This Manchester cocktail bar is officially the best in Britain

We at Time Out have plenty of rankings of bars, pubs and general boozers. On the hunt for the country’s best pubs? We’ve got a guide for that. London’s finest bars? Got that, too. What we don’t have (yet, anyway), is a definitive ranking of the entire country’s best cocktail bars – which is why the annual Top 50 Cocktail Bars awards are so damn handy.

And this year’s full list of the Top 50 Cocktail Bars has just been revealed. Decided by a ‘voting academy’ that includes bartenders, drinks writers, industry figures and influencers across the UK, the 2024 list was announced at a ceremony last night (February 6).

This year’s winner was, drum roll please… Schofield’s Bar in Manchester. Knocking London bar Satan’s Whiskers off the top, this is actually the second esteemed award that Schofield’s has picked up in the past 12 months. Back in May it topped the Class Bar awards – so, safe to say Schofield’s is on a bit of a roll right now. 

Last year’s winner Satan’s Whiskers in London was pushed down to second, while Passing Fancies in Birmingham came third. There were also specialist awards: ‘best bar team’ went to Couch in Birmingham, ‘one to watch’ was won by Manchester’s Red Light and ‘sustainable bar of the year’ was awarded to Below Stairs in Leeds.

Here’s the full list of the Top 50 Cocktail Bars in the UK right now.

1. Schofield’s Bar – Manchester
2. Satan’s Whiskers –London
3. Passing Fancies – Birmingham
4. Couch – Birmingham
5. Hey Palu – Edinburgh
6. Blinker – Manchester
7. Swift Soho – London
8. Amaro Bar – London
9. Panda and Sons – Edinburgh
10. Tayēr + Elementary –London
11. Kwãnt –London
12. Speak in Code – Manchester
13. Three Sheets –London
14. 🔶🟥🔵 –London
15. Murder Inc – London
16. Tabula Rasa – Leeds
17. Lab 22 – Cardiff
18. Filthy XIII – Bristol
19. Crossroads – London
20. The Connaught Bar –London
21. Project Halcyon – Manchester
22. SOMA –London
23. Eve Bar – London
24. Side Hustle – London
25. The Hideout – Bath
26. Little Mercies – London
27. Below Stairs – Leeds
28. Silverleaf – London
29. Bar Termini – London
30. Seed Library – London
31. Charlie Brown’s – Glasgow
32. Bramble Bar & Lounge – Edinburgh
33. Scarfes Bar – London
34. Happiness Forgets – London
35. The Absent Ear – Glasgow
36. 69 Colebrooke Row – London
37. Artesian – London
38. Callooh Callay – London
39. Fox and Chance – Birmingham
40. The Milk Thistle – Bristol
41. Nauticus – Edinburgh
42. Public – Sheffield
43. The Gate – Glasgow
44. Nightjar – London
45. Ojo Rojo – Bournemouth
46. The Wildcat – Edinburgh
47. Lyaness – London
48. Pennyroyal – Cardiff
49. Bench – Sheffield
50. The American Bar – Auchterarder

You can check out the list in full on the official website here.

This ranking isn’t to be confused with the entirely-separate World’s 50 Best Bars list. You can find out more about that on Time Out here.

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