London Speakeasies: The Good Ones and the Gimmicks

London’s hidden bars split cleanly into two groups: serious cocktail bars that happen to be difficult to find, and theatre built around the difficulty of finding them. Both can make a good evening. They are not the same purchase, and guides that rank them together are not much use.

Here is which is which, plus the two practical things nobody mentions: cover charges and time limits.

Live music bars in London is the companion to this page: the same two rooms, Nightjar and Oriole, plus the places that have live music every night and charge nothing for it.

Checked in September 2026, rechecked 28 September

Nothing on this page needed correcting. Oriole’s cover charges, its set times and its move from Smithfield to St Martin’s Courtyard all came back exactly as written, as did Nightjar’s nightly cover going straight to the musicians. Nightjar, Oriole and Evans & Peel are all confirmed trading.

One gap to be straight about: The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town could not be verified either way, because its site would not load and the venue it sits inside does not mention it. Check before making a journey for that one specifically.

The things to know before you book

Several of the best ones charge to get in. Not a door fee exactly, but a music cover charge, because the live band is the point. Nightjar adds one nightly and says in its own words that it goes straight to the musicians. Oriole publishes its whole table, which almost nothing else in this category does.

Oriole’s cover charge by night: Tuesday £4, Wednesday £6, Thursday £8, Friday and Saturday £12, and the late set adds £6 on top. It is added to your bill rather than taken at the door, it goes to the musicians, and special events can carry more. They do not sell tickets for live music at all, so booking a table is the only way to be sure of a seat.

All of that is entirely reasonable and it still surprises people at the end of the night. A Saturday late set at Oriole is £18 a head before you have drunk anything.

Some have hard time limits. Bar Termini books in one-hour slots with a maximum party of five. That is not a suggestion. Turn up as a group of six expecting a long evening and you have misunderstood the venue.

The good ones take bookings. The romantic idea is that you find an unmarked door and talk your way in. In practice Nightjar, Oriole, Callooh Callay and Evans & Peel all run reservation systems, and weekend walk-ins are optimistic.

Serious bars that happen to be hidden

Nightjar, Old Street

129 City Road, down into a basement. Consistently rated among the best cocktail bars in the world, and the drinks justify it: long, researched menus organised by era, served without any winking.

Live jazz, blues, swing and funk every night from 9pm, with a cover charge that goes to the band. Walk-ins are accepted but book if you care, particularly on music nights. Groups up to 20 only Sunday to Thursday, with a pre-order and minimum spend.

Nightjar

Address

129 City Road, EC1V 1JB

Nearest

Old Street

Hours

Live music every night from 9pm

Booking

Walk ins taken, booking recommended, particularly on music nights

Price

A nightly cover charge for the live music, which goes to the band

Standing

Menus organised by era, in the basement

How to get in

Down a staircase behind an unmarked door on City Road. Walk ins are accepted, but the cover charge and the band are the point and the room fills for both, so book if the evening matters. Groups of up to 20 are Sunday to Thursday only, with a pre-order and a minimum spend.

If you only do one bar on this page, do this one.

Oriole, Covent Garden

7 to 9 Slingsby Place, in St Martin’s Courtyard, two minutes from Covent Garden station.

Note the address, because it has moved. Oriole spent years in a basement under Smithfield Market and a great many guides still send you there. It is now a different venue in a different part of town, with a ground floor Bamboo Bar and the restaurant downstairs, so even the format has changed.

Live jazz, blues and world music Tuesday to Saturday, and the set times are published to the minute: 20:00 to 20:45 and 21:15 to 22:00, with a Friday and Saturday late set from 22:30 to 23:30. Cover charge £4 on Tuesday rising to £12 on Friday and Saturday, plus £6 for the late set.

The two floors keep different hours. The ground floor Bamboo Bar runs Tuesday and Wednesday 3pm to 11pm and Thursday to Saturday midday to midnight. The basement restaurant runs Tuesday 7pm to 11pm, Wednesday and Thursday 6pm to midnight, and Friday and Saturday 6pm to 1am. If you want the late set, you want the weekend and you want to have booked.

