Editorial
East London rewrote London's cocktail map. What Shoreditch and Hoxton began in the early 2000s — experimental bars in arches and former industrial spaces, menus that abandoned classics in favour of original thinking — has since spread through Dalston, Bethnal Green, Hackney and beyond. The best cocktail bars in East London now represent a range of approaches, from neighbourhood rooms with a short but considered list to ambitious destination bars with programmes that change seasonally. Our editors have been through all of them.
Shoreditch has been through several cycles of hype and the cocktail bars that have survived are the ones with substance behind the concept. These are the Shoreditch bars that hold up when the novelty has worn off.
Callooh Callay sits on Rivington Street, where a mirrored wardrobe door hides the upstairs JubJub room. The trick gets the press, but the cocktails hold up without it, which is the harder thing. Reservations help for the back room; the ground floor takes walk-ins. A Top 50 Cocktail Bars fixture for years. Order from the seasonal menu and go on a weeknight before the Shoreditch crowd lands.
Nightjar runs on live music and long, theatrical drinks in a low basement off City Road. Bands play nightly and the cocktails arrive built, garnished and expensive, often fifteen pounds and up. Book ahead, because walk-ins rarely get past the stairs after eight. A World's 50 Best regular for a decade. Go early if you want to hear yourself talk, late if you came for the room.
As Shoreditch has gentrified, the cocktail scene has migrated further east. Dalston and Hackney now host some of the most interesting bar programmes in London — more experimental, less image-conscious, and often better value.
Satan's Whiskers is a Bethnal Green corner room with hip-hop on the speakers and a menu rewritten daily on a single card. No reservations, which means a queue by seven on weekends. The drinks are short, classic and properly made, twelve to fourteen pounds, with no theater attached. Industry people drink here on their nights off. Go midweek and early, take a stool, and let the bartender steer.
Three Sheets is a small Dalston room run by the Messenger brothers, built on a short list of precise, low-fuss drinks. Batched where it helps consistency, fresh where it counts. World's 50 Best has recognized it more than once. It rarely needs a booking, which is part of the appeal. Order the house martini or whatever is on the seasonal card and sit at the bar to watch the work.
East London's most interesting cocktail bars are often the ones without a PR strategy. These are the bars our editors keep returning to precisely because they are not overrun.
Happiness Forgets hides in a basement under Hoxton Square, seating only, so email ahead or take your chances on a slow night. Alastair Burgess runs it on technically sharp classics and a few house specials, around twelve pounds, in a low-lit room that fills fast. World's 50 Best Discovery lists it. Best early on a weeknight, when a table is possible and the bartenders have time to talk.
The Gibson sits at 44 Old Street in an Edwardian building, named for the pickled-onion Martini and built around oddball house drinks with long backstories. The list reads stranger than it drinks, which is a compliment. Open late, Friday and Saturday to two, with table service that slows when it fills. A Top 50 Cocktail Bars fixture. Go on a quiet weeknight and ask the bar to pick.
The best cocktail bars in East London are now spread across a much larger geography than the Shoreditch strip that put them on the map. Our sequence for a first-time cocktail tour of East London: Nightjar for the immersive experience, Satan's Whiskers for the straightforward excellent, and Happiness Forgets for the occasion where the quality needs to match the mood. All three require a reservation, all three justify the effort. For a more spontaneous evening, Three Sheets in Dalston is reliably excellent and rarely requires advance planning.
Morten Andersen writes about beer and the kind of bars that do not ask for attention. He clocks the pour, the crowd and the prices before the decor, and he rates East London's drift east from Shoreditch as the best thing to happen to the city's drinking in years.