The 12 Best Cocktail Bars in London

Tayēr + Elementary

Two bars separated by a single door, each operating under a radically different philosophy. Elementary runs cocktails on tap through floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Old Street; behind it, Tayēr delivers a chef's-table intensity where the menu changes daily based on what co-founders Alex Kratena and Monica Berg source that morning. Kratena's technical precision, rotary evaporation, acid adjustment, clarification, serves flavor rather than spectacle. The drinks land with the kind of quiet confidence that explains why this dual concept climbed to No. 5 on the World's 50 Best Bars in 2025. No other bar in London balances accessibility and avant-garde ambition this cleanly. It sits at No. 12 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026.

Connaught Bar

The martini trolley that Director of Mixology Agostino Perrone rolls to your table remains the single most elegant ritual in global bartending. Cubist interiors by David Collins, marble floors, and a team led by Assistant Director of Mixology Giorgio Bargiani and Bar Manager Maura Milia deliver a level of choreographed service that no competitor has matched since the bar opened in 2008. Granted permanent Best of the Best status by the World's 50 Best, Connaught occupies a category of one, a luxury hotel bar that redefined what luxury hotel bars could become. Every city claims a benchmark; London's is here. The latest lists place it at No. 6 on the World's 50 Best Bars 2025 and No. 10 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026.

Satan's Whiskers

Named Best Bar in the UK by the Morning Advertiser and ranked No. 21 on the World's 50 Best Bars, this Bethnal Green stalwart doubled down in 2025 on precisely the thing that built its reputation: classic cocktails, daily-changing menus, and music loud enough to matter. Bar Manager Oliver Sagerström Blom leads a team that treats hospitality as performance art, turning a narrow East London room into the most energetic drinking experience in the city. Co-founders Damian Benjamin and Fraser Chapman have resisted every temptation to expand or franchise. The discipline shows in every glass. It won Best International Cocktail Bar at the 2026 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. It won Best International Cocktail Bar at the 2026 Bartenders' Choice Awards.

Scarfes Bar

Gerald Scarfe's caricatures stare down from the walls of Rosewood London's flagship bar, giving the room a sardonic edge that cuts through its gentleman's-club aesthetic. New Director of Bars Andy Loudon, appointed in 2024, delivered his first full menu in 2025, a collection that respects the bar's tradition of spirit-forward drinking while introducing lighter, more seasonal constructions. At No. 31 on the World's 50 Best, Scarfes operates in the sweet spot between establishment credibility and creative ambition. The leather armchairs alone are worth the reservation. It currently stands at No. 47 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026.

A Bar with Shapes For a Name

Remy Savage, formerly of The Little Red Door in Paris and Artesian at The Langham, stripped cocktail bar design back to Bauhaus first principles: a yellow triangle, a red square, a blue circle, and twelve drinks chosen through blind tasting. The menu splits evenly between six classics and six house creations, and ingredients earn their place on flavor alone, not narrative. Ranked No. 73 on the World's 50 Best Bars, this Kingsland Road bar proves that minimalism and warmth are not opposites. Savage and business partner Paul Lougrat built something that looks effortless. It is not. It was a Top 4 finalist for Best International Cocktail Bar at the 2024 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards.

Three Sheets Soho

Max and Noel Venning spent five consecutive years on the 50 Best list with their Dalston original before opening this Manette Street sibling in March 2024. The Soho edition debuted at No. 80 on the World's 50 Best Bars extended list, a first-year result that validated the expansion. The philosophy carries over intact: pared-back menus, exacting technique, and a refusal to over-garnish. In a neighborhood saturated with drinking options, Three Sheets Soho earns its traffic through consistency and conviction rather than novelty. It was a Top 4 finalist for Best New International Cocktail Bar at the 2025 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards. It currently stands at No. 41 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026.

Side Hustle

Leo Robitschek's Latin American-inspired program inside the NoMad London, a converted Victorian magistrates' court on Bow Street, won Best International Hotel Bar at the 2025 Spirited Awards, voted by a panel of 250 industry experts. The agave collection anchors a menu that moves between mezcal-forward compositions and tropical constructions with a precision that belies the bar's casual, warmly lit atmosphere. Robitschek built his reputation at NoMad New York before crossing the Atlantic, and the London edition proves the concept translates without dilution. Side Hustle fills a gap London didn't know it had: a hotel bar that drinks like an independent.

Kwãnt

Erik Lorincz spent eight years as Head Bartender at The Savoy's American Bar before opening his own place on Stratton Street in 2023. Kwãnt runs an omakase-style five-course cocktail tasting through a Mayfair address that, at No. 79 on the World's 50 Best Bars, punches well above its age. Lorincz's training at both The Savoy and Connaught surfaces in the precision of each sequence, structured progressions that move from aperitif to nightcap with the pacing of a kaiseki meal. This is author-driven bartending at its most controlled.

Lyaness

Ryan 'Mr Lyan' Chetiyawardana's flagship at Sea Containers London, successor to the celebrated Dandelyan in the same riverside space, the redesign kept the marble bar and added electric blue accents. The menu is ingredient-led: the current 'Collaboration 2.0' list builds drinks around ideas and collaborations rather than classic formats, in serves like the Pink Belly Gimlet and the Multi-Milk. Lyaness was the first bar awarded three PINs in The Pinnacle Guide and ranked No.39 in the World's 50 Best Bars 2019. Saturdays and Sundays from 1–4pm bring £10 Champagne.

Order this: Pink Belly Gimlet (Another Hendrick's gin, carrot salami, aquavit honey, lemon)

Swift

Opened in 2016 by Mia Johansson and Bobby Hiddleston, both formerly of Milk & Honey, and backed by Nightjar and Oriole owners Rosie Stimpson and Edmund Weil. Swift splits across two floors: a bright ground-floor bar for cocktails and oysters, and a darker basement of booths with a whisky list running past 250 bottles. The Irish Coffee is the house calling card. Accolades include No.30 in the World's 50 Best Bars 2022 and Time Out London's No.1 Cocktail Bar 2018–19. Bookings are by email only, the bar takes no phone reservations. Sister sites in Shoreditch and Borough.

Order this: Irish Coffee (Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition, Swift blend coffee, demerara, cream, nutmeg)

Waltz

An intimate Japanese-inflected cocktail bar opened in 2025 on Scrutton Street in Shoreditch. It serves a full conceptual cocktail menu, with first-come walk-in bar seats and bookable tables; contact is by email, as no phone number is published. It sits at No. 23 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026.

Kwānt Mayfair

Erik Lorincz's Mayfair cocktail bar, relaunched on Stratton Street in 2023 after the original site won Best New Opening at The World's 50 Best Bars 2020. Lorincz, formerly head bartender of the American Bar at The Savoy, serves spirit-forward and experimental drinks in a Polynesian-tinged room of cane ceilings, palms and retro furniture. Ranked No. 40 on Europe's 50 Best Bars 2026. The latest lists place it at No. 79 on the World's 50 Best Bars 2025.