Oh apothecaries of liqueur, sh-shake, shake, shake it like a Polaroid picture. No less than 146 esteemed GLPers nominated their favourite cocktail bars in our latest poll. Here are the long-awaited results. If yours didn’t make the cut, we expect to hear from you. But without further ado, raise a cosmo to the best mixologists of magic in town…
Central:
London Cocktail Club, 6-7 Great Newport Street, Leicester Square, WC2H 7JB
This speak-easy is titchy but, luckily, good things come in small packages. Looks like the sort of haunt Sherlock Holmes and Watson would have frequented. The cocktails are far from elementary, however. Tip: get there early to secure a seat.
Thanks for the tip off: Amanda Warren and Chris Harden.
Freud, 198 Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus, WC2H 8JL
Enough GLPers nominated this subterranean den to set up a small cult. Well, the people have spoken. Freud is of the same charming ilk as Bourne and Hollingsworth (another certified GLP). The cocktails are, needless to say, otherworldly. So we wish you many Freudian sips here. Isabella recommends the Aztec chocolate and chilli.
Thanks for the tip off: Isabella Charlesworth, Juliane Linn, Sam Ghilks, Laura Ritchie, Abi Roper, Caroline Mills, Katy Baron, Robert Fagan, Jim Philpott, James Lawrence, Penelope McCullough, Katy Jedward Tucker and Abel Dos Santos.
Purl, 50/54 Blandford Street, Marylebone, W1U 7HX
A relatively, new addition to the cocktail glitterati. Its place is well deserved on this list, however, and will delight many a cocktail aficionado. The ingredients: stunning décor, funky lounge music, cocktails from an alchemist’s dream and a dash of gin.
Thanks for the tip off: Ashish Gupta, Cat McGovern, Pooja Vir and Alicia Tew.
Academy (formerly known as the bar formerly known as LAB), 12 Old Compton Street, Soho, W1D 4TQ
Formerly known as the London Academy of Bartenders, it comes as no surprise that there is a lot to learn here. With a cocktail menu as long as James Joyce’s Ulysses, it will feel like you’re drinking through an encyclopedia of potions. Some of the best mixologists are residents of this retro-chic bar.
Thanks for the tip off: Grace Midgley, Titus Powell, Tom Swain, Andrea Short, Amy Lawrence, Simon Barrs and Jean Kelly.
West:
Montgomery Place, 31 Kensington Park Road, Ladbroke Grove, W11 2EU
A true cosmopolitan. Very New York, New York. Plus it’s dark, cozy and sexy. Everything you want in a cocktail bar.
Thanks for the tip off: Judit Mora
East:
The Bathhouse, 7-8 Bishopsgate Churchyard, Liverpool Street, EC2M 3TJ
The Bathhouse started life, as the name suggests, as a Victorian Turkish Bathhouse. Last year it was restored to its former lavish, debauched and lively glory. Amen to that. This City gem does a mean cocktail and cabaret concoction.
Thanks for the tip off: Paul Wyborn, Daniel Walters and Lizzie Holdforth
Saf Restaurant & Bar, 152-154 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, EC2A 3AT
A vegan restaurant that grows its own ingredients on site. But you can go here just for exquisite cocktails too.
Thanks for the tip off: Clare Ambrose and Davide Baroncelli.
North:
69 Colebrooke Row, Islington, N1 8AA
This place is worthy of the hype. Innovation is their middle name. Great date material.
Thanks for the tip off: Hesther Levy, Kate Maindonald, Jessica Townsend, Samantha Lawson, Evan DeBarra and Megan Barrow.
Fifty Five Bar, 31 Jamestown Road, Camden, NW1 7DB
Resident heartbreaker of Camden. Loved by all.
Thanks for the tip off: Sarah Knott, Saeid Dendé Axe Ahmadi, Isabella Charlesworth, Nic Macdonald, Elizabeth Hollins, Lewis Holmes and Rachel Webb.
South:
Bar Story, 213 Blenheim Grove, Peckham Rye, SE15 4QL
It took a bit of a search, but thanks to the Facebook gang for pointing us in the right direction. Our cocktail bar of choice in South is Bar Story, in Peckham Rye. As described by Fiona Meldrum, “Tucked under the railway arches, fires in old barrel drums outside, some killer signature cocktails…what a great little place it is.”
Thanks for the tip off: Fiona Meldrum, Stevie Kidd,
Until the next time folks. Team GLP
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I can’t believe you’ve missed out Callooh Callay and put in sub standard chain cocktail establishment…
Oh well, Callooh Callay is bar far and away one of the best cocktail bars in London if not the world.
How the devil is Callooh Callay on Rivington St not on here? As much as I love B@1 it doesn’t quite have the finesse of CC.
Well said Jeremy!