Oriole

Address

7-9 Slingsby Place, St Martin’s Courtyard, WC2E 9AB

Nearest

Covent Garden, two minutes away

Hours

Ground floor bar Tuesday and Wednesday 3pm to 11pm, Thursday to Saturday midday to midnight. Basement restaurant Tuesday 7pm to 11pm, Wednesday and Thursday 6pm to midnight, Friday and Saturday 6pm to 1am

Booking

Booking recommended, particularly for live music

Price

Cover charge of 4 pounds on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday, 8 on Thursday and 12 on Friday and Saturday, with 6 more for the late set

Standing

Moved here from Smithfield Market, and the old address is still all over the internet

How to get in

Check the address before you set off, because a great many guides still send people to the Smithfield basement. Sets are at 8pm and 9.15pm, with a late one on Friday and Saturday, and the cover goes straight to the musicians on your bill.

Callooh Callay, Shoreditch

65 Rivington Street. Lewis Carroll by way of a Shoreditch side street, and the entry gimmick is genuinely good: the JubJub Bar is concealed behind what appears to be a wardrobe.

What saves it from being merely cute is that the drinks are seriously good. It sits in the World’s 50 Best Bars extended list. Open from 6pm, to 1am early in the week and 3am Thursday to Sunday.

Callooh Callay

Address

65 Rivington Street, Shoreditch

Nearest

Old Street or Shoreditch High Street

Hours

Monday to Wednesday 6pm to 1am. Thursday to Sunday 6pm to 3am

Booking

Reservations taken. They also run cocktail masterclasses

Standing

In the World’s 50 Best Bars extended list

How to get in

The JubJub Bar at the back is behind what looks like a wardrobe, and you have to ask. It runs later than almost anything else on this page, to three in the morning from Thursday, which makes it the one to keep for the end of a night rather than the start.

Bar Termini, Soho

7 Old Compton Street. Not hidden at all, and included because it is the best small bar in Soho and because people keep putting it on speakeasy lists.

A tiny Italian room doing negronis, martinis and espresso properly, with charcuterie. Booking is in one-hour slots, maximum five people, from 4pm Monday to Thursday and 3pm at weekends. The brevity is the design: this is an aperitivo, not a night out.

Bar Termini

Address

7 Old Compton Street, Soho, W1D 5JE

Nearest

Leicester Square or Tottenham Court Road

Hours

Slots from 4pm Monday to Thursday and from 3pm at weekends

Booking

One hour slots, maximum five people

Standing

Thirty seats and a counter

How to get in

The hour is the whole design and the maximum party is five, so a group of six has misread the room before it arrives. The negroni is pre-batched and chilled, which is how it reaches you in under a minute and why an hour is enough.

Swift

Four sites now, in Soho, Borough, London Bridge and Shoreditch. They keep space for walk-ins but recommend booking.

The house format is the useful thing: a quick, bright drink at street level, or something longer and darker downstairs. It works equally well as the first stop of an evening or the last, which almost nothing else manages.

Swift Soho

Nearest

Tottenham Court Road or Leicester Square

Booking

Downstairs is reservations only, upstairs is mainly walk ins. No reservations by telephone or social media

Standing

Four sites, in Soho, Borough, London Bridge and Shoreditch

How to get in

One building, two policies. Upstairs keeps space for walk ins. Downstairs takes reservations only, in two hour slots starting on the hour from 5pm, or from 3pm in November and December, with six the largest party they will seat. Over 21s, and they turn away replica football shirts and stag and hen parties.

Theatre, and good at it

Nothing pejorative here. These are built around an experience rather than a drinks list, and if that is what you want they deliver it.

Evans & Peel Detective Agency, Earl’s Court

Search for it as Chelsea too. The address is on Earl’s Court Road, which is what this page and the maps call it, but the agency’s own site describes its hidden premises as being in Chelsea. Both are in circulation and a search for one will not always turn up the other.

310c Earls Court Road. You book an appointment, descend to a detective’s office, and present your case to the detective before the bookcase opens.

It is thoroughly committed and genuinely fun the first time. Book ahead, because the whole thing runs on appointments rather than walk-ins, and go with people who will play along. Nobody enjoys watching a friend refuse to invent a case.

Evans and Peel Detective Agency

Address

310c Earls Court Road

Nearest

Earl’s Court

Booking

Appointment only, through their site or appointments@evansandpeel.com

Standing

A detective’s office with a bookcase door, at 310c Earls Court Road SW5 9BA

How to get in

You book an appointment rather than a table, go down to the office and present your case to the detective before the bookcase opens. The appointment is the whole mechanism, so walk ins are not really a thing here, and it works far better with people who will play along.

Cahoots, Soho

Kingly Court. A 1940s disused Underground station, complete with a replica Bakerloo line carriage and northbound and southbound platforms, done at a level of detail that is hard not to admire.

