Le Magritte Bar

Le Magritte sits inside The Beaumont, the Art Deco hotel on Brown Hart Gardens in Mayfair, a couple of minutes from Bond Street. It was long known simply as The American Bar, and it still belongs to that tradition of polished London and Paris hotel bars built around the martini and the classic serve. The room was reworked and renamed for the surrealist René Magritte, whose influence shows in the ceiling.

This is a bar for people who want precision and quiet luxury rather than noise. The drinks are exact, the prices are firmly Mayfair, and the mood is grown up. If you want a buzzy party, look elsewhere. If you want a faultless martini in a beautiful room, this is one of the most reliable seats in the neighbourhood.

The bar is small, panelled and gleaming, with a mirrored back bar and the much-photographed Magritte-inspired ceiling overhead. Square Meal describes it as belonging to the great tradition of American bars that became legendary in 1920s London and Paris, and the styling holds that line closely. Seats at the bar are the ones to ask for if you want to watch the make.

The Beaumont sits on a quiet garden square just off Oxford Street, which keeps the room calmer than the louder Mayfair hotel bars nearby. The Colony Grill Room next door handles dinner, so Le Magritte works cleanly as a first or last drink either side of a meal.

The martini is the order. It is built dry and cold in the classic hotel style, and it is the clearest reason to choose Le Magritte over the flashier rooms on Mount Street. The list runs through Deco-era classics and a tight set of house twists, with an old and serious spirits selection behind the bar. Stay on the martini or a well-made negroni and you will see the room at its best.

Hotel guests, Mayfair locals and people marking an occasion fill the room, skewing older and quieter than the party bars nearby. Early evening brings the pre-dinner crowd, late evening a smaller nightcap set. Dress is smart and the energy stays measured throughout.

Explore more with our London cocktail bars guide and the London bar guide. For a Mayfair evening, pair Le Magritte with Connaught Bar in Mayfair, Artesian in Marylebone, or Swift in Soho. Searching nearby? Use our cocktail bars near me hub.