Down a short flight of stairs on Portobello Road sits the bar that made rum cool again in Britain. Trailer Happiness has spent more than two decades quietly leading London's tiki revival, and today it is one of the most respected rum programmes in Europe. This is why we rank it the second best rum bar in the world.
The basement that led a revival
In November 2003, when rum was deeply unfashionable and the word "tiki" still carried a whiff of naff seaside kitsch, the serial bar entrepreneur Jonathan Downey took over a small failed basement bar in the heart of Notting Hill and opened Trailer Happiness. Downey was already an influential figure in London drinking, the man behind the Match bar group and a partner in the pioneering Milk and Honey, and his new venture had a deliberately unserious pitch: it was to feel, in the bar's own early language, like a low-rent mid-sixties California bachelor pad, a retro-sexual haven of cosmopolitan kitsch and faded trailer-park glamour.
Behind the tongue-in-cheek styling, though, was a genuine cocktail bar, and Trailer Happiness quickly became one of the venues most credited with kicking off the tiki cocktail renaissance of the early 2000s in the UK. At a time when the London scene was pivoting toward precise, spirit-led classics, Trailer made a compelling case that rum, tiki and tropical drinks could be executed with the same craft and taken just as seriously. Two decades later, that argument has been thoroughly won, and Trailer Happiness is recognised as a founding room of modern British rum culture.
Sly Augustin and the bar's second life
The bar's enduring greatness owes much to its long-time owner. In 2012, when Trailer Happiness was at risk of closing, Sly Augustin, a Notting Hill local who had been closely involved with the bar, stepped in to take it over, and he has owned and run it ever since. Under Augustin the venue deepened its commitment to rum specifically, building the back bar into one of the most comprehensively stocked in the city and cementing a reputation that reaches well beyond London.
Augustin has become one of the UK's most visible rum champions, and the bar's programming reflects that advocacy: expert-led masterclasses, a genuinely knowledgeable team, and a role in London's wider rum community that few venues can match. Where many bars of Trailer's vintage have faded or reinvented themselves beyond recognition, Trailer Happiness has instead grown into its identity, becoming more serious about rum with each passing year while keeping the warmth and lack of pretension that made it beloved in the first place.
The rum programme
For all its playful styling, Trailer Happiness is, at heart, a rum bar. The back bar holds a rotating selection reported at between 180 and 200 worthwhile rums at any one time, with the working stock rarely dipping below that threshold. The range spans the full breadth of the category, from the light column-distilled rums of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean through the funkier pot-still styles of Jamaica to the grassy agricoles of the French islands and aged sipping expressions from across the rum-producing world.
What distinguishes the programme is not raw bottle count, where larger collections exist, but curation and knowledge. This is a bar where the staff can walk a curious drinker through styles, suggest a flight, and recommend a rare pour with real authority. Drinks International has gone so far as to describe Trailer Happiness as an embassy for rum, a phrase that captures its role precisely: it is a place that represents and advocates for the spirit, not merely serves it.
What to drink
From the outset Trailer Happiness has appealed to tiki fans by serving Zombies, Mai Tais and rum-laced cocktails in tiki mugs and volcano bowls, and the tropical drinks remain the heart of the menu. The Zombie is the signature to seek out, a formidable build that layers the bar's own zombie rum blend with Taylor's velvet falernum, maraschino liqueur, grenadine, passionfruit syrup, a lace of absinthe and bitters, lime and grapefruit juice, finished with a shake of cinnamon. It is the kind of drink that rewards respect, both a showpiece and a lesson in how complex a properly built tiki cocktail can be.
Beyond the Zombie, the list runs through impeccable Mai Tais, daiquiris and the wider tropical canon, alongside the bar's own creations and shareable bowls for groups. The through-line is quality: fresh juice, house preparations, correct rums and an insistence on getting the classics right. For drinkers who want to explore neat rum, the bartenders will happily pour and talk through the collection, turning a casual visit into an education.
The room and the atmosphere
Trailer Happiness is small, and that intimacy is central to its charm. The basement setting, warm lighting, retro furnishings and Notting Hill location combine into a space that feels like a well-kept secret rather than a destination bar, even though it is exactly that. It is a room to sink into for an evening, close enough to hear the bartenders talk you through a pour, and it has the unforced, convivial energy of a neighbourhood favourite that happens to be world-class.
The team has also expanded the offer over the years, including a restaurant venture connected to the site, but the basement bar remains the draw and the reason for its reputation. It is the platonic ideal of a rum lounge: unpretentious, expert and genuinely fun.
Awards and recognition
Across more than twenty years of operation, Trailer Happiness has accumulated real critical standing. It has been recognised as a Rum Champion of the Year, honoured as Best International High Volume Cocktail Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, and included among the Top 50 Best Bars in the UK. It appears on The World's 50 Best Bars Discovery list, the global academy's wider register of noteworthy venues, and it is a fixture in the coverage of London's best rum and tiki bars by outlets such as Time Out and Difford's Guide. For a small Notting Hill basement, it punches enormously above its weight.
