The best gin bars in London

This wicked little distillery in an east London carpark by the canal (yep, very hip) serves up stunning gin cocktails that feature the drink as created on site, as well as a whole host of other juniper drinks. Sip on them up at the bar while looking onto the two large copper stills working away in the back room.

Incredibly popular (booking strongly advised), this northern Soho bar sells nearly 200 gins. Drink it in G&Ts (poured in double measures and served in whacking great goblets), in classic cocktails, in ‘ginfusions’, or tasting menus comprising four or eight gins, served on trays. Gin-geeks will absolutely adore this place, but the lively atmosphere is that of a party-time bar, not a laboratory.

This classy basement bar in Bermondsey is leading the pack when it comes to gin dedication. Although the total of bottles doesn’t quite reach 214, there are over 100 bottles of mother’s ruin in stock at this on-trend bar, which the truly gin-curious can sample in flights of three.

Another trendy upstart with a micro-distillery on site, Martello Hall brings mother’s ruin to the Hackney masses, rustled up in a cute copper still named Nicola. Five banging takes on the gin and tonic sit side-by-side on the menu with gin cocktails, including a Martello Bramble and a Lavender Bird made from Little Bird gin, rhubarb soda and lavender bitters.

This bar is named after a type of martini. Not any old martini – one served with a pickled onion instead of the typical olive or twist. As such, expect a fair few gin-based concoctions that pack a punch and add a splash of inventiveness. Make ours an Electric Earl, with Tanqueray No. Ten and ‘electric bitters’ that make your tongue tingle.

Order a classic martini at this bar within plush City playground The Ned and a trolley will be rolled to your table. The cost of a cocktail is steep: £16 is as low as they go. But they’re undeniably perfect martinis, where you can choose your gin (and your vermouth) before letting the good times roll like that trolley.

City of London Distillery (COLD) joined the gang of new age gin artisans when it set up shop in 2012. Head along to the bar and you can look on at copper stills while enjoying City of London Dry Gin among plenty of other international brands.

This restaurant's handsome gin bar takes a completist approach to all things juniper-flavoured. It offers over 500 types of gin to explore, and they also have 30 different types of tonic too. That's probably too many G&T combinations for just one sitting, sadly.

Mr Fogg's West End booze house has a plush little gin parlour nestled up above with access from a door at the rear. Up here you can work your way through 200 different types of gin and have your juniper drink paired with a whole host of tonics and botanicals. You'll be treated like royalty too. And you deserve it, you old lush.

Forget gin menus, The Four Thieves has a 'gincyclopedia' that offers a history of the tipple, plus a daunting array of different gins and flavoured tonics. This Battersea pub has its own micro-distillery, plus arcade games and live comedy for plenty of gin-fuelled fun. 

Although Coburg Bar doesn’t quite focus on the spirit as such, it stocks a gullet-warming range of London dry gins from the likes of Tanqueray and Plymouth, as well as from craft distillers Sacred, Sipsmith and Fifty Pounds. Try it in one of the bar’s exquisitely executed classic cocktails, like the martinez.