The Best Rooftop Bars in London

London has an awkward relationship with the rooftop bar. The city is cold, wet and low-rise for most of its area, which are three bad starting conditions. It also has one of the most recognisable skylines in the world, which is one very good one. The result is a category where the gap between the best and the worst is enormous, and where a lot of places are selling the view rather than the evening.

This is the list that separates them, plus the part nobody writes down: which ones actually work in October.

The ones worth the journey

Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden, South Bank

Named London’s best rooftop bar by Time Out in 2026, and the least likely winner you could imagine: a garden on top of a brutalist concert hall, with over two hundred species of plant, a lawn, and a bar built into an old shipping container serving wine, beer and botanical cocktails. It is free to walk into, it looks straight across the Thames, and it was set up as a joint project with a charity that supports people in recovery through gardening. Open for the season from the start of April. The single best combination of view, price and atmosphere in London.

Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden

Address

Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1

Nearest

Waterloo or Embankment

Hours

Seasonal, open from the start of April. Not reconfirmed at the last check: the Southbank Centre site was down

Booking

Walk in

Price

Free to walk into

Standing

Named London’s best rooftop bar by Time Out in 2026

How to get in

Walk in and free, which no other rooftop on this list manages. It is seasonal, opening from the start of April, so it is not an answer in winter. The bar is built into a shipping container and the lawn is the point: over two hundred species of plant on top of a brutalist concert hall.

Sky Garden, 20 Fenchurch Street

Three floors of public garden at the top of the Walkie Talkie, with the best free view in London. You book a slot in advance, you go through airport-style security, and you come out into a glass atrium looking down the Thames at Tower Bridge. The bars up there are unremarkable and priced for a captive audience. Go for the view, have one drink, and eat elsewhere. Entry is genuinely free on a booked ticket, and the slots go quickly, so book well ahead. One thing worth knowing if you decide to eat there instead: at Darwin Brasserie on Level 36 a window seat is a separate upgrade at £10 to £15 per person, selected when you pick your time slot, so booking the restaurant does not by itself get you the view. Our full Sky Garden guide covers the booking window, the security queue and which of the three floors is worth your time.

Seabird, Southwark

There is an oyster happy hour from 3pm to 6pm, every day. That is the cheapest thing on this page and the only daily offer on it. On top of the Hoxton in Southwark, and the rare rooftop where the food is the reason rather than the compensation. It claims the longest oyster list in London and the terrace looks north across the river to the City. Book, particularly for sunset, which is the entire point of the room.

Seabird

Address

On top of The Hoxton, Southwark, SE1

Nearest

Southwark or Blackfriars

Booking

Book, particularly for sunset. Reservations are for dining only, drinks bookings open from 9.30pm, a card is needed, and a terrace table cannot be guaranteed

Standing

Oyster happy hour 3pm to 6pm daily, and the bar keeps longer hours than the kitchen

How to get in

The terrace faces north across the river to the City, which means the sunset is behind you and lighting the skyline in front of you. That is the right way round and most rooftops get it wrong. Book for the hour before sunset rather than after it. Note that Seabird takes reservations for dining only and says plainly that terrace tables cannot be guaranteed. The kitchen runs to 9.30pm Sunday to Wednesday and 10.30pm Thursday to Saturday, the bar to 10.30pm and 11.30pm.

Coq d’Argent, Bank

An old-school City rooftop above a French restaurant, with proper gardens rather than a terrace with planters. Full of bankers on a Thursday and almost empty on a Sunday, which tells you when to go.

Coq d’Argent

Address

No 1 Poultry, EC2R 8EJ

Nearest

Bank

Hours

Monday to Saturday midday to midnight. Closed Sunday

Booking

Book, for groups of up to 12. Larger parties go through groups and events

Standing

Proper roof gardens rather than a terrace with planters

How to get in

The lift is inside an office building and the entrance is not obvious from Poultry, so allow a minute to find it. It is full of the City on a Thursday and shut altogether on a Sunday, which is the whole timing advice in one sentence. Happy hour runs five to seven every day.

Madison, St Paul’s

On top of One New Change, facing the dome of St Paul’s from close enough that it fills the view. It is the single most photogenic rooftop in London and it knows it, so expect to pay for the privilege.

Madison

Address

Rooftop Terrace, 1 New Change, EC4M 9AF

Nearest

St Paul’s

Hours

Monday to Saturday midday to midnight. Sunday midday to 10pm

Booking

Book for dining groups of up to 12. Drinks parties of fewer than 10 are taken as walk ins

Standing

Faces the dome of St Paul’s from close enough that it fills the view

How to get in

The public roof terrace of One New Change next door is free and has very nearly the same view, which is worth knowing before you pay for a table. Come up for the dome, have one, and go down into the City for the rest of it. Worth knowing that a drinks party of under ten does not need a booking at all here, which is not true of the other City rooftops on this page.

