Kwãnt
You can take the boy out of the five-star hotel but you can’t take the five-star hotel out of the boy! Erik Lorincz’s new bar, Kwãnt, operates to
PDT
PDT (short for Please Don't Tell) is one of the original Manhattan bars modelled on Prohibition speakeasies. This one is a rather wonderful cocktail lounge,
Door 74
For our review of Door 74, please see our Amsterdam’s 10 best cocktail bars page.
Polly
It’s easy to miss this Fitzroy long-stayer, just across the road from the better-known Black Pearl. The classical statuary and pot plants in the conservatory
Murder Inc.
A dingy narrow backstreet traversing the corner between Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road is a fittingly seedy setting for a bar which celebrates
Wright Brother’s Oyster & Porter House
With their own oyster farm owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, the Wright Brothers are the foremost wholesalers of oysters in London. This is one of the three
Tayer + Elementary
At first glance, this is yet another brutalist Shoreditch/Hoxton/Old Street bar with bare concrete, exposed aircon ducking and raw steel trunking. But
Milk & Honey
Sasha Petraske opened the original Milk & Honey in New York back in 2000. Many awards followed and it achieved legendary status in the bar world, spawning
Ladder Shed at Chiltern Firehouse
This hotel, restaurant, bar and cobbled garden courtyard are housed in a former Grade II listed gothic Victorian fire station on the eponymous upmarket
Vesper Bar
For our review of Vesper, please see our Amsterdam’s 10 best cocktail bars page.
Le Cellar at Galvin
Although practically hidden in the basement of Galvin Bistro De Lux on Baker Street, and reached only via a tiny stairwell from the middle of the dining
Senios Café Bar
Lying on a pedestrian street in Athens’ textile neighbourhood, Senios (which opened in October 2018) is the third all-day café bar by the team behind
The Westbourne
Like The Cow across the road, this is a seriously hip pub that was not so long ago just workaday. Its greatest asset, apart from its corner location
Harry Gordon's Bar
Take the escalator down to the lower ground floor of Selfridges to find its spanking new drinks department, with a bar nestled in the middle. Named after
Red Light
Looking for Red Light can be a real challenge for those who have never visited before. Another speakeasy in the Bristol bar scene with a luminous red
Feijoa
This good-time bar is named after the fruit that flourishes in South America and New Zealand, and indeed the fruit crops up in some of the cocktails served
TT Liquor
This impressive three floor venue boasts a cinema, a cellar cocktail bar and specialist liquor store stocking over 1,000 products, many of them rare and
Pony Line
Tucked in a downstairs corner of the Four Seasons, Pony Line is allegedly polo themed, thus the name. The floor area gives a nod to the idea, with blond
Experimental Cocktail Club (ECC LES)
The Lower East Side outpost of a French-owned line of cocktail bars. Experimental Cocktail Club New York joins its siblings in London and Paris, bringing
Spinte 'The Whisky Bar'
Recommended both for its range of single malt Scotch whiskies and well-crafted cocktails.
