The very best lodge bars in London make you’re feeling as snug as in the event you had been in your room, have barkeeps that hold you going previous an apéritif, and infrequently allow you to keep up manner past your bedtime (in spite of everything, sleep is just a few steps away).
Seductive, refined – typically each – with DJs and picture cubicles, legendary cocktails or a few of London’s finest surroundings, these are the lodge bars the place you’ll fortunately spend the evening…
FOR LOW-LIT DATE NIGHTS…
Kettner’s, Soho
This 1867 celebration pad has lived many lives: a French restaurant, Pizza Categorical, and now a Soho Home with an ardent wink. Kettner’s Vinyl Bar, which has DJ decks, is extra sociable; however in the event you’re hoping to place the classic romance of the upstairs bedrooms to good use, sit up on the champagne bar and get good and giddy. (NB you’ll should be a Soho Home member or a staying visitor to go to the bar.)
Make ours a… It merely should be one thing glowing.
Open until midnight Monday to Wednesday, 1am Thursday to Saturday
Dean Avenue Townhouse, Soho
Simply across the nook from Kettner’s is Dean Street Townhouse, one other Soho Home den with a come-in-and-make-yourself-at-home informality. Cuddle up in a nook, the place velvet armchairs invite and candlelight encourages soft-lit lean-ins. Or, in the event you and your sweetheart aren’t fairly there but, choose a sunny day and experience London-best people-watching on the terrace. (NB you’ll should be a Soho Home member or a staying visitor to go to the bar.)
Make ours a… Refreshing Bramble (gin, lemon and crème de mûre) or traditional Pimm’s, please.
Open until midday, Monday to Thursday, 1am Friday to Saturday, 11pm on Sundays
The Zetter Clerkenwell
We’re undecided what’s within the water on the Zetter: there’s a taxidermied cat in a gown and boxing kangaroo, a portrait of the very actual, how dare you even ask, Aunt Wilhelmina… However, what goes in your glass are the travel-themed works of a mad genius, particularly cocktail magican Anas El Bahhaj, whose ‘Stonehenge’ gimlet combines gin, Eton mess, banoffee and apple pie, in some way.
Make ours a… Embrace the mysterious cocktail of the week. You’re in protected – if shaking and stirring – fingers right here.
Open until 11.30pm Tuesday and Wednesday, midnight Thursday and Friday, 12.30am on Saturday; closed on Monday
At Sloane Bar, Chelsea
You must be at an professional degree of loved-up-ness to deal with At Sloane bar’s romance: hush-hush entrance, Valentine’s-card-hued banquettes, candlelight, spoonfuls of caviar and a duo of personal rooms to abscond to. It’s so glamorous that its tackle a Tom Collins known as the ‘Joan’. And hold the soigné icon in thoughts when dressing for drinks – ‘Parisian stylish’ is the gown code.
Make ours a… Martini with three olives, spicy marg or flute of Billecart-Salmon.
Open until 11pm every day
The Coral Room on the Bloomsbury
Within the Bloomsbury Resort’s Coral Room bar, designer Martin Brudnizki has created a headily romantic, artist-luring haunt worthy of Woolf, Forster et al, elegantly dressed with shell chandeliers strung from hovering ceilings, sink-into sofas and seductive lighting. Drinks lean into the literary theme (we favored the picturebook menu), with concoctions such because the Joyceian Finnegan (whiskey, Guinness, licorice) – it goes down simpler than the guide.
Make ours a… Choose your Irish literary ref: perhaps the Seamus Heaney-inspired Summer season’s Blood (gin, coconut, lemon, cherry and beetroot wine) or Brendan Kennelly-nodding King Puck (rum, peanut butter, hazelnut, chocolate and cherry).
Open until 11.30pm over the weekend
Claridge’s Fumoir, Mayfair
We will’t condone cigarettes, however this artwork deco drinkery in Claridge’s hallowed halls feels as stylish and timeless as Le Smoking. It has served since 1929, and wears its classic in addition to the pricier wines. Amid black-and-white William Klein portraits, there’s rarefied people-watching and the ritziest consolation meals round (Claridge’s fried rooster, anybody?)
