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If you want to experience true sophistication, then may we suggest drinking in a hotel bar?
Fancier than a London pub and classier than a cocktail bar, drinking in a hotel bar is much more than simply sipping a martini in a foyer. The city’s best hotel bars are glamorous hideaways that offer elite drinking experiences.
A new list by Forbes has ranked the very best hotel bars in the world with its inaugural Forbes Travel Guide Star Bars for 2025. Featuring 58 bars across the globe, the list ‘honour[s] the world's most exceptional hotel bar experiences’. It contains seven London-based hotel bars, which undercover inspectors visited multiple times, and includes Time Out’s favourite hotel bar in London: Scarfes Bar in Holborn.
If you’re wondering how the bars were judged, then Forbes explains their methodology thus: ‘Top bars achieved the highest scores for their beverage programme and presentation, as well as providing seamless service and an exceptional guest experience.’
With seven bars on the list, London had the most of any city, followed by Paris with five and Dubai with four.
The best hotel bars in the world, in London
The full list of London hotel bars to feature in the Forbes Travel Guide Star Bars for 2025.
- Artesian Bar at The Langham
- The Goring Cocktail Bar at The Goring
- The Guards Bar and Lounge at Raffles London at The OWO
- The LaLee at The Cadogan
- Mandarin Bar at Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park
- The Pine Bar at The Biltmore Mayfair
- Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London
The best hotel bars in London, according to Time Out.
Plus: the posh neighbourhood that is officially the happiest place to live in London in 2026.
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