Bar Topolski

Bar Topolski occupies the Hungerford Bridge arches on Concert Hall Approach, in the heart of London's Southbank between Waterloo and the river. It is a bar, cafe and gallery in one, built beneath the surviving panels of Feliks Topolski's enormous panoramic mural of the 20th century. The setting is the whole point: you drink under one of the most ambitious pieces of public art in the city.

This is a bar for the moment before or after a show, not a late-night destination. The drinks are solid rather than spectacular, but the room and the riverside position carry it. If you want a serious cocktail den, head to Soho. If you want a characterful pause steps from the Festival Hall, Topolski delivers.

The space sits inside the railway arches, with surviving sections of the Topolski mural running across the walls. Wikipedia's history records that the work runs some 600 feet long and was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1984, before the gallery became a bar in 2013 with part of the artwork kept on display. Drinking among it is unlike anywhere else on the Southbank.

Topolski sits at the centre of the Southbank cultural strip, a short walk from the Royal Festival Hall, the National Theatre and the river path. That position makes it a natural pre-theatre or interval stop. The terrace area catches the evening crowd heading along the South Bank in good weather.

The list runs through signature cocktails, craft beer and cider, paired with light bites and flatbreads. The drinks are dependable and fairly priced for such a central spot, which matters on the Southbank where prices often climb. Stay on a classic cocktail or a craft beer and pair it with a flatbread, and the room does the rest of the work.

Theatre-goers, gallery visitors and Southbank wanderers fill the room, shifting with the show times at the nearby halls. Early evening brings the pre-theatre rush, with a quieter art-curious crowd through the afternoon. The mood is relaxed and the dress is mixed.

Explore more with our London cocktail bars guide and the London bar guide. For a riverside evening, pair Bar Topolski with Scarfes Bar in Holborn, Swift in Soho, or Bar Termini in Soho. Searching nearby? Use our cocktail bars near me hub.