Bars & Pubs

Electric Bird Cage

The distinctively theatrical hand of bar and club designer Shaun Clarkson - responsible for Covent Garden's Denim, La Pigalle and countless other opulent interiors -...

Piccadilly: 11 Haymarket, SW1Y 4BP

Distance: 0.1 mls

ICA Bar

Having paid the £2 day membership fee (and thus skirting a local law concerning alcohol sales and nearby Buckingham Palace), walk through the ICA gallery to what at...

Trafalgar Square: The Mall, SW1Y 5AH

Distance: 0.1 mls

Pigalle Club

This sleek, chic, basement supper club (part of the Vince Power stable) is all about 1940s-style glamour: low lighting, olive-green carpets, antique fittings and...

Piccadilly: 215-217 Piccadilly, W1J 9HN

Distance: 0.1 mls

5th View

There are few more indulgent pleasures than whiling away a couple of hours in a pub with a good book. But what about drinking in a bookshop? Set on the fifth floor of...

St James's: 5th floor, Waterstone's, 203-206 Piccadilly, W1J 9HA

Distance: 0.2 mls

Rockwell

Sleek whisky bar

Trafalgar Square: The Trafalgar Hilton Hotel, 2 Spring Gardens, SW1A 2TS

Distance: 0.2 mls

Albannach

Impressively located slap on Trafalgar Square, Albannach (as opposed to 'sassanach') specialises in Scotch whiskies and cocktails thereof. A map in the menu explains...

Trafalgar Square: 66 Trafalgar Square, WC2N 5DS

Distance: 0.2 mls

Glass

Part of an enterprise that includes a restaurant and a swanky club, Glass appears to lead something of a double life. When it's busy, this shiny, happy room is popular...

Piccadilly: 9 Glasshouse Street, W1B 5EL

Distance: 0.2 mls

Davy's at St James's

St James's: Crown Passage, Pall Mall, SW1Y 6QY

Distance: 0.2 mls

Golden Lion

With its site opposite Christie's, in a district full of gentlemen's clubs, you might expect the Golden Lion to have an exclusive air about it. In fact, the staff at...

St James's: 25 King Street, SW1Y 6QY

Distance: 0.2 mls

Red Lion

Hidden down a dark and narrow passageway, this traditional pub is an in-the-know location for local workers, and would doubtless excite overseas tourists looking for...

St James's: 23 Crown Passage, off Pall Mall, SW1Y 6PP

Distance: 0.2 mls

Blue Posts

One of several in central London, this particular Blue Posts in the heart of Soho's gay quarter is professionally run and amiably staffed. Guests, gay and straight,...

Leicester Square: 28 Rupert Street, W1D 6DJ

Distance: 0.2 mls

1707

Strange that this most traditional of London shops should have decided to import a flavour of the New World: its revamp has created a bar that wouldn't be out of place...

Piccadilly: Fortnum & Mason, 181 Piccadilly, W1J 9FA

Distance: 0.7 mls

Bar Rumba

Bar Rumba says it's a fave with Londoners, and we believe it. Open since 1993 but still packing them in, this West End basement venue puts on some of the most esteemed...

Piccadilly: 36 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 7ER

Distance: 0.2 mls

Balls Brothers

St James's: 20 St James's Street, SW1A 1ES

Distance: 0.3 mls

Mark's Bar

Downstairs bar in Mark Hix's Soho restaurant

Soho: 66-70 Brewer Street, W1F 9UP

Distance: 3562.8 mls

International

Surrounded by dismal chains, this chic and cosmopolitan bar-eaterie easily stands out. With abstract paintings on the walls and the salon feel of the burgundy divans,...

Leicester Square: 116 St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4BF

Distance: 0.3 mls

Yard

Summer sees the Yard's courtyard buzzing with a relaxed, thirtysomething crowd of gay men supping pints beneath the evening sky. Though drinking in the open air is the...

Soho: 57 Rupert Street, W1D 7PL

Distance: 0.3 mls

Cork & Bottle

A cosy, tucked-away place for those in-the-know, this basement bar is one of the few independent establishments left around Leicester Square. A Mumm Champagne window...

Leicester Square: 44-46 Cranbourn Street, WC2H 7AN

Distance: 0.3 mls

Dukes Hotel

This centenarian hotel was renovated top to bottom in 2007 by hotelier Campbell Gray (he of One Aldwych fame) and designer Mary Fox Linton, transforming its discreet,...

St James's: 35 St James''s Place, SW1A 1NY

Distance: 0.3 mls

Rupert Street

Soho's original S&M (stand-and-model) bar, Rupert Street attracts pretty boys and their well-groomed admirers. Calling to mind Queer as Folk, the 1990s decor is...

Soho: 50 Rupert Street, W1D 6DR

Distance: 0.3 mls

De Hems

Benelux beers are ubiquitous these days, but there was a time when few venues purveyed pilsners and lagers from the Low Countries. This ornate-fronted hostelry on the...

Leicester Square: 11 Macclesfield Street, W1D 5BW

Distance: 0.3 mls

Soho Revue Bar

The Raymond Revue Bar was a 1960s cabaret club, notorious for its striptease shows; it was, if we were to believe a towering sign at the front, 'The World Centre of...

Soho: 11 Walkers Court, W1F 0ED

Distance: 0.3 mls

Madame Jo Jo's

Virtually all those who sample this Soho stalwart love it. The sumptuous, slightly shabby red decor makes it stand out from the local crowd, and it spins several...

Soho: 8-10 Brewer Street, W1F 0SE

Distance: 0.3 mls

Salisbury

There's now a cashpoint by the door and a rainbow of WKDs in the fridge, but glimpses of modernity are still largely absent from this Victorian landmark. All cut-glass...

Leicester Square: 90 St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4AP

Distance: 0.3 mls

Mahiki

Regular and much-publicised patronage by junior members of the Royal Family means you'll have to queue to get in here, even midweek; though when you're in this Mayfair...

Mayfair: 1 Dover Street, W1S 4LD

Distance: 0.3 mls

Rivoli at The Ritz

The Ritz's landmark bar was refurbished a few years ago, apparently tarted up to something like its 1920s glory. We've not seen photographs of how it looked in its...

St James's: Ritz Hotel, 150 Piccadilly, W1J 9BR

Distance: 0.4 mls

Freedom

At Freedom, gay liberation equals glamour. If Liberace were alive today, and had better taste, he might pop in for a glass of bubbly. Chandeliers line the bar and...

Soho: 66 Wardour Street, W1F 0TA

Distance: 0.4 mls

Ship & Shovell

Sir Cloudesley Shovell is a strange enough character to name a pub after, let alone two facing each other prow to prow at the Thames end of the Arches. Both taverns...

Trafalgar Square: 1-3 Craven Passage, WC2N 5PH

Distance: 0.4 mls

Terroirs

Artisan-made food and ‘natural’ wines

Strand: 5 William IV St, WC2N 4DW

Distance: 0.4 mls