Dan Stubbs

Want a drink? You've come to the right place. This is Time Out’s list of best bars in London, our curated guide to London’s drinking scene, featuring the buzziest bars in the capital right now. These are the 50 places we'd recommend to a friend, because we love drinking in them and have done many, many times over. From classy cocktail counters to delightful dives, sleek hotel bars, rooftop bars, liquor lounges and places to quaff wine, London's got them all. But what makes a truly good bar? Our critieria for inclusion on this list is simple; a menu of genius drinks is important, but so is overall vibe – there’s no point having the perfect paloma if you have to drink it in a bar that smells of bin juice. To make our Top 50, a bar has to be fun, friendly, and inclusive, as well as looking (and tasting) the part.  The best bars in London at a glance: 🍸 Best hotel bar: Scarfes Bar, Holborn 🍷 Best wine bar: Godet, Islington 🍻 Best dive bar: Blondies, Clapton 🎶 Best listening bar: Jumbi, Peckham July 2025: Congrats to the newly-opened bars that have made the immediate jump into our hallowed Top 50, such as Ellie's – a lowkey Dalston cocktail bar recently anointed by Charli XCX, who chose it for the site of her wedding afterparty, House Party, a rowdy Soho bar co-founded by Stormzy, and wine pub Godet. They sit alongside some proper London classics which have returned to this list due to their outstanding excellence and unerring commitment to getting us tipsy in style, like th

There are two types of hostelries that open under the name of a long-forgotten business uncovered as-was on a beautiful, beaten-up shop sign during renovations. One crafts a vision based on the found history. The other thinks: ‘yeah, that'll do’. Endeavour is the latter.  Brilliant and weird Inside, it's a Manhattan/Barcelona-style bar - dark, long and unfussy, like two shipping containers arranged end to end. It has high tables at the back and window seats should you wish to gaze on four lanes of Deptford Broadway traffic. Better people watching is found inside. Is that The Cramps over there? Was that Neil Young wearing a wizard’s hat?  Simplicity is everything here. The bar is limited and unfussy - Staropramen at five quid a pint is the thing. There are three individual toilets, each plastered wall and ceiling with graffiti, and no toilet seats to be found. Downstairs from the main bar is a basement performance space, painted scarlet red and smelling mustier than a forgotten gym bag. I found a band playing grebo rock at tinnitus-inducing levels to half a dozen people on a weeknight. The same space is used for weekly comedy night Laugh Bath, which showcases up-and-coming comedians as well as new work by established comics. Other events include a psych night called Can You Dig It, which feels appropriate. Perhaps that name Endeavour isn't accidental after all, because this is a place that just keeps doing its thing - and its thing is brilliant and weird.  Order this A beer.

Every week, Deptford has a beloved (if chaotic) market in which the pavements are strewn with all manner of used goods, clothes, tat, records and - oddly - more wellies than you’ve ever seen, stacked like a rubber mountain. The diviest of dive bars At first glance, Big John’s Biltong Bar, on the High Street, looks like the place where the leftovers are swept. The diviest of dive bars, it appears to have collapsed into place or, perhaps, been excavated. The name of the bar is drawn onto the glass with a paint pen, the letters half-heartedly coloured in red.  But heart is what this place has in spades, whether it’s being among customers loudly singing along to a song you don’t recognise, the feeling of immediately being welcome or chatting to New Zealand native Big John himself, who might tell you about playing an Orc in the Lord Of The Rings movies if you’re lucky. The Kiwi’s concept for the bar - beer, cured meat, tat - can’t really be knocked, even if it is culturally confusing. As it was described to me - New Zealand man, Australian meat, South African biltong. Simple? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely. The meat, served simply on paper trays at the bar, is the work of a real artisan.  Big John’s Biltong Bar is arguably the place that kickstarted the arty, grungy, independent revolution happening in Deptford right now. And in the long term, you can bet on it being the most resistant to change. Let’s hope so. Order this  All of the meats, cured and cooked. Speak to the gaffer abo