Make ours a… A vermouth-slugged Martini or bowl of Chianti Classico to nurse.
Open until midday on Sundays, in any other case 1am
FOR DESIGN-LED DRINKING…
Aspect Hustle at NoMad London, Covent Backyard
A one-time police station in all probability isn’t the place you wish to find yourself after sinking a number of, however Side Hustle is a bit more lawless nowadays because the bar of New York transplant NoMad lodge. It’s obtained a heat amber glow, leather-lined cubicles and drinks maestro Leo Robitschek laying down the cocktail lore.
Make ours a… Tequila mai tai, with passionfruit, pink pepper and orgeat – it is available in a cranium with a pineapple protruding of it. ‘Nuff mentioned.
Open until midnight Monday to Wednesday, 1am Friday to Saturday and 11pm Sunday
Sweeties on the Normal London, King’s Cross
You would drink your manner from prime to backside on this seductive outpost of the Standard. Floor-floor Double Normal has its lavish brunches and liquor-spiked sodas, and horny penthouse spot Decimo has a lethal tequila listing. However we’ve a mushy spot for Sweeties, the naughty Tenth-floor bar that sparkles underneath a large disco ball and has a bit sugar, a number of spice and all drinks good – with views that make even King’s Cross look spectacular, dahling.
Make ours a… Reminiscent-of-retro-sweets sipper Candy Coronary heart (cachaça, lime, pear and violet) or pucker up for a citrusy Kiss Me, with gin, bitter cherry and lime.
Closed Sunday until Tuesday, open until 11pm Wednesday, 3am Thursday to Saturday
Lyaness at Sea Containers, South Financial institution
Biologist and bar-stormer Ryan Chetiyawardana has a really full awards cupboard, because of his mixology mastery and knack for nailing an idea. Previously ‘finest bar on this planet’ Dandelyan, Lyaness is a worthy successor, with a scientific method to drinks, speedy bartenders and avant-garde substances: KFC liqueur, shisho absinthe, pie wine…
Make ours a… Context Membership (Patrón, cherry-blossom, verjus), which can play along with your notion of flavour.
Open until midnight Monday to Thursday, 1am Friday and Saturday, and 11pm Sunday
13 at Chateau Denmark, Soho
As daring as Bowie, flamboyant as Elton and punky sufficient for the Pistols. Tear it up in iconic rock ‘n’ roll hangout Chateau Denmark’s Thirteen bar, which has backlit gilding, graffitied curtains and a ceiling as studded as Johnny Rotten’s leather-based jacket. Naturally the DJs are prime of their recreation, the signature drinks are storied, and the sushi (particularly the inside-out rolls) and Japanese snacks are good to select at.
Make ours a… Girl Stardust (vodka, vermouth, Cointreau, passionfruit, lychee and glowing wine), which is absolutely fairly out of sight… The Soho is a deep, potent choose, and the Pink River (rye, raspberry and blackberry gin, crème de cassis) hits the proper smoky-sweet notes.
Open until 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, until midnight Friday and Saturday, closed on Sundays
FOR LONDON’S BEST VIEWS
8 on the Londoner, Soho
Past the M&M Retailer, big Greggs and Magic Mike gyrating, there’s glamour to be present in Leicester Sq. – you simply should get above all of it, eight flooring excessive on the Londoner. Impressed by Japanese izakaya bars, you’ll discover a sake menu, restful Shima Backyard and Japanese-inflected cocktails, plus all of London laid out earlier than you.
Make ours a… The Namazake, a mixture of sake, vermouth, ylang-ylang syrup and champagne.
