The Booking Office, St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
London’s best bars and pubs
-
By Time Out critics
Updated: Wed Jun 30 2010 -
Whether it's an opulent venue for a big night out, a bar with a band or a classic boozer for a quiet pint, Time Out's definitive guide to drinking in London has the perfect watering hole for you
Map | Hotel bars | Spirits & cocktails | Real ale & good beer | Historic pubs | Wow factor | Gastropubs | Wine bars
Hotel bars
Feature continues-
Blue Bar
The Berkeley, Wilton Place, SW1X 7RL (020 7235 6000/ www.theberkeley.co.uk).
The name isn’t just a caprice: this David Collins-designed bar really is as blue as a Billie Holiday recording. The sky-blue armchairs, the deep-blue ornate plasterwork and the navy-blue leather-bound menus combine with discreet lighting to striking effect. It’s a see-and-be-seen place, but staff treat all-comers like royalty, and the cocktails are a masterclass in sophistication. Not everyone can afford to scale the frightening heights of the bar list, worth perusing just to confirm that there is such a thing as a £4,200 bottle of Champagne or a £925 shot of whisky (Macallan 55-year-old). Leave those to celebrating Wags, and just enjoy the elegance and luxury of one of the finest hotel bars in the city. Be sure to wear your best threads, and leave the football colours at home. Read more
-
Connaught Bar and Coburg Bar
16 Carlos Place, W1K 2AL (020 7499 7070/ www.theconnaught.com).
The two bars in the five-star Connaught hotel in Mayfair – the Connaught Bar and the Coburg Bar – are two of the city’s best. The Coburg Bar is deeply traditional in all the best senses of the word – great service, lovely vibe, perfect cocktails. The Connaught Bar is the much groovier alternative. With late afternoon sunshine dappling the pastel walls, it’s a fine spot for a perfect gin and tonic, but when evening falls and the lights are dimmed it becomes something a lot more special. You won’t get much change from £30 for two drinks in either of them, but silver dishes of regularly refilled bar snacks are complimentary. Even if your budget only stretches to one drink, you’ll be treated like royalty by the perfectly mannered staff. Two years old and both are still benchmarks among London’s hotel bars. Read more
-
Dukes Hotel
35 St James’s Place, SW1A 1NY (020 7491 4840/ www.dukeshotel.co.uk).
London’s best martini can be had at this centenarian hotel, renovated top to bottom in 2007 by hotelier Campbell Gray and designer Mary Fox Linton. This transformed its discreet, highly regarded but old-fashioned bar into a swish landmark destination for connoisseurs of life’s good things. Ian Fleming was a regular and it’s believed that Dukes’ martinis, flamboyantly and expertly made at guests’ tables, played a part in shaping the legendary Bond character. Read more
-
Lobby Bar
One Aldwych, WC2B 4RH (020 7300 1070/ www.onealdwych.com).
This signature bar in the chic One Aldwych hotel is known for two things: the range and quality of their cocktails and a peculiar sculpture of a bemused rower. The drinks list has spirits of established provenance – Wyborowa and Kauffman Luxury Vintage 2003, for example, in the martini stakes. Cocktails are fresh and inventive; a Gazpacho Martini incorporates lemon-infused Tanqueray, green pepper, Midori and elderflower cordial, while fresh cantaloupe melons flavour their cantaloupe daiquiris. Bar snacks are not at all ordinary, with organic gravadlax and mini wagyu steak burgers among the offerings. Read more
AdvertisementMap | Hotel bars | Spirits & cocktails | Real ale & good beer | Historic pubs | Wow factor | Gastropubs | Wine bars
-
More ways to enjoy Time Out
-
Weekly London newsletter
The best of London in your inbox
-
Time Out Widgets
|
|
1 comment
q