Editorial
We have been arguing the new york vs london bars question in our editorial meetings for two years and have now been to both cities enough times to settle it honestly. The answer depends on what you want from a bar. New York wins on cocktail programming. London wins on variety, atmosphere, and the sheer range of experiences available below twenty pounds. This article makes the case for both, with the specific bars that anchor each city's claim.
New York invented the modern cocktail program as we know it. The city has a density of technical excellence that no other city on earth matches. London has closed the gap considerably in the past decade, but it has not crossed it. For cocktails specifically, New York wins. The question is by how much.
New York does not have pubs and this is a genuine competitive disadvantage. The British pub is a category of bar that does not exist anywhere else in the world at scale. A good London pub at six on a Thursday evening is one of the finest drinking experiences available to a human being. New York's bars close the gap everywhere except here.
London's hidden bar scene is more consistent than New York's. The city has a tradition of small, unannounced bars tucked behind bookshops, below restaurants, and inside converted Victorian infrastructure that no other city in the world matches for density. New York has excellent hidden bars. London has more of them.
London's licensing restrictions hurt it badly in the late-night comparison. Most London bars close at midnight on weekdays and 1am on weekends. New York does not have this problem. If you want to drink well after 1am, New York wins decisively. The rooftop comparison is closer, with both cities producing excellent heights-based experiences, but New York's skyline makes the views more compelling.
New York wins on cocktails, late-night drinking, and the sheer ceiling of excellence available at the top end. London wins on pubs, variety, value, and the hidden bar scene. For a first visit to either city specifically for bars, we would send you to New York. For a second visit, we would send you to London and tell you to spend three days in Hackney, Bermondsey, and Soho.
The honest answer is that you should go to both. These are the two greatest bar cities in the English-speaking world, separated by a transatlantic flight and a fundamentally different idea of what a bar is for. New York thinks a bar is a place where craft is performed. London thinks a bar is a place where community is formed. Both are right.
James has been drinking his way through New York since 2011 and London since 2015. He has a strong opinion about which East Village bar has the best negroni and is wrong about it.