Editorial
Soho is half a square mile of central London with more bars per street than any neighbourhood in Europe except possibly Berlin Mitte. The density is unreasonable. From Cambridge Circus to Oxford Circus, every street has at least four bars on it, sometimes ten. This guide covers fifteen of the best, all within walking distance of each other.
Soho has been gentrifying constantly for forty years and the bars reflect that. The original 1970s sex shops are mostly gone but a handful of dive bars remain. The 1990s media scene gave the neighbourhood Frenchhouse and a generation of cocktail bars. The 2010s gave it speakeasies and craft beer. Most of those layers still exist.
The 15 below mix all three layers. We have leaned toward bars that are doing the drink seriously rather than the bars that are open for tourists. Our London city page has the wider listings, and our London cocktail bars page has the rest of the city.
Pub from 1891 that became a French Resistance meeting place during World War II and has not changed visually since. No phones, no music, beer in halves only at the bar. The crowd is regulars, locals, and a slow rotation of writers, actors, and journalists who treat it as their second living room. Open daily.
Italian aperitivo bar with thirty seats and a serious Negroni program. The Negroni Tradizionale is bottled and barrel aged. The pre dinner crowd is mid thirties professional. Reserve a stool. Open daily.
Two floor cocktail bar with an upstairs that is bright and casual and a downstairs that is dark and serious. The downstairs is where you go for whisky and stirred drinks. The upstairs is where you go for Espresso Martinis. Both are excellent. Open daily.
Technically just outside Soho but worth including. The Martini at Dukes is the most precise in Britain. They roll the bar to your table. Order one. The total visit takes 90 seconds but the cost is justified. Reserve. Open daily.
Small cocktail room above a restaurant. Twenty seats. The bartenders are former Sketch and Connaught alumni. Reserve. The room is wood, leather, and quiet. Open Tuesday to Saturday.
Pub from 1888. The Sunday lunch theatre nights are an institution. Most days it is a working pub with a crowd of writers and actors. The food is honest, the beer is good, the regulars are entertaining. Open daily.
Speakeasy themed cocktail bar with red velvet, low lighting, and a serious back bar. The cocktail menu has thirty drinks and rotates seasonally. Reserve. Open daily.
Phileas Fogg themed cocktail bar with elaborate cocktails served in oversized glassware. The room is full of explorer paraphernalia. Touristy but the drinks are competent. Open daily.
Solid Soho pub. Reliable beer, good Sunday roast, mid thirties crowd. Not a destination but a perfect midpoint between two cocktail bars. Open daily.
Small Spanish bar with sherry, tapas, and a serious wine list. Standing room. The Manzanilla and gildas combination is the move. Open Tuesday to Sunday.
Venetian bacaro style bar with cicchetti and a focus on spritz drinks. The room is loud and the food is good. Polpo started here and has spread since. The original is still the best. Open daily.
Old French wine bar with sawdust floors and an excellent French wine list. Closed during my last walk past, but back open. Crowd is older and Francophile. Open Tuesday to Saturday.
Discreet cocktail bar below the late Mark Hixs former restaurant. The bar survives. Excellent classics, decent prices for Soho. Open daily.
All day cafe and bar. The early evening crowd is professional, late evening is more eclectic. The pavement seating in summer is one of Sohos best people watching spots. Open daily.
Just outside Soho across the river but worth the walk. Ryan Cheties world ranked cocktail bar. The cocktail menu is thirty drinks across seven flavour categories. Reserve. Open daily.
Old Compton Street is the spine of Soho bars. Bar Termini, Swift, and Old Compton Brasserie are within fifty metres of each other. Walk from one end to the other and you have hit four serious bars.
Greek Street is quieter. Bar Three is the standout. Coach and Horses is the institution.
Frith Street and Dean Street have Frenchhouse, Bar Italia for late night coffee, and a handful of older pubs. Less hip than Old Compton but more characterful.
Kingly Court and Carnaby Street area is a more recent development. Disrepute is the standout, the rest is mostly chain bars.
Walk between bars. Soho is small enough that no two bars are more than ten minutes apart. The pleasure of Soho is the progression: pub, then cocktail bar, then a quieter bar to finish. Start at Frenchhouse or Coach and Horses, move to Bar Termini or Swift, finish at Bar Three or Marks Bar.
Reserve where you can. Bar Three, Bar Termini, Swift downstairs, Disrepute. The walk in policy works at most pubs and at the bigger bars.
Tipping in London is ten percent for table service and the spare coins for bar service. Some bars now add 12.5 percent service. Check the bill.
Most Soho bars close at midnight on weekdays and 1am on weekends. A few have late licences. The clubs take over after 1am. Soho is a bar district that empties into clubs.
Tuesday to Thursday after work, 6pm to 10pm, is the right window. The bars are open but not yet packed. Locals are drinking. The bartenders have time.
Friday and Saturday after 9pm Soho is full. Walking up Old Compton on a Saturday at 11pm is its own experience. The bars are at maximum noise.
Sunday afternoons are a favourite for the Coach and Horses and Frenchhouse crowd. Pub Sunday roast and a quiet drink. The weekday crowd is replaced by Soho residents.
Fifteen bars in half a square mile means you can do five in one evening on foot. For more on London, see our London speakeasies, East London guide, or London cocktail bars. Or browse all London bar listings.
Travel and bars correspondent for barsforKings across Europe. Writes the city guides that tell you which neighbourhood to start in and which bar to end the night at.
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