Bars & Pubs

Don't be misled by the name: gay bar the Edge is anything but edgy. The buzzing ground-floor café is a muted mix of beige and grey with an overstuffed vase of flowers adorning a copper bar. Fashionably clad hipsters sip one of ten wines by the glass (South African chenin blanc, say, or Chilean sauvignon merlot, £3.40), swill cocktails (margarita, cuba libra, cosmopolitans and lime daiquiris, £6.50) or nibble on crab cakes with garlic aïoli. The next two floors, designed by Saatchi & Saatchi, are chic and loungey - all funky sofas and arty lighting - but, annoyingly, these rooms are often reserved for private parties, as is the clubby top-floor bar with its great views over Soho Square.

Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008/9