Bars
London’s best bars, judged on the drinks and the room rather than the door policy. Cocktail bars, rooftops, hidden bars, wine tastings and the cigar terraces, with the cover charges and time limits most guides leave out.
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The time limit is the thing that catches people. A table at a busy cocktail bar or a rooftop often comes with ninety minutes or two hours attached, and where it does the rule usually sits in the booking terms rather than anywhere you would read before arriving. Where a bar sets one, the page says so.
The hidden bars are the other place published information goes wrong, because a room that trades on being hard to find has every reason to keep its address vague and no particular reason to keep its hours current.
Soho holds the densest drinking in Britain inside about half a square mile. The cigar terraces are the small and heavily regulated end of all this, and wine tasting the part you can do in daylight.
The Best Bars in London
The best bars in London by room and atmosphere, from Mayfair hotel bars to Soho basements, with what a drink actually costs in each.
The Best Rooftop Bars in London
London's best rooftop bars, what each actually costs, which have a dress code, and the ones worth staying at rather than leaving after one drink.
The Best Cocktail Bars in London
London's best cocktail bars, judged on the drinks rather than the decor, with what to order and which ones take bookings.
Activity Bars in London That Are Actually Good
Darts, shuffleboard, crazy golf and clay shooting, minus the places that are a pub with a gimmick. What to book for a group, and how long to stay.
Elsewhere in the guide
Questions we get asked
What time do bars close in London?
Most close at 11pm or midnight. A minority hold late licences to 2am or 3am, and those are concentrated in Soho, Shoreditch and Mayfair. Hotel bars are the reliable late option in central London and will serve you without a reservation.
Do London bars have a dress code?
Hotel bars and members' clubs do, and enforce it. Most others do not, but the door will still read you: no sportswear, no shorts, no ripped denim will clear anywhere in the city that checks. Trainers are the usual point of failure.
Can you walk into London's best cocktail bars?
Often, if you go early. Many of the rooms that are impossible at 9pm are half empty at 6pm and take walk ins until they fill. The bar counter at a restaurant is the other reliable way in: it usually takes no reservations and serves the full list.