Open until midnight Tuesday and Wednesday, until 1am Thursday to Saturday and closed on Sunday and Monday
Ham Yard Resort, Soho
Soho could also be extra cottaging than cottagecore (traditionally, not less than), however, 4 flooring up in village-cum-hideaway Ham Yard Hotel, there’s a leafy terrace with a kitchen backyard, apiary, wicker sofas and plant pots. This Elysian imaginative and prescient is guests-only, however we advise checking in for metropolis respite. Or admire Equipment Kemp’s design nous within the open-to-all bar downstairs.
Make ours a… The floral notes of the Rose Backyard Fizz with a splash of elderflower really feel becoming. And the primary bar’s Soho Tales menu sprees via the ‘hood’s historical past with drinks named: Peachy Delight, Nude and Hip Avenue.
Open until 10.30pm every day
Flute at Broadwick Soho
Named for a Nineteenth-century flute-maker who lived on Broadwick Avenue, Broadwick Soho‘s maximalist bar is as busy as a jazz solo, with its magpie’s thirst for shiny issues, palm-frond carpet and color right here, there and all over the place. But it surely’s the dual-aspect wraparound terrace that pulls gasps, with views that roll out city-wide. A brilliant-central spot that may rightfully toot its personal, uh, flute.
Make ours a… Cocktail ringleader Greg Almeida retains to the classics right here – the Blue Hawaiian, that includes pure butterfly-pea colouring, feels suitably flamboyant.
Open until midnight Sunday to Thursday, until 12.30am Friday and Saturday
FOR CULT CLASSICS
Le Magritte Bar & Terrace on the Beaumont, Mayfair
The actual surrealist Magritte work (Le Maître d’École) hanging right here makes us wish to order a plum floating in fragrance, served in a person’s hat. However Le Magritte – a Twenties, American-style hang-out, with Rat Pack swagger – has an easy Bourbon-sipping attraction to it. There are wealthy woods and leathers inside, and a terrace overlooking Brown Hart Gardens for summer season days.
Make ours a… Manhattan. Or a whisk(e)y neat.
Open until 11.45pm Monday to Saturday, 10.45pm Sundays and financial institution holidays
Blue Bar on the Berkeley, Knightsbridge
The Berkeley’s bar is certainly blue (Lutyens blue, particularly), nevertheless it’s a spirit-lifter in all senses. The menu offers oldies however very goodies a elevate, muddling up cardamom, rose water and rye; or lime sherbert and bergamot liqueur with gin. It’s worldwide and as monied, however all can get pleasure from its stylish consolation snacks, star-gazing pavilion and cosy corners.
Make ours a… Right here’s the place to crack open the champagne, with a aspect of caviar, naturally.
Open until 1am Tuesday to Saturday, closed Monday and Tuesday
Rivoli Bar on the Ritz, Mayfair
The opulent Rivoli Bar seems to be like King Midas had a number of too many £500 Sazeracs and stumbled into all the pieces. However don’t let the shininess distract you from a drinks listing befitting an establishment. Named after intentions (oddly, ‘come right into a fortune’ isn’t one), signatures intention to shock whereas classics maintain their very own, and you’ll even ask the bartenders for a customized concoction.
Make ours a… There are few extra historic sips than the Negroni, with Sixties gin, Seventies Campari and Nineteen Eighties Martini.
Open until 11.30pm Monday to Saturday, 10.30pm Sunday
The Connaught Bar, Mayfair
The Connaught Bar is a class-act all spherical, from its silver and racing-green David Collins decor, to the smoothness of the service, to its Masterpieces menu of favourites that constructed the bar’s rep. That is hospitality as tightly tailor-made because the workers’s fits, bolstered by a powerful quantity of behind-the-scenes work.
Make ours a… It needs to be a Martini, which is wheeled over to you on a trolley and customised to your style.
