Best Bars in London: Where to Take Someone for a Drink

London has thousands of bars and perhaps forty that reliably do the job when you are with someone. The criteria here are narrow on purpose: you can hear each other, nobody is rushed out, and walking in does not feel like an audition.

Cocktail bars that are worth the fuss

• Connaught Bar, Mayfair. The martini trolley, made at the table. Formal without being stiff, and the staff treat everyone the same. Book.
• Kwant, Mayfair. Downstairs, low light, serious drinks, far less of a scene than its neighbours.
• Bar Termini, Soho. Tiny, standing room, negronis on tap. Perfect for one drink before dinner, hopeless for a long conversation.
• Nightjar, Shoreditch. Live jazz most nights and table service all evening. Book, and ask for a booth.
• Satan’s Whiskers, Bethnal Green. No bookings, no fuss, arguably the best value drinks in London.

Hotel bars, the safest choice

If you are meeting someone for the first time, a hotel bar solves several problems at once: easy to find, comfortable, open late, and nobody blinks at anyone arriving separately.

• The American Bar at the Savoy. The classic. Dress properly and go early if you want a seat.
• Beaufort Bar, also at the Savoy. Black and gold, champagne-led, more theatrical than the American.
• Donovan Bar, Brown’s Hotel. Mayfair, photographs on the walls, quiet enough for a real conversation.
• Coral Room, Bloomsbury. Pink and high-ceilinged, good for an early drink before dinner.

Wine bars for a long conversation

• Noble Rot, Lamb’s Conduit Street. A wine list with depth and food that holds up. Book.
• Sager + Wilde, Hackney Road. Relaxed, serious about wine, no ceremony.
• Gordon’s, Embankment. Candlelit, ancient, cash-only chaos at the bar. Go early or not at all.

Soho, when you want to stay out

Soho is still where an evening goes when it is going somewhere. Swift for an aperitif downstairs and whisky upstairs. The Blind Pig above Social Eating House for cocktails. Milroy’s for the whisky bar behind the bookcase. All within a few minutes of each other, which is the point of Soho.

If you prefer the hidden kind, our speakeasy bars guide has more, and for summer the rooftop bars guide covers the view.

A few practical rules

• Book anything in Mayfair. Walk-ins work on a Tuesday and nowhere near a Friday.
• Ask for a booth or a corner. It costs nothing and changes the evening.
• Dress a notch up. Most of these have no written code and all of them have an unwritten one.
• Start one drink early. Arriving before your company does is worth more than any reservation.

Our escorts know these rooms, and most are happy to meet you in one before dinner. If that is the plan, see dinner dates and overnights and allow two hours rather than one.