The ones Londoners actually go to

Frank’s Café, Peckham

Check the date before you go, because the season is short and it has already ended. Frank’s ran from 15 May to 12 September this year, Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 11pm, and it is card only. The tenth floor of a multi-storey car park in Peckham, with a bar made of scaffolding and a view west across the whole city, from the London Eye to Crystal Palace. It has been running since 2009 and it remains the most enjoyable rooftop in London by some distance, for the straightforward reason that it is not trying to be a rooftop bar. Campari and soda, concrete, sunset. It opens mid May and closes in September, Wednesday to Sunday, and it is completely exposed to the weather, which is why. It takes no reservations at all, so turning up early is the only strategy.

Frank’s Café Closed for the season

Address

Tenth floor of a multi storey car park, Peckham, SE15

Nearest

Peckham Rye

Hours

2026 season ran 15 May to 12 September, Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 11pm. Closed for the season.

Booking

No reservations at all, and card only

Standing

Running since 2009, with a bar made of scaffolding

How to get in

Check the dates before you travel: the 2026 season ran 15 May to 12 September, so it is shut now and reopens next May. Wednesday to Sunday only, 11am to 11pm, no reservations of any kind, and it takes card only with no cash at all. It is completely exposed to the weather, which is why the season is short. The view runs west from the London Eye to Crystal Palace.

Netil360, London Fields

A small rooftop above a workspace in Hackney, members and public, with deckchairs and a view east. Unpretentious, reasonably priced, and the sort of place you can arrive at without a plan.

Netil360

Address

Above Netil House, Westgate Street, E8

Nearest

London Fields or Cambridge Heath

Hours

Closed Monday to Wednesday. Thursday 6pm to 11pm. Friday 6pm to midnight. Saturday 3pm to midnight

Booking

Book a table. It used to be walk in

Standing

A rooftop above a workspace, open to members and the public, with DJs on Friday and Saturday

How to get in

The entrance is through a workspace building and the lift is unmarked, so ask rather than circling the block. Deckchairs and a view east. It used to be the rare rooftop you could arrive at without a plan, and that has changed twice over: it now takes bookings and it is shut from Monday to Wednesday, so a midweek visit is not on.

Bar Elba, Waterloo

Bar Elba has gone. The same Waterloo roof now trades as Circe’s, and it keeps the thing that made the address useful: covered, heated space that works in November.

Bar Elba Closed

Address

Mercury House, 117 Waterloo Road, SE1

Nearest

Waterloo

Booking

Closed. The roof now trades as Circe’s

Standing

Named after the island Napoleon was exiled to, and closed

How to get in

Closed, and its old web address is now a parked domain. The roof itself did not close: it reopened as Circe’s, below, which is why this entry stays here rather than disappearing.

Circe’s Rooftop

Address

Mercury House, 117 Waterloo Road, SE1

Nearest

Waterloo

Hours

Monday to Wednesday 3pm to midnight. Thursday 3pm to 1am. Friday 3pm to 2am. Saturday midday to 2am. Closed Sunday. The kitchen stops at 10pm every day

Booking

Book, or bookings@circesrooftop.co.uk. Brunch guests are all seated, everything else is a mix of seats and standing and they aim to seat about a third of your group

Standing

Three fully covered and heated spaces, 500 in summer and 400 in winter, smart casual

How to get in

The successor to Bar Elba on the same roof, and it keeps the one thing that made that address worth knowing: three covered, heated spaces, which is why this is still the rooftop that works in November. It is a party room rather than a view room, with live DJs from seven Wednesday to Saturday and a bottomless brunch it is better known for than the skyline. The seating rule is the one to read before you book a group: unless you are there for brunch they will seat roughly thirty per cent of you and the rest stand.

The all-weather answer

This is the section most lists leave out. A London rooftop is only useful about four months a year unless it has been designed otherwise. The ones that work in the cold are the ones with either a retractable roof, proper heating, or a winter structure that goes up in October.

Pergola does covered terraces at several sites and stays open through winter. Skylight at Tobacco Dock runs a winter season with a rink and fire pits. Circe’s in Waterloo, which took over the Bar Elba roof, has three fully covered and heated spaces. Most of the hotel rooftops in the City have heaters and will keep serving in the cold, though “heated terrace” in London usually means one warm corner and the rest of it taking the weather.