Open from noon daily, to 1am Monday to Wednesday, 3am Thursday to Saturday, midnight on Sunday. There are now several connected spaces including a Ticket Hall and a Control Room.

It is a party venue rather than a drinking den. Loud, busy, often in fancy dress, and excellent on those terms. If you are after a quiet conversation, this is the wrong door.

Cahoots

Address

Kingly Court, Soho

Nearest

Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus

Hours

Underground 5pm to 1am Monday to Wednesday, 4pm to 2am Thursday and Friday, midday to 2am Saturday, 4pm to midnight Sunday. Ticket Hall midday to midnight Sunday to Wednesday and to 1am Thursday to Saturday

Standing

A replica 1940s Underground station, with a Bakerloo line carriage

How to get in

Two Soho addresses rather than one, and they are not the same evening. The Ticket Hall on Kingly Street is a pub with a terrace, open from midday. The Underground in Kingly Court is the themed bar and opens at five midweek, running to two in the morning at the end of the week. Check which one you are heading for.

The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town, Spitalfields

Inside The Breakfast Club on Artillery Lane, just off Bishopsgate. You ask a member of staff to see the Mayor, and they open a Smeg fridge.

The best entrance in London and the original of a format since copied everywhere. The bar beyond it is a decent, low-lit brick room rather than a destination in its own right, which is fine. You are paying for the fridge.

The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town

Address

Inside The Breakfast Club, 12 to 16 Artillery Lane, E1 7LS, off Bishopsgate

Nearest

Liverpool Street

Hours

Monday to Wednesday 6pm to 11pm. Thursday and Friday 5pm to midnight. Saturday and Sunday 5pm to 11pm

Booking

Book through the group’s own system. A boozy brunch runs every Saturday from midday

Standing

Behind a Smeg fridge in a breakfast cafe

How to get in

You ask a member of staff to see the Mayor and they open the fridge. That is the entire mechanism and it is still the best one in London. The bar past it is a decent low lit brick room rather than a destination, so come for the door and stay for one. The timing is the thing to get right: the café in front shuts at five every day and the bar behind it opens at five or six, so there is no overlap to wander through. It publishes its own hours now, which it did not before, and takes bookings.

Choosing

For the drinks: Nightjar, then Callooh Callay.

For live music: Nightjar or Oriole, and budget for the cover.

For one perfect drink before dinner: Bar Termini, and accept the hour.

For a group that wants an event: Cahoots or Evans & Peel.

For the best reveal: the Smeg fridge at Scaredy Cat Town, still unbeaten.

For a conversation: Swift downstairs, or Nightjar on a night without a band.

Practical notes

Book, and check what the booking includes. A reservation is not the same as a table for the evening. Check the slot length before you plan around it.

Ask about cover charges when you book, not when the bill arrives.

Verify the address on the day. Oriole has moved and the old location is still all over the internet. This category turns over faster than most.

Dress like you meant to come. None of these will turn you away, but the rooms are small and the effort is visible.

Everything here was checked in September 2026 and rechecked on 28 September against each venue’s own published information. Opening hours and cover charges change, so confirm before travelling.

Where to go next

For cocktail bars judged purely on the drinks rather than the door, the best cocktail bars in London is the deeper list. The best bars in London covers the rooms, and London after dark covers what happens once these close.

If you would rather be taught something, wine tasting in London runs from a £15 flight to a proper qualification. And our main London guide has the rest.

Questions we get asked

Do London speakeasies charge a cover?

The ones with live music do, and it goes to the band. Nightjar has live music every night from 9pm with a nightly cover charge. Oriole charges from £4 on a Tuesday to £12 on a Friday or Saturday, with an extra fee for the late set. That is worth budgeting for, because it is charged on top of the drinks.

Can you book a London speakeasy?

Yes, and the good ones take bookings, which surprises people who expect the format to be walk in only. Nightjar takes walk ins but recommends booking, particularly on music nights. Booking is the sensible default at any of them on a Friday or Saturday.

What time does the live music start?

Nightjar runs live jazz, blues, swing and funk every night from 9pm. Oriole has live music Tuesday to Saturday with sets at 8pm and 9.15pm, plus a late set on Friday and Saturday that carries an additional charge. If the music is the point, arrive before the first set rather than during it.

Where is Nightjar?

129 City Road, EC1V 1JB, down a staircase behind an unmarked door, with Old Street the nearest station. The menus are organised by era and the room is in the basement. Oriole is at 7 to 9 Slingsby Place in St Martin’s Courtyard, WC2E 9AB, two minutes from Covent Garden, and it is worth noting the address because it has moved.