Bars & Pubs

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 mls

Terroirs

Artisan-made food and ‘natural’ wines

Strand: 5 William IV St, WC2N 4DW

Distance: 0.1 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: 0.1 mls

Bedford & Strand

With its glass-topped wood dividers, B&S looks more like a Yates’s wine lodge than a hip bar, but it’s one of the few non-touristy places in this part of town and...

Covent Garden: 1A Bedford Street, WC2E 9HH

Distance: 0.1 mls

Retro Bar

Hidden down a quaint alley, and seemingly frozen in 1984, the Retro Bar is one of London's most eccentric gay bars. A framed black and white photograph of Boy George,...

Trafalgar Square: 2 George Court, WC2N 6HH

Distance: 0.1 mls

Lamb & Flag

A pub for over 300 years and a fixture on Rose Street for longer, the unabashedly traditional Lamb & Flag is always a squeeze, but no one seems to mind. Character...

Covent Garden: 33 Rose Street, WC2E 9EB

Distance: 0.1 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: 0.1 mls

Porterhouse

Irish by nationality but remarkably global by nature, this gleaming, multi-spaced hostelry has a gregarious, no-nonsense vibe. Underpinning it all are draught stouts...

Covent Garden: 21-22 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NA

Distance: 0.2 mls

Champagne Charlies (branch of Davy's)

Strand: 17 The Arches, off Villiers Street, WC2N 6NG

Distance: 0.2 mls

Island

Fancy splashing your cash? Gorgeous to a fault - all bare brick walls, slick 1970s wallpaper and cream sofas - with a mezzanine to pose on, this new West End...

Strand: Hungerford Lane, WC2N 6NG

Distance: 0.2 mls

Maple Leaf

'This public house is dedicated to the friendship between Britons and Canadians', says the sign. Inside, a recent refurb has kept the log-cabin atmosphere which, with...

Covent Garden: 41 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7LJ

Distance: 0.2 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: 0.2 mls

Gordon's

One of London’s oldest bars, Gordon’s is adorned with sweaty, stained alcoves and cobwebs. Surprisingly this appeals to a young, trendy crowd, but you’re still...

Strand: 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE

Distance: 0.2 mls

Crusting Pipe (branch of Davy's)

Covent Garden: 27 The Market, WC2E 8RD

Distance: 0.2 mls

Segar & Snuff Parlour (branch of Davy's)

Covent Garden: 27A The Market, WC2E 8RD

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

Rockwell

Sleek whisky bar

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

Distance: 0.2 mls

Brumus Bar

As you'd expect of the main bar at London's most talked-about new hotel, Brumus is a handsome chap. More surprising, it isn't a bit snobbish - in fact, on a Saturday...

Piccadilly: Haymarket Hotel, 1 Suffolk Place, SW1Y 4BP

Distance: 0.2 mls

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: 0.2 mls

Langley

This cavernous, bare-brick basement bar caters to an up-for-it crowd eager for fun and eye contact. Nine-to-fivers mingle around the main Geneva Bar before breaking...

Covent Garden: 5 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA

Distance: 0.2 mls

Box

At first glance, this gay café-bar seems a pretty standard joint (leather banquettes, big windows, mirrors); however, its Covent Garden location makes a fine break...

Covent Garden: 32-34 Monmouth Street, WC2H 9HA

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

Lobby Bar

The signature bar of the upmarket urban hotel One Aldwych is known for the range and quality of its cocktails and for a sculpture of a bemused rower. From one of the...

Strand: One Aldwych, WC2

Distance: 0.3 mls

Café des Amis

As French as its name and namesake restaurant upstairs, the cosy C des A is more basement bar than café, but stylish for all that. A buzzy bunch of shoppers and...

Covent Garden: 11-14 Hanover Place, WC2E 9JP

Distance: 0.3 mls

Café des Amis

Some still miss the former incarnation of this Covent Garden bar, with wires and exposed heating pipes aplenty. Now it’s more like a hotel venue, with red alcove...

Covent Garden: 11-14 Hanover Place, WC2E 9JP

Distance: 0.3 mls

Detroit

Subterranean Detroit's cave-like alcoves combine a sense of below-radar cool with the uneasy feeling you've stumbled on a Flintstones theme park; it's not for...

Covent Garden: 35 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LD

Distance: 0.3 mls

Spice of Life

The landmark Spice, towering beside a mess of building work that will eventually transform Cambridge Circus, has laudably reconnected with its past to provide a...

Soho: 37-39 Romilly Street, W1D 5AN

Distance: 0.3 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: 0.3 mls

Coach & Horses

So steeped in its own legend that it has the word 'Norman's' above its own pub sign, the Coach is nonetheless moving away from the era of the famously rude landlord...

Soho: 29 Greek Street, W1D 5DH

Distance: 0.3 mls