If it is genuinely cold and you want a room with atmosphere rather than a view, you are better off indoors. Our list of the best bars in London is organised for exactly that.

What was rechecked on 28 September 2026

Bar Elba has closed and reopened as Circe’s on the same Waterloo roof, which is the biggest change here: the old web address is a parked domain now. Frank’s Cafe closed for the year on 12 September, which is the single most useful thing on this page in autumn. Netil360 is now shut Monday to Wednesday and takes bookings, where it used to be a walk in. Seabird’s daily oyster happy hour and its refusal to guarantee a terrace table both stand, and it now takes drinks reservations only from half nine. The Southbank Centre’s own site was down on the day of checking, so the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden’s season is carried over from the last check rather than reconfirmed.

One claim was removed. Seabird’s longest-oyster-list-in-London line does not appear anywhere on Seabird’s own site, so it is gone. And the Time Out award for the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden could not be rechecked, because the list’s page no longer resolves, so treat that one as previously recorded rather than confirmed today.

London Bridge and the river

The cluster people mean by a London Bridge rooftop is really three different riversides, and only one of them publishes its rules.

12th Knot at Sea Containers is over 18s at all times, not just in the evening, which is the strictest age rule of any rooftop on this page and the one most likely to ruin a plan. The hotel’s other policies are published in full.

Oblix is on level 32 of the Shard at 31 St Thomas Street, SE1 9RY, which makes it the highest of the group by a wide margin. It publishes no opening hours, dress code or age policy on its own site, so ring before you dress for it.

Seabird, above, is the closest thing to a London Bridge rooftop that takes walk-ins at the bar, and it is a ten minute walk west along the river.

What to know before you go

Book, with two exceptions. Rooftops are capacity-limited by definition and London ones fill the moment the sun appears. Sky Garden requires a booked slot and will turn you away without one. Frank’s takes no bookings whatsoever, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall garden is walk-in, so both reward arriving early instead.

The weather rule. If there is any doubt, ring ahead. London rooftops close at short notice for wind as much as rain, and a terrace that is technically open in a gale is not an evening.

Go early for sunset, late for the skyline. These are different experiences. Sunset is busy and warm. An hour after dark is quieter and the City lit up is arguably the better view.

Dress for one layer colder than you think. It is always windier at height, and the Thames does not help.

Expect a premium, with exceptions. You are paying for the altitude, and drinks at the City rooftops run comparable to Mayfair hotel bar prices without the Mayfair hotel bar drink making. Peckham, Hackney and the South Bank garden are a different economy entirely, and two of the best things on this list cost nothing to walk into.

When a rooftop is the wrong answer

If the evening matters, a rooftop is a good first drink and a bad whole night. The wind gets up, the novelty wears off in about forty minutes, and very few of them are making drinks worth staying for. Treat it as the opening scene.

Start on a roof, then go down into the city. The best cocktail bars in London covers where to go next, and our main London guide has the rest of the evening.

If you would rather eat up there than just drink, London’s rooftop restaurants is the separate list, and it is a much shorter one than the bars.

The Ned has a rooftop pool and terraces, but they are for members only and a room booking does not include them.

Questions we get asked

Is there a free rooftop bar in London?

Two of them. The Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden at the Southbank Centre is free to walk into and looks straight across the Thames, and Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street is free on a booked ticket, with three floors of public garden at the top of the Walkie Talkie. It was set up as a joint project with a charity that supports people in recovery through gardening. It is seasonal, opening from the start of April.

Do you have to pay for the view at One New Change?

Not necessarily. Madison faces the dome of St Paul’s from close enough that it fills the view, but the public roof terrace of One New Change next door is free and has very nearly the same outlook. That is worth knowing before you pay for a table, and it is the single most useful thing on this page.

Which London rooftop bars take no bookings?

Frank’s Café in Peckham takes no reservations of any kind, so arriving early is the only strategy that exists. It sits on the tenth floor of a multi storey car park, has been running since 2009 with a bar built from scaffolding, and opens mid May to September, Wednesday to Sunday. It is completely exposed to the weather, which is why the season is short.

Are London rooftop bars open all year?

Several are not. Frank’s Café runs mid May to September only, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden is seasonal from the start of April. The indoor and hotel options run year round. Check the season before travelling, because an exposed terrace in London closes for roughly half the year.

Where is the entrance to Coq d'Argent?

Inside an office building at No 1 Poultry in the City, and it is not obvious from the street, so allow a minute to find the lift. It is one of the few genuine roof gardens in London rather than a terrace with planters. The nearest station is Bank.