Open until 1am, closed on Sundays
CLUBBY BARS FOR CARD- AND KEY-HOLDERS
The bar on the Chiltern Firehouse, Marylebone
Chiltern Firehouse’s bar could also be ‘slebby’, nevertheless it’s laidback too. Ceilings are greenery-strung, there are chintz-clad corners, the crab doughnuts deserve the celebrity, and drinks are expensive but potent, some utilizing uncommon spirits. You would have a spherical right here and name it an evening (you’ll have to get meals in throughout peak instances), however blag your manner into the VVVIP Laddershed and also you’ll have gained at London nightlife.
Make ours a… Fruity and aromatic champagne cocktail, with violet syrup, strawberry liqueur or plum jam.
Open until the final visitor will get sleepy
The Twenty Two, Mayfair
Friends staying on the Twenty Two ought to safe their spot on the lodge’s discreet downstairs nightclub early to keep away from disappointment. It’s normally members solely, however some visitors can enter whereas there’s house. When there’s an opportunity to – allegedly – see Naomi Campbell take to the decks and different starry goings-on (no telephones allowed, after all), it’s well worth the wangle.
Make ours a… Photographs, photographs, photographs – there’s a wide array of tequilas and mezcals.
Open until late
Shoreditch Home
We’d pay good cash to spend a night as a shutterbug in a photograph sales space at Shoreditch House’s fifth-floor bar. However we wouldn’t wish to miss the enjoyable – telephones down, glasses up, tune into the DJ and problem artistic types to ping-pong. Sneak as much as the rooftop for severe cityscape lust or see what gig or masterclass is occurring within the Library.
Make ours a… Paloma or hibiscus lemonade with gin. However, there’s a superb ‘no and low’ listing too.
Open until midnight Sunday to Tuesday, 1am Wednesday, 3am Thursday to Saturday
FOR PUBS WITH PULLING POWER
The Princess Royal Notting Hill
With a classic wood horseshoe bar and leather-based stools, a serene backyard off to at least one aspect, and a prime collection of faucets, the Princess Royal is a convivial kind, with gastro clout. There’s a uncooked bar and Med eatery with a ravishing menu, however pints within the sunshine are equally beautiful right here.
Make ours a… Grain, grape and distillates are given equal footing right here. And we just like the novelty of the cocktails on faucet.
Open until 11.30pm Monday to Saturday, 11pm Sunday
Bull & Final, Hampstead
Most come to the Bull & Last to tear into buttermilk-fried rooster, Béarnaise-slathered sirloin or the naughtiest of puds after a stroll on Hampstead Heath. However you would simply lose a day right here nursing pints of So Strong Brew (an unique clink-able collab with the London brewery). It’s casual, pleasant and has an ideal vary of seasonal cocktails.
Make ours a… Gimlet (gin and lime cordial), which has garnered column inches.
Open 11pm Monday to Thursday, midnight at weekends, 10.30pm Sunday
THE LEGENDARY HOTEL BAR COCKTAIL CRAWL
For a Negroni
Cecconi’s on the Ned in Financial institution has ray-of-sunshine Negronis in buzzy surrounds. Or check-in at Kettner’s and also you’ll be a stone’s throw from Bar Termini, the place cocktail god Tony Conigliaro has cornered the Negroni market.
For a Vesper Martini
With out the Vesper Martini at Duke’s Bar, James Bond may need been a beer man… Author Ian Fleming was an everyday, and the long-lasting drink might have impressed the ‘shaken, not stirred’ line.
For a G&T
Prop up the marble counter at Rosewood London’s Holborn Eating Room for a prolonged collection of seasonal and fruity gins, earlier than retiring to Scarfe’s Bar for a cocktail.
For a White Girl or Corpse Reviver
Since 1893, the Savoy’s American Bar has served stiff drinks to Churchill, Hemingway and different robust constitutions, popularising the White Girl (gin, Cointreau, lemon, egg white) and inventing the Corpse Reviver (gin, triple sec, vermouth, lemon and absinthe).
Zetter Townhouse picture by Jonathan Sharp, At Sloane and Kettner’s photos by Hannah Dace, Lyaness picture by Roman Shabodalov, and 13 picture by Mel Yates.
