London
Heathrow's Terminal 5 was the first British airport terminal that genuinely tried to compete with the city outside it for drinking. Plane Food — Gordon Ramsay's airside restaurant in T5 — has been pouring a competent Negroni since 2008. The Caviar House & Prunier Champagne Bar, two minutes' walk from the BA gates, will sell you vintage Krug by the glass at six in the morning, no questions asked, no eyebrows raised. Terminal 5 is, by a comfortable margin, the best airport drinking in Britain.
Oxford Street · $$
100 Club draws a steady local crowd in Oxford Street. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening.
Hackney · $$$
A Bar with Shapes for a Name draws a steady local crowd in Hackney. Booking is recommended on weekends. Walk-ins are usually possible early in the evening.
City centre · $$$$
The American Bar takes reservations for most sittings. Walk-ins welcome at the bar itself, but tables book up fast on weekends and for the evening pianist sessi
City centre · $$$$
Aqua Shard occupies the 31st floor of The Shard, one of the most recognisable views in London. The bar overlooks the Thames eastward toward Tower Bridge and Can
The London airport cheat code is the Sofitel London Heathrow, connected to T5 by covered walkway. La Belle Epoque, the hotel's bar, runs a serious cocktail programme and is rarely full. Same play at Gatwick — the Sofitel attached to North Terminal has La Brasserie. Both are five minutes from departures and outperform anything post-security on craft. If you've got 60 spare minutes before the airport, the Lanesborough's Library Bar is twenty minutes by Heathrow Express and the right place to leave London from.
Plays for Heathrow and Gatwick: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
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Looking beyond London? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.