Barfish
Built to accompany Blowfish, the upscale Asian restaurant with which it shares an entrance, Barfish can easily be said to be the prettiest bar space in
The Aviary
Aviary is unlike any other bar you're likely to have visited - there's no bar, no bartenders and no bottles on display. Drinks are made back-of-house,
American Bar at The Savoy
Perhaps the most famous hotel in the world, The Savoy reopened in 2010 after a three-year, £100m+ refurbishment. While the rest of the hotel now sparkles
Meat Mission
This Shoreditch offshoot of Meat Liquor takes over a former church hall in this cobbled square next to Hoxton Square. There's less graffiti and it feels
Old Fashioned Bar
Established and lovingly tended by two bartenders, Luca and Bruno, Old Fashioned is an intimate little place located in the heart of Gràcia (close to
Scarfes Bar Rosewood Hotel
Scarfes Bar sits to the right as you walk under the arch into the courtyard entrance to the Rosewood hotel and is the hotel's main bar. It's been decorated
The Botanist
Another from the Tom and Ed Martin stable, the Botanist is slap-bang on Sloane Square. Named in honour of Sir Hans Sloane, a botanist, it is brightly decorated
Roast Restaurant & Bar
Roast is perched in a lofty position overlooking the stall holders' cages of Borough Market. It is chiefly a restaurant of some repute, but does have a
Evans & Peel Detective Agency
Just as everyone in the bar industry is yawning away and saying how tired they are about speakeasies, then along comes the Evans & Peel Detective Agency,
Nutmeg & Clove
Nutmeg & Clove relocated from its original shophouse to another heritage building down the road in March 2016, but the overarching concept and the style
A for Athens
A for Athens is a contemporary hotel in the centre of Athens that's known for its rooftop cocktail bar that overlooks Monastiraki square below with panoramic
Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge
The Carousel Piano Bar opened in 1949 and is so named because the circular 25-seat island bar rotates, transporting barflies one revolution every fifteen
Tavern Law
Speakeasy theme bar Tavern Law is a high ceilinged space with several seating areas: the bar/waiting area with its stools and high tables, a middle section
Bramble
Aptly described by Jason Scott, one of its owners, as a drinking den-come-cocktail lounge. This dimly-lit semi-subterranean space, accessed down an innocuous
The Blue Bar
Turn left as you enter the Berkeley Hotel lobby and you'll find yourself in the aptly named Blue Bar. Although it is tiny, no one could accuse this David
Buck & Breck
Rather than the bar’s name, outside there’s simply a neon sign flashing “closed”. Off-putting perhaps, but such is this bar’s reputation that
L'Hotel Bar
The street name says all you need to know about this area - a charming and pretty area with higgledy-piggledy streets full of antiques dealers, rare book
Brighton Rocks
Sat in an unlikely looking narrow lane off the front, the blue and pink star-shaped neon sign that used to make this place hard to miss has been replaced
Elixir
With roots dating back to 1858, this neighbourhood bar occupies San Francisco's second oldest saloon location. The restored original mahogany back bar
The Domino Club
A small barber shop in a covered shopping arcade is the unlikely and well disguised entrance to one of Leeds’, and indeed the UK’s best bars. The dark
Enoteca Al Volto
Hidden down a narrow alley off the northeast corner of Campo Manin and established in 1936, Al Volta is one of the oldest wine bars in Venice. Furnished
Callooh Callay
Callooh Callay was inspired by the nonsensical poem 'Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll and the Mad Hatter decor and cocktails found here make for a refreshing
The Whip at The Running Horse
Set above the Mayfair's oldest pub (dating back to 1738) The Whip has the feel of an English gentlemen's drinking den with horsey prints, sketches and
Florería Atlántico
Cofounded by Ocho7Ocho's Julián Díaz, Florería Atlántico is another winning Buenos Aires speakeasy. A combination florist and
Dry Martini & Speakeasy
Dry Martini is something of a relic from a bygone era with its much used wooden bar and panelling aging gracefully. The service is also distinctly old
The Bon Vivant
Defined as a person who enjoys the good things in life, especially food and drink, Bon Vivant is co-owned by Stuart McCluskey - enough said. Lying on
Le Lion - Bar de Paris
Widely recognised as being one of the world's 20 best bars, Le Lion lies behind a locked door and buzzer system but is open to anyone who makes a reservation.
Albannach & Doon
Whether it's the location, the lighting, its polished look or the way the balustraded mezzanine restaurant juts out into the room, the double-height main
Bread Street Kitchen
We first visited Bread Street Kitchen when it launched and despite the opulent setting and an offering of two bars, the cocktails were below standard.
Clover Club
Clover Club has the same owner as the Flatiron Lounge in Midtown Manhattan: there, Julie Reiner's drinks have a contemporary bent, but here in Brooklyn
