The best quirky bars and pubs in London

If you’ve spent any time in Shoreditch, you’ll be well acquainted with the two graffitied tube carriages that sit on top of Village Underground. They used to be the offices for the gig venue team, but are now a bar with great pizza. Inside, the locomotives are minimally decorated with mid-century style seating. You can even step inside the driver’s cab and go to town on the buttons and levers. On the spacious lower level there are bigger tables, the bar and a kitchen courtesy of Time Out-favourite Bad Boy Pizza Society. 

House Party, co-founded by rapper Stormzy, is a unique bar concept modelled around an old-school house party. Set across a seven-floor Soho townhouse, you’ll find a teenager’s bedroom, the parents’ room, where you can roll around in a double bed and queue karaoke songs; a kitchen (known to host secret gigs); a rooftop (for beer pong); a living room with game consoles and a DJ-soundtracked basement that fills up like a club. The attention to detail is wild. It’s recommended you register for a party ‘invitation’ online for priority access, rather than risking not being let in on the night. 

Since 2020 this Highgate boozer has been making waves as north London's only country music-themed US style honky tonk and dive bar. They're doing a pretty good job of it too, with walls covered in 1970s and 1980s music memorabillia, PBR on draught and a very American beer and bourbon shot deal, as well as a range of over one hundred different bourbons, whiskeys and ryes. There's live music too, as well as regular country karaoke. Come here and live out your Waylon Jennings or Dolly Parton dreams. It's damn sight cheaper than a flight to Nashville. 

The diviest of dive bars, this place has loads of heart; come and drink among customers loudly singing along to a song you don’t recognise and chat to New Zealand native Big John himself, who might tell you about playing an Orc in the Lord Of The Rings movies if you’re lucky. The Kiwi’s concept for the bar - beer, cured meat, tat - can’t really be knocked, even if it is culturally confusing. As it was described to me - New Zealand man, Australian meat, South African biltong. Simple? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely. The meat, served simply on paper trays at the bar, is the work of a real artisan. 

This disused air-raid shelter has been reinvented as a post-war tube station complete with vintage bric-a-brac, staff enthusiastically in character, and inventive cocktails that nod to rationing. War – what is it good for? Inspiring sunnily nostalgic themed bars, it seems. Don’t miss the envelope at the back of the menu marked ‘Do Not Open’ – it’s full of black market specials served surreptitiously.

Step straight into the ’70s. Bobby Fitzpatrick is a retro-themed bar in West Hampstead that takes nostalgia to new levels. Stucco ceilings and kitsch furniture provide a look that would have Austin Powers blushing: this bar is the very definition of a shag pad. Have drinks that transport you far away from any dreariness. Off the booze? Ask nicely and the staff will whip you up a fruity mocktail.

A beautiful 1930s green and yellow Dutch barge moored between Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges, with incredible views of the Thames. Get off boring old dry land and see if this bar floats your boat instead.

Mayfair isn’t as stuffy as you think it is. Honest!! Take, for example, Wine Bar. Yes, a silly name. A somewhat impossible-to-Google name. But, an extremely apt one. Head down the stairs of the countryside store-worthy Farm Shop and you will find this hidden haven that feels a bit like a kitchen in the Cotswolds; all white-washed brick walls, and a rustic, rural energy that seems ideal for eating large hunks of cheese and washing them down with big, bold glasses of red, or juicy whites with a hint of skin-contact. 

Cocktails in teapots might be old hat, but there’s still a lot to love about a night out at Deptford’s Little Nan’s Bar. There’s leopard-print on sofas and doilies on hard surfaces, plus more royal family memorabilia than you can shake a sceptre at. Add to that some ’90s pop anthems, sparklers in your cheesy chips and Pat Butcher references aplenty. And temperance has never looked so silly, with alcohol-free cocktails including a Baroness Dimmock and a drink honouring TV’s original huns ‘Loose Women’.

The Booking Office remains Kings Cross’ undisputed cocktail champion. For one thing, it’s a great place to sit, whether you’re in the lovely former ticket booking hall, with its dark wood and soaring gothic arches, or outside overlooking the train tracks. There can be slightly longer waits outside, so don’t go if you’re in a rush. Frequented by a lot of business people – and, naturally, by travellers – it’s not a place you go for a cool hangout vibe. But you make your own atmos at the comfortable, low-slung tables.

Part pub, part theatrical production, this Waterloo-based boozer is owned by the brains behind The Vaults – and you can tell. The place is littered with humungous props that whisper of onstage antics. There’s Espresso Martini on tap, draft Negronis (from a tap shaped like a miniature barrel) and boozy lychee or Pimm’s slushies. Anyone who can’t decide what cocktail to have will find themselves offered a spin on a ‘Wheel of Fortune’-esque pointer. 

If you’re after a romantic tipple, tiny French bar Tabac is right up your rue. The charming Kentish Town spot will make you feel you’ve been transported to mid-century Paris, with memorabilia, sliding ladders in front of bookshelves and lots and lots of candlelight. Lock eyes with a loved one (or a stranger, no judgment here) over a Lemon Garden, a smooth gin martini with bitters and a sprig of lemon thyme.

Scooter Caffè brews its coffees in a strikingly retro 1957 Faema espresso machine. And though owner Craig O’Dwyer is a Kiwi, the air of Scootercaffè is old-school Italian. The space is open late serving beer, wine and spirits, and some snacks are available.

Remember when a trip to the arcades was the best thing you could do with your Friday night? At this London arcade bar, it still can be. Lose yourself to the retro delights of Street Fighter, Ms Pac-Man, Asteroids et al. Unlike the gaming, 4Q’s menu is far from a throwback and features plenty of London craft beers. 

This tiny basement bar – a former public loo – squeezes a lot of fun within its walls, including nightly cabaret, burlesque and drag acts. It’s camp, it’s quirky, and you'll love it. 

This is one ‘cool’ (hint hint) speakeasy hidden behind the innocuous-looking Smeg fridge in the Spitalfields branch of all-day diner The Breakfast Club. Once inside, you’re transported to a trapper’s log cabin and plied with quality cocktails pepped up with artisan shrubs and bitters.