Editorial
London's cocktail scene is the deepest in Europe. The Connaught Bar has been on the World's 50 Best top-five for the past decade. American Bar at the Savoy has been pouring since 1893. Modern London (Lyaness, Tayer + Elementary) plays at world-class level. The 10 below are the rooms where the cocktail itself is the centre of the experience.
The Connaught Bar has topped the World's 50 Best Bars more than once, and the room still drinks like it. Agostino Perrone's team wheels a martini trolley to your table and finishes the drink with a choice of bitters and a flourish you will remember. It suits an occasion. Come dressed, order the Connaught Martini, and let the silver trolley do its theater.
The American Bar at the Savoy is the oldest surviving cocktail bar in London, a pianist in the corner, white-jacketed staff and a list that reaches back to Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book. It is grand without being cold. Come for a Corpse Reviver No. 2 or a White Lady before the theater, take a banquette, and let the room carry a century of history.
Lyaness is Ryan Chetiyawardana's room on the South Bank at Sea Containers, where the menu turns on a handful of bespoke house ingredients rather than the usual spirits. The drinks are inventive and oddly generous, the river just outside the window. It is for the curious. Come at golden hour, sit by the glass, and order whatever sounds strangest on the list.
Tayer + Elementary splits one Old Street room in two, Elementary up front for fast, low-key drinks and Tayer in back for the considered work that took fourth on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2025. Monica Berg and Alex Kratena built it. It rewards a quick stop and a long sit alike. Come early for the standing bar, then stay late for the full menu.
Nightjar runs live jazz and swing seven nights a week in a low-lit basement off City Road, with a cocktail list that reads like a history lesson and drinks that back it up. Book a table near the band. It is built for a long, music-forward night. Come for the late set, order from the pre-Prohibition pages, and let the brass and the room take over.
Happiness Forgets hides in a basement under Hoxton Square, found by a chalkboard against an unmarked stairwell, ten tables and no pretense. The cocktails are tight, the prices fair, the welcome warm. This is a neighborhood room that happens to be very good. Come early to land a seat, order the Tokyo Collins, and settle into the quiet.
Oriole left Smithfield and settled into Covent Garden after seven years, still pairing a globe-trotting cocktail list with live music most nights. The drinks are grouped by continent and the room leans theatrical in the best way. It suits a night that wants dinner, drinks and a band in one place. Come for the music, book ahead, and let the evening run long.
Discount Suit Company fills a former tailor's store room in Spitalfields, a tiny basement off Wentworth Street with Northern Soul on the speakers and classics done properly. It has run since 2014 and never lost the plot. It is made for an unhurried early evening. Come before the crowd, take a stool at the little bar, and order whatever the bartender steers you toward.
Kwānt is Erik Lorincz's Mayfair room near Green Park, reopened in 2023 after the original closed, with the former Savoy head bartender back behind the stick. The cocktails are precise and the bar runs an intimate omakase for those who book it. It suits a serious drinker. Come in the evening, sit at the counter, and put yourself in Lorincz's hands.
Disrepute hides in a 100-seat basement at 4 Kingly Court in Soho, on the former site of the 60s Pinstripe Club. DesignMyNight rates the members-and-walk-ins cocktail list and the late 3am close. Non-members get in subject to space.
HIDE Ground is the middle floor of Ollie Dabbous and Hedonism Wines' Michelin-starred 85 Piccadilly, with the cocktail bar Below and fine dining Above. The Good Food Guide rates the all-day room and the wine list. Order off the Hedonism pages.
Knowhere Special seats around thirty in a Kentish Town basement at 296 Kentish Town Road, table service only, with food bites matched to each house cocktail. Time Out flags the booking-by-email policy. Reserve ahead for the small room.
Mr Fogg's Gin Parlour pours a long list of gins at 1 New Row in Covent Garden, the Victorian-themed sibling in the Mr Fogg's group. The official site lists the afternoon gin tea. Book the parlour for a group.
The Refinery Bankside is Drake and Morgan's first venue, open since 2008 in the Blue Fin Building at 110 Southwark Street with all-day dining and cocktails. The group site lists the seasonal menu. Good for an after-work round near Tate Modern.
London cocktail bars work to a higher standard of polish than almost anywhere — the trolley-martini service at the Connaught is the visible end of an extreme attention to detail. The 10 above all qualify on technique. The mid-Hoxton speakeasy cluster (Nightjar, Happiness Forgets, Discount Suit) is the casual face; the Mayfair hotel bars are the formal face. Both are essential.
European Editor — based in London. Twelve years across Soho, Marais and Mitte. Strong opinions about ice.