Best After Work Bars in New York

Repeatedly named the best bar in the world, The Dead Rabbit serves the Financial District crowd that takes its drinking seriously. The ground-floor Taproom operates as an Irish pub serving craft whiskey and beer. The upstairs Parlour serves a cocktail menu that changes with the seasons. After-work crowds fill both floors by 6pm on weekdays. The Irish coffee is the best in the city and not debatable.

Built in 1719 and still pouring, Fraunces Tavern is where George Washington gave his farewell address to the officers of the Continental Army. The bar serves the Financial District in the manner of a proper pub: decent food, reliable beer, and no pretension about any of it. The wood-panelled rooms and low lighting make it one of the better after-work environments in the city.

Raines Law Room operates the after-work transition perfectly. You press a button to order via card, which removes any anxiety about flagging down a server after a busy day. The velvet booths and cocktails built around pre-Prohibition recipes produce an environment that feels genuinely restorative. The second location at the William Hotel adds a Midtown option for the commuter crowd.

The former private office of 1920s financier John W. Campbell occupies a dramatic space inside Grand Central Terminal, which makes it the most convenient after-work bar in Midtown for commuters heading anywhere north or east. The cocktails are excellent rather than merely adequate. The setting, with vaulted ceilings and original 1920s details, is genuinely magnificent.

The West Village's best wine bar runs 40 bottles by the glass from a list that favours natural and biodynamic producers from underrepresented regions. The list changes weekly based on what the buyers find interesting. The staff know what they are talking about. A glass here costs $12 to $22 and delivers the quality those prices imply. The small food menu manages to be genuinely good.

Pete's Tavern has poured on the corner of 18th and Irving Place since 1864, the oldest continuously operating bar in New York. The rosewood bar and tile floors are original, and it ran as a flower shop through Prohibition.