Editorial
A work leaving do has very specific requirements: the bar needs to be accessible from the office, comfortable for colleagues who drink different amounts at different paces, and capable of holding a group of 8 to 25 people without making half of them stand in a corridor. We cover the best bars for a work leaving do across London and New York, with specific attention to what each handles well.
London's after-work bar scene is excellent precisely because the city has been sending people off from jobs for centuries. These 5 London bars understand group dynamics, have the space to handle them, and keep the drinks accessible enough that the person who only drinks wine and the person who wants experimental cocktails are both happy.
New York after-work bars compete more aggressively for the office crowd, which means the quality baseline is higher and the options are more numerous. These 5 bars handle the specific dynamics of a leaving do: groups of mixed drinking preferences, speakers who need to be audible, and a room that holds together as the evening extends.
One email per week. The bars our editors are recommending right now, across 72 cities worldwide.
The most common leaving do mistake is booking a venue that works for 8 people and turning up with 20. Call ahead, be honest about numbers, and ask specifically about the flow of the room at peak time. The best bars for a work leaving do all offer some form of reserved section if booked with adequate notice.
For additional options, the after-work bars guide covers dedicated after-work venues across all major cities. These are spaces built specifically for the end-of-day crowd, which means the infrastructure matches the occasion by default.
Sofia has covered bar culture in London and across Europe for eight years. She has organised more leaving dos than is statistically normal for one person.