Berners Tavern

Berners Tavern sits inside The London EDITION on Berners Street in Fitzrovia, a couple of minutes north of Oxford Street. It is Jason Atherton's grand, long-established dining room and bar, set in a former banking hall under a five-metre corniced ceiling hung with hundreds of gilt-framed pictures. The scale of the room is the first thing that lands.

This is a bar for an occasion, a serious date or a dressed-up start to an evening, not a casual pint. The drinks and the wine list are pitched high, and so are the prices. If you want low-key, go elsewhere in Fitzrovia. If you want one of central London's most theatrical rooms for a cocktail, this is it.

The bar sits to the right as you enter, a large backlit island stacked with classic and unusual spirits beneath the soaring, art-covered ceiling. Time Out describes the former banking hall as a superb setting for Atherton's cooking, and the same drama carries the drinking. Seats at the bar are the spot for a cocktail before the dining room fills.

The room sits in the middle of Fitzrovia's dense restaurant grid, a short walk from both Soho and Marylebone. That central position makes it a natural first stop before dinner nearby or a grand nightcap after. The Ian Schrager hotel around it keeps the polish high from breakfast through to last orders.

The bar serves cocktails every night, backed by a wine list that runs past 800 bottles with around 70 available by the glass. That depth is unusual and is a real reason to choose Berners Tavern over a standard hotel bar. The cocktails lean classic and precise rather than experimental. Start with a Champagne or a martini, then let the sommelier steer the wine.

Hotel guests, Fitzrovia diners and a dressed-up date and occasion crowd fill the room, drawn by the spectacle as much as the menu. Early evening brings the pre-dinner cocktail set, with the bar busiest from Thursday through Saturday. The dress leans smart and the energy stays elegant.

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