How did you miss out Bistrotheque? Seems like East London is a little under represented on this list! No way I would ever go to Leicester Sq for a cocktail talk about tourist trap…
cant beat a jammy dodger cocktail at revolution. guaranteed sex too
Dear Jeremy/Glen, we love a little bit of Callooh Callay too. The catch is we’ve already bigged them up in a previous newsletter about the best weird and wonderful bars. We didn’t want to sound like a broken record or, as this case, a broken gramophone. Team GLP
Team GLP, all is forgiven for your recognition. Let’s keep CC just amongst us then. Gx
“No way I would ever go to Leicester Sq for a cocktail talk about tourist trap…”
That’s what I thought until I went there for the margarita cocktail challenge. Don’t dismiss it! It’s a fab bar with astonishingly good drinks and there wasn’t a tourist in sight – it’s tucked away in a basement like a hidden gem amidst the masses of rubbish.
How dare you accuse b@1 as a substandard chain! You’ve just demonstrated your gross naivety.
A cocktail barman’s job also involves the ability to converse and provide entertainment, an area overlooked by many and as such B@1 outclasses quite a few on that list, you don’t attend a cocktail bar to sip quietly in a corner.
Furthermore you’ve neglected another ‘cheesey haunt’; the Roadhouse where one Sunday of every month they hold the heats of the world cocktail flairing competition which suddenly turns the venue into something worth visiting!
I was wondering where callooh callay was too! But understand why you havent included them again. Just wanted to add that Freud is indeed a cool place, and does indeed serve astonishing cocktails, and is open late and free to get in and has great music and an awesome atmosphere, BUT and this is a big BUT (that’s ensured I havent been there for some time…) the toilets are DIS-GUS-TING. Worse than glastonbury portaloos. Just vile overflowing cones of human excretions stinking out the whole rear end of the bar. Please does anybody know if they’ve sorted these out? Would love to go back but can’t bear the smell. x
I don’t think you’ve done justice because the other B@1 bars are equally good. I’ve been to ALL these bars that have been mentioned above and NOTHING beats B@1 thanks to their Happy Hours, amazing bar staff and unique drinks. I personally love the new Shoreditch one.. And one must try the Junebug there!
Thanks for your support guys
it’s true that GLP have included us in a previous post, and we love them for it! They may have actualy gained us more attention by not including us!
Lots of love from CC
B@1.. I have visited both the Balham and Clapham bars… quite possibly 2 of the worst bars I have ever had the misfortune to visit. Both stinking dirty smelly boxes with over enthused screaming teenagers at the bar and babbling incompetent morons behind it.
Never to be repeated.
Might I suggest Loungelover in Whitby St? Great decor, fun cocktails, overall good night out…
B@1 is exactly the kind of bar I would have loved when I was 17 and didn’t mind filthy toilets, cheesy barstaff and drinks so laden with syrup they cause a filling on impact.
In South London, you’d be much better off heading to South Pacific in Kennington for quirky but good cocktails or The Loft in Clapham for some stunners.
You might even enjoy the clean surfaces and non toxic toilets with your drink…
Don’t get me wrong, I have always had a great night in B@1, I just think that Top 10 in the whole of London was a bit extreme considering Callooh Callay’s omission. Gx.
lounge bohemia should be on the list surely? some amazing molecular mixology, great little space, seated/table service only, and east end to boot.
GLP, fair point for omitting Callooh Callay.
B@1 advocates, please vist some proper cocktail bars. I have enjoyed many an evening in a B@1 establishment, however to call them cocktail bars is a bit of a stretch. Great music (at times), enthusiastic (doesn’t always mean great) bar staff and god awful sweet “cocktails”.
Don’t believe me? Ask for an Old Fashioned and just see what you get..!
Can not agree more with Jeremy and miss south – you can not have been to many good cocktail bars if you think B@1 is classy!?!
What about “Hat on Wall” on Hatton Wall is that still open? I love the fact you have to walk through a car park to find the place and even then its as if they’re trying to put you off.
What about Juju on Kings Road?
…and Cellar Door?!
Hat on Wall it seems, sadly, is now closed. Real shame as it sounds just our kind of place…
thanks for the kudos! love the bathhouse xx
Can anyone recommend a good place for cocktails and dinner in or near Vauxhall? Ta!
We thank you all for the contributions. We’re going to go with Bar Story in Peckham – a right little GLP. The newsletter has been duly updated.
It is interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts. Thanks to those who defended. Be At One is not for everyone and if you are ever unhappy with the quality of your drink then please send it back, it will be replaced. A point of interest is that 2 of the top 10 bars listed here are owned by former Be At One employees. Ask them what they think of us.
Really surprised that Milk & Honey isn’t on your list…
I quite like positively4thstreet…
also for the fact that it isn’t in east-hipster-london and not in tourist-london
Thanks for the shout guys!
For anyone in the middle of the CC vs B@1 debate, who just loves well made cocktails with a combo of devil may care bartenders, the please come and see us!
jjx