10 of the Best Cocktail Bars in London, Just in Time for London Fashion Week
As a city, London excels when it comes to hotel bars—exhibit A: The American Bar at The Savoy—but it also over-delivers when it comes to sexy, cozy dives. Here, as London Fashion Week kicks off this weekend, Vogue rounds up 10 of the best cocktail bars in London to visit between shows.
The best cocktail bars in London
This Bauhaus-inspired spot at 232 Kingsland Road in Dalston is small but perfectly formed. Its back bar is famously limited, with just 20 bottles of spirits, while the cocktails are typically pre-batched and consistently excellent, including classics such as lychee and espresso martinis. (Also worth noting: it stays open until 4 a.m. on weekends, so expect queues.) If you’re hooked on the vibe, you can also explore Warehaus at 538 Kingsland Road; Shapes founders Remy Savage and Paul Lougrat have turned the space, which they initially used for prep, into a more affordable bar, with drinks priced at less than £10 each.
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Inspired by the gentlemen’s clubs that used to fill the capital (but without any of the incumbent snobbery), this hotel bar at The Rosewood London is well known for its wild sense of fun. Note the more than 1,000 antique books that line the walls, all artfully chosen by a Portobello dealer, and the caricatures by British artist Gerald Scarfe everywhere you turn. The cocktails are impeccable, with the menu’s unusual pairings somehow making perfect sense on the palette. Case in point: the Gimlet on the Vine, infused with tomatoes, capers, and raspberries.
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This sleek and subtly sexy speakeasy from the team behind Kricket sits directly beside the beloved Indian-inspired restaurant’s Soho outpost. Behind a nondescript black door and down a narrow flight of stairs, you’ll find a low-lit basement with cave-like booths where the focus is firmly on the drinks: classic cocktails with an Indian twist (“Soma” is a Vedic Sanskrit word meaning “to distill and extract”). As a result, the daiquiri is made with banana rum, Aphrodite bitters, and spices; the gimlet contains Opihr gin, curry leaves, and pink peppercorns; and the martini combines vodka, Kashmiri chili, and pickle brine.
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This trio of Soho bars is perfect for hopping between on a Friday or Saturday night. Start at the W1 outpost of Dalston favorite Three Sheets, where the menu includes the likes of Pisco Sours infused with jasmine and White Russians made with miso, before heading to Lower Third to watch some live music in between rounds of Space Oddities, their citrusy, spicy take on a classic daiquiri. And to finish the night? Explore Dram, which sprawls over three floors of a 17th-century townhouse, before cozying up in the 12-seater bar downstairs for a nightcap; we’re fans of the moreish Plum Whey, made of Kentish plums, High Weald whey, El Dorado 3 and aquavit.
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Equal Parts is dangerous; it’s the sort of place you could linger over Negronis for hours on end. That’s exactly what Sager + Wilde co-founder Michael Sager intended when he opened it, fusing décor inspired by Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” with a menu devoted to classic aperitivi made with equal pours. The Flor, with olive oil Haku vodka, fino sherry, and tomato, is the perfect way to kickstart a weekend—but the selection of amaro and bitters is great, too.
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Set within The Corinthia London, Velvet by Salvatore Calabrese transports you back in time, with a menu riffing on the predilections of famous names; take the Coco Chanel-inspired Gabrielle, sparkling with champagne and bright with passion fruit caviar, or the bold Enzo Ferrari-esque Just My Imagination, infused with salted ricotta. And if you’re truly looking to splash out? There’s a vintage cocktails list to browse, featuring cognacs from the 1930s and vermouths from the 1970s.
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Founded by Artesian alumnus Alex Kratena and Monica Berg and set just off Old Street roundabout, Tayer + Elementary somehow manages to be both elegant and clever without ever being pretentious, and is consistently ranked among the top-10 bars in the world by The World’s 50 Best. Technically, this is really two bars; Elementary is a relaxed all-day concept with a neighborhood feel to it (and, importantly, the home of the One-Sip Martini), while Tayer is closer to a mixology lab, with Kratena and Berg transforming seasonal ingredients ranging from quince to lovage into show-stopping drinks.