London
Dalston, Hackney Central, London Fields — pubs, listening rooms, cocktail counters. Nearest tube: Hackney Central, Dalston Kingsland, London Fields.
Reddit's r/london regularly flags Hackney as the borough with the highest signal-to-noise ratio for serious cocktails. The list below works as a north-to-south crawl from Stoke Newington Road down to Broadway Market.
Hand-picked and ranked by our London editors. Cited prices and hours are current as of May 2026; check the bar's site before a long journey.
Kingsland Road. Yellow, red, and blue blocks above the door — no name. World's 50 Best three years running. Walk-in only, twenty seats, a menu of seven drinks rebuilt every six weeks. Arrive at 5pm or risk a forty-minute wait.