Who should go, and who shouldn't
Trailer Happiness is the ideal bar for anyone who wants serious rum and expertly built tropical cocktails without a scrap of stuffiness. It suits the rum-curious who want to learn, the tiki devotee who wants the classics done correctly, and groups looking for a warm, characterful night out over shared bowls. Booking ahead is wise, particularly at weekends, given how compact the room is.
It is a less obvious choice for those seeking a large, quiet venue, a wine-led list, or a spirit other than rum, since the whole point of the place is the cane spirit and the tropical drinks built on it. Approach it for what it is, London's warmest and most knowledgeable rum room, and it is hard to beat.
The verdict
Trailer Happiness ranks second on our list of the world's best rum bars because it combines historical importance, genuine expertise and sheer likeability in a way almost no other venue matches. It helped launch the modern tiki revival, it has been sustained and deepened by one of Britain's great rum advocates, and it continues to pour some of the finest tropical drinks in Europe two decades on. It gives up the top spot only to the sheer scale and cultural reach of Smuggler's Cove; on charm, consistency and its role in rum history, it is very nearly peerless. If you drink rum in London, this is the room that matters most.
Notting Hill and Portobello Road
Setting matters, and Trailer Happiness could hardly be better placed. Portobello Road is one of London's most storied streets, famous for its market, its antiques, its Friday and Saturday crowds and its long association with bohemian west London. Trailer Happiness occupies a basement in the thick of it, which gives the bar a particular double life: a lively, tourist-thronged neighbourhood by day, and after dark a warren of Notting Hill locals and in-the-know drinkers heading downstairs to a room that feels like a secret. That contrast, a hidden tropical bolthole beneath one of the city's busiest streets, is part of what has always made arriving at Trailer Happiness feel like an escape from London rather than a night out in it.
The location also situates the bar within a specific London drinking lineage. The early-2000s scene that Jonathan Downey helped shape, through Match, Milk and Honey and Trailer Happiness, was where a generation of British bartenders learned their craft, and much of the city's modern cocktail culture can be traced back to those rooms. Trailer Happiness is one of the few survivors of that founding moment still trading, and drinking there connects you to a genuine piece of London bar history.
Why the tiki approach matters
It is easy to underestimate tiki bars, because the aesthetic, the mugs, the volcano bowls and the flaming garnishes, can read as gimmickry. Trailer Happiness is the corrective to that assumption. A properly built tiki cocktail is one of the most technically demanding drinks in the entire repertoire, layering multiple rums, citrus, spices, syrups and bitters into a balance that has to be exact to work. The bar's Zombie, with its blend of rums, falernum, maraschino, grenadine, passionfruit, absinthe, bitters and two different citruses, is a case in point: a drink with more moving parts than almost anything on a classic cocktail list, and one that only sings when every element is measured correctly.
That is the heart of Trailer Happiness's achievement. It treats these elaborate, historically rooted drinks with total seriousness, sourcing the right rums, preparing ingredients in house and respecting the recipes, while never losing the sense of fun that makes tiki so joyful in the first place. The result is a bar that manages to be both a scholarly rum room and one of the most purely enjoyable places to drink in London, a balance very few venues strike.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a reservation? Booking is recommended, particularly at weekends, because the basement is small and popular. Walk-ins are possible earlier in the week and earlier in the evening, but a reservation is the safer bet.
What should you order? The Zombie is the signature to try at least once, though it is potent, so pace yourself. Beyond it, the Mai Tai, the daiquiris and the shareable bowls are all reliably excellent, and the bartenders will happily pour and talk you through the rum collection if you want to explore neat.
Is it a good spot for groups? Yes, within reason. The volcano bowls and shared serves are built for groups, and the convivial basement suits a celebratory night, but the room is compact, so very large parties are best arranged in advance.
Does it run masterclasses? Trailer Happiness has offered expert-led cocktail masterclasses where guests learn to mix iconic tiki drinks; availability changes, so check directly if that is what you are after.
What makes it different from a normal cocktail bar? Its specialism. Where most bars treat rum as one spirit among many, Trailer Happiness is built around it, with a back bar of 180 to 200 rums and a menu dedicated to the tropical and tiki drinks that showcase them.
Is Trailer Happiness a family or daytime venue? No. It is an evening and late-night cocktail bar at its best once the basement fills and the tropical mood takes over, so it suits couples, friends and small celebrations rather than daytime or family visits.
How does it compare to London's other rum bars? London has several strong rum and tiki venues, including Laki Kane and Cottons, both of which also feature on our worldwide ranking. Trailer Happiness stands apart as the most historically important of them, the room widely credited with helping launch the city's tiki revival more than two decades ago, and it remains one of the most respected and consistent rum programmes in the country. That combination of heritage and enduring quality is why it ranks so highly here.
What is the single reason to go? To experience the room that helped make rum respectable in Britain, still pouring some of the finest tropical cocktails in Europe more than twenty years on. Whether you come to sip rare rums neat or to work through the tiki canon in its correct form, Trailer Happiness rewards the visit with expertise, warmth and a total lack of pretension, which is exactly the combination that keeps it near the top of every serious list of the world's rum bars, ours included.
Details such as opening hours, menu specifics and the size of the rum selection change over time; please confirm directly with the bar before visiting. Facts in this review are drawn from public sources including the bar's own materials and established drinks-industry press, in line with our editorial policy. Drink responsibly.