Editorial
Death and Company in the East Village isn't just a bar—it's the institution that defined the modern cocktail movement. When Death and Company opened in 2006, American bars were just beginning to wake up to the possibility of taking cocktails seriously. Fourteen years later, it remains the gold standard. The drinks are technically perfect. The bar staff move with the precision of surgeons. The menu is both classical and inventive. But it's never precious about itself, which is the most New York thing about it.
Employees Only in the West Village is the opposite approach. It's a dive bar that happens to serve the best bar food in New York. The secret? They treat the bar food like it's part of the cocktail program. A perfectly made Negroni tastes better when it's paired with a bone marrow toast or a plate of devilled eggs that someone has genuinely thought about. There's no pretension here, just excellence.
Attaboy on Eldridge Street takes the concept further. There's no menu. You walk up to the bar, you tell the bartender how you're feeling, what flavours you love, what you've been drinking lately, and they make something perfect for that moment. That kind of confidence—to improvise at that level in front of paying customers—only exists in New York. Discover New York's best cocktail bars and explore New York's hidden gems to understand the full scope of this scene.
The NYC attitude permeates every bar: knowledgeable, fast, unimpressed. These bartenders aren't trying to impress you. They're trying to make you a perfect drink. If you want theatre, you're in the wrong city.
Artesian at the Langham has been voted the World's Best Bar four times. Four times. It's not four times the best by accident. Artesian is the most refined drinking experience money can buy. The bar itself is a masterpiece of interior design. The cocktails are technically perfect. The service is impeccable. And there's a theatricality to it all that says: you're not just having a drink, you're being inducted into something.
Nightjar in Shoreditch is different. It's a Prohibition-era bar, and you need a reservation to get in. The menu is enormous—200+ cocktails, each one a historical recreation or a thoughtful riff on a classic. There's live jazz most nights. The drinks are technically excellent, but the experience is about immersion. You're not just drinking a cocktail; you're stepping into a particular moment in bar history.
The Connaught Bar is possibly the most refined drinking experience in the world. It's set inside one of London's finest hotels. The bar staff have usually worked there for a decade or more. They know their job, and they understand that refinement means restraint. Check out London's cocktail bars and London's hidden gems for more on this approach.
The London approach is the opposite of New York: considered, theatrical, polished. These aren't bars that are trying to be efficient. They're bars that are trying to be perfect. There's a patience to London bars that reflects the city itself.
New York's sports bars dominate the outer boroughs. Gowanus, Astoria, Bay Ridge—these are the neighbourhoods where you watch the game with people who actually care about the game. The regulars have been sitting at the same stool for twenty years. The bartenders know what you order before you ask. It's community in the truest sense.
London has its sports pubs, built around football, rugby, and cricket rather than American sports. They're equally passionate, equally traditional, and equally welcoming. The difference is that London pubs don't have the same segregation between neighbourhoods. You can find a world-class sports pub in Soho or in the suburbs. The quality is consistent. Both cities understand that sports bars are about belonging, not about the quality of the cocktails. Browse New York sports bars and London sports bars to see how different the philosophies are.
Top cocktail bars in New York charge $18-22 per drink. Top cocktail bars in London charge £14-18. On the surface, London wins on price. But the real story is in the pubs. A pint of London Pride in a proper London pub costs £6. A pint in a New York dive bar might cost $5-7, but it's harder to find a truly great dive bar with excellent beer. Both cities are expensive, but for different reasons.
A full evening out in New York might run $120-180 per person for three drinks and food. The same night in London might run £80-130. Neither city is cheap, but neither is attempting to be. These are expensive cities with expensive bars, and that's by design.
New York's best bars are in the Lower East Side, East Village, West Village, and Brooklyn. Each neighbourhood has its own personality. The Lower East Side is where the serious cocktail bars live. The East Village is where Death and Company changed everything. The West Village is where the dive bars serve perfect food. Brooklyn is where the best bartenders in the world have decided to open bars that are quieter and more thoughtful.
London's best bars are in Shoreditch, Soho, Dalston, and Brixton. Shoreditch is the creative centre. Soho is the historic centre. Dalston is where the young bartenders are doing experimental work. Brixton is where the best music bars live. Both cities reward those who venture beyond the tourist zones. Check out the best bars in New York and the best bars in London to plan your route.
New York invented the modern cocktail. Death and Company is the proof. Attaboy is the logical conclusion of that invention—a bartender so confident in their craft that they don't need a menu. London has taken cocktails and refined them into something almost sacred. Artesian and the Connaught represent a different philosophy: cocktails as ceremony.
We're giving it to New York. Narrowly. Reluctantly. And with enormous respect for London. New York's bars are better because they're less interested in being perfect and more interested in being real. They're better because they've decided that the point of a bar is to give you a drink you'll remember, not a drink you'll photograph. New York wins, but London comes very close indeed.
Senior Editor. James has covered the New York and Chicago bar scenes for barsforkings since the beginning. He's eaten at more dive bars than he cares to admit and has strong opinions about the proper preparation of a Negroni.
One email, every Friday. Our editors’ top bar picks across 60+ cities — places worth the detour.