The Library Bar

Uniformed doormen, log fires and Regency furniture: the book-lined Library Bar is an old-school haven, a world away from all that traffic rushing around Hyde Park Corner outside.

The Library Bar is tucked away in the front left corner of The Lanesborough Hotel, which incidentally is named after a country house that once stood on the site. That grand house was demolished to make way for St George's Hospital which opened in 1719 but was eventually converted to the hotel - some say what is now the bar was once an operating theatre.

Whether you're sat around the intimate bar itself or in the more expansive adjacent lounge, you are almost guaranteed to be drinking alongside groups of black-tied gents and well-dressed ladies having drinks ahead of some posh 'do'. That said, the clientele is usually well-balanced and the atmosphere anything but stuffy.

Cocktails are well made and served with real five-star aplomb by Mickael Perron and his team, including the affable Sandro.