports craft breweries and the range of beers includes Bateman's, Dark Star, Red Squirrel and Welton's while Tring Brewery supplies a house beer, Liberty Ale.

• Land of Liberty, Peace & Plenty, Long Lane, Heronsgate, Hertfordshire, off M25, Junction 17; +44 (0)1923 282226.