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These are officially the 50 best cocktail bars in the UK

Bog-standard cold pints just don’t hit the same around Christmas, right?

Ella Doyle
Written by
Ella Doyle
Guides Editor
Cocktail
Photograph: Shutterstock
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It’s Christmas, and that means one thing and one thing only. An excuse to buy a cocktail literally every time you leave your house. Bog-standard cold pints and glasses of white wine just don’t hit the same around the festive period, am I right? 

Well, the only downside to the humble cocktail is that they can be a little more hit and miss than your usual order. You never quite know whether it’ll be too sweet, too watery or too minuscule to make the £12 worth it. So we’ve got good news. The nation’s 50 best cocktail bars have just been announced – meaning you’ll no longer have to waste your time at the average ones.

The official Top 50 Cocktail Bars list is compiled by a group of cocktail experts across the UK. The final ranking will be announced in February next year, but you can check the full list out right now. 

There are also four specialist categories, which each have a winner. Bar Ikigai in Birmingham won ‘newcomer of the year’, Three Little Words in Manchester won ‘bar team of the year’, Déjà Vu in London won ‘one to watch’, and Little Mercies, also in London, won ‘sustainable bar of the year’. 

Read on to see if your local made the full list…

  1. Lab 22, Cardiff
  2. Swift Soho, London
  3. The Connaught Bar, London
  4. Tayēr + Elementary, London
  5. Satan’s Whiskers, London
  6. Bramble Bar & Lounge, Edinburgh
  7. Three Sheets, London
  8. Oriole, London
  9. Panda and Sons, Edinburgh
  10. Speak in Code, Manchester
  11. 🔶🟥🔵, London
  12. Disrepute, London
  13. Nightjar, London
  14. Homeboy Bar, London
  15. American Bar, London
  16. SCHOFIELD’S BAR, Manchester
  17. Opium Cocktails & Dim Sum Parlour, London
  18. Coupette, London
  19. Artesian, London
  20. Scarfes Bar, London
  21. Trailer Happiness, London
  22. Lucky Liquor co., Edinburgh
  23. Happiness Forgets, London
  24. Jake’s Bar & Still Room, Leeds
  25. Little Mercies, London
  26. The Absent Ear, Glasgow
  27. The Milk Thistle, Bristol
  28. Berry & Rye, Liverpool
  29. Laki Kane, London
  30. Filthy XIII, Bristol
  31. Lyaness, London
  32. Roland’s Leeds, Leeds
  33. Gungho!, Brighton
  34. Hacha, London
  35. The Hideout, Bath
  36. Pennyroyal, Cardiff
  37. Couch, Birmingham
  38. Bar Termini, London
  39. Below Stairs, Leeds
  40. Hey Palu, Edinburgh
  41. Public, Sheffield
  42. Hedonist, Leeds
  43. Present Company, Liverpool
  44. The Pineapple Club, Birmingham
  45. Publiq, London
  46. Ojo Rojo, Bournemouth
  47. L’ Atelier du Vin, Brighton
  48. Callooh Callay, London
  49. Mother Mercy, Newcastle upon Tyne
  50. The Cocktail Trading Co, London

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