London bar reviews

Don’t be fooled by the Holy Tavern’s 18th century affectations. This side street boozer might look the part, what with its scuffed wooden floor, peeling paint and tatty Delftware-style tiles, but it’s actually only been a pub since 1996. But none of that stops it from being utterly charming. First known as the Jerusalem Tavern, it’s been the Holy Tavern since 2022 and the building does actually date back to 1720, so it’s far from ersatz, feeling like a historic coffee house from the era.  Outside might look a little gothic, but inside is cosy as anything, complete with a roaming cat and assorted nooks and crannies. During the summer you’ll find local office workers supping pints by al fresco beer barrels, but as soon as the clocks go back the pub truly comes into its own; lit by candles and with the strange feeling that William Hogarth might tumble through the doors at any moment. Beer comes from St Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk, adding to the olde worlde feel. Time Out tip Some of the best restaurants in London can be found in Clerkenwell. Why not follow your pint up with dinner at St John, Bouchon Racine or Quality Chop House.

A recent post by a Pub-Tok influencer described The Dacre Arms as ‘a slice of the Cotswolds in Lewisham’, and, improbably, it's hard to disagree. Outside: a quiet street, trees, a church and a red telephone box full of books to take or replace. On the corner, the pub seems deceptively dinky and dainty. It has blooming hanging baskets and a set of tables down the side catching the late afternoon sun. Step through the door and, suddenly, you're in the 1950s, thanks to charming original features that survived even a 1970s refit. On tap, Cruzcampo is the exotic choice. You might get the bartender whose sardonic humour and childlike twinkle gives you the feeling of being served by a lost BBC sitcom character. The modern world has not changed The Dacre Arms. They do not do food. But they do do Scampi Fries. Get some. Drink secured, try and fully take in the tat-filled walls. Or see what competitive sport on the telly has the locals rapt, equally interested in daytime women’s curling as in the World Cup. Out back has the feel of your mum’s friend’s garden, all chunky furniture and declarations of when gin o’clock is.  There can’t be many of these pubs left So what’s so great about The Dacre Arms? Everything, really. It’s a pub that possesses the very spirit of the pub. It’s picture-book pretty but it’s a little rough-edged. Everyone seems to know everyone. There can’t be many of these left in London, or even Britain. So this is a neighbourhood pub of the rarest breed -...

There’s a train outside The Fox & Firkin, an actual, proper, 1950s carriage. It serves as a seldom-used private hire space but primarily it’s just the backdrop to this Lewisham pub, club and venue’s vast outdoor spacxe. Such is the scale of the place, that the train is barely noteworthy, tucked into a legendary beer garden and vast adult playground with festival-style canopies, benches and food trucks. There’s a stage, a photobooth, seating arrangements in what look like mausoleums, pool tables and a bar with lit-up signage reading BACKSTAGE. A soon-to-open new area, carved from the square footage of a closed-down ‘antiques’ shop, will add a cafe, taproom and street food hub.  The Fox’s free-spirited feel is embedded in its history. The second in the Firkin group, the slightly anarchic, student-friendly pub chain and brewery launched in 1979, the Fox & Firkin broke off as a rogue entity somewhere down the road. When the chain collapsed, the Fox survived - but only just. Much of the ethos remains - there’s a restored brewery in a warehouse beyond the garden, on the site where the beer for the whole Firkin chain was once brewed. The Fox’s free-spirited feel is embedded in its history The Fox & Firkin has surpassed its fallen brethren. Its musical programme - which takes place indoor, outdoor, late or all-day - is outstanding, a global offering of dub, rave, jazz, d’n’b, soul and highlife. Recent performers include Fabio & Grooverider, Mutya Buena and The Sugarhill Gang. ...

If you’ve spent any time in Shoreditch, you’ll be well acquainted with the two graffitied tube carriages that sit on the roof of gig venue Village Underground. Once emblematic of the ‘ditch’s heyday, in all its graffitied and hipster glory, these carriages always looked cool, but were elusive to Londoners. How did they get there? What were they used for? Well, they were the offices for the Village Underground team until they decided to turn them into a cocktail bar.  This skyward spot makes good use of its quirky location without turning it into a gimmick. Inside, the locomotives are minimally decorated with mid-century style seating. Laid out like the Bakerloo line, seating is either a long banquette or a booth with a tiny table. You can even step inside the driver’s cab and go to town on the buttons and levers. On the spacious lower level there are bigger tables, the bar and a kitchen courtesy of Time Out-favourite Bad Boy Pizza Society.  All of this makes for a winning evening in the iconic east London tube carriages. My only complaint: if you are sitting in the trains you have to order drinks at the bar below and carry them up the stairs yourself – no easy feat a few bevvys in.  Order this Cocktails are the thing to get – they aren’t pretentious or overly complicated, and with most coming in at £12 it's not bad value. The Trade Winds is a delightful short concoction of pineapple-infused rum, mezcal and lemon – it’s delicately smoky, with a subtle pineapple zing. The...

For a long time the Shaston Arms was a leftfield Soho pub choice. Not one of the big hitters, (Coach & Horses, French House, Blue Posts etc), but certainly not one of the abject shitholes (of which we’ll refrain from naming to protect their modesty). A decent choice nonetheless, the Shaston wasn’t as historic as the rest. It’d actually been a regular shopfront until Dorset brewery Hall & Woodhouse took it over in 1999, named it after a Thomas Hardy town and turned it into an ersatz Victorian boozer.  Lamb chops couldn’t be cooked better  In 2025, the space was picked up by the same team behind Barnes’ bucolic Waterman Arms gastropub, of which we have previously sung the praises. They gussied up the tatty wooden booths, gave it a moody red ceiling and one of those vintage-styled fairground signs that looks like it was hand-painted by a biker who doesn't actually own a bike. Situated in the pedestrianised Carnaby quarter, it quickly became home to Soho’s biggest vertical drinking squad.   But as well as jubilant street boozing, a very small space has been carved out for dinner. It’s a bit of a squeeze, what with the dining area made up of five tables sunk into a mahogany-lined moat against the back wall of the pub. But somehow it works, with plush velvet curtains tied open and separating it from the main bar, making diners feel like they’re watching a 19th century music hall performance. Champagne Charlie has, however, been replaced by IPA Ian.   It’s quite a mad little...

It would be easy to write Dive off as another basement bar, with modern twists on classic cocktails and vinyl records. London certainly has a few. But the real draw is’t the moody interiors or even the drinks, it’s the atmosphere. Dive has the confidence of a members’ club,without any of the eye-rolling exclusivity. It’s the perfect place for an after-dinner cocktail, when you’ll inevitably stay for three. The room is dark, intimate, and straight out of a 1970s nightclub movie scene. Low lighting, shimmering surfaces, plush vintage furnishings which soften the industrial shell, and a curated soundtrack spanning from Prince to Jack J, with soulful grooves and funk so good you’re destined for a boogie. As the evening progresses, the energy shifts from relaxed drinks to a lively late-night crowd, creating the feeling of an after-hours house party. Drinks are inventive without being frivolous, balancing familiar flavours with unexpected twists that reward curiosity. From an intriguing ‘Brioche Martini’ with brown butter and spice to Le Peach, which refreshes the classic Manhattan with fruity wine and bourbon, the bartenders are happy to guide you through the menu. However, as a vodka martini fiend, I wasn’t delighted to see that the holy grail of cocktails was pre-mixed. What makes Dive memorable, though, is its consideration. Every detail, from the soundtrack to the sofas, works together to create a bar that feels genuinely sexy rather than self-consciously cool. Order this...

If Salvador Dalí were to design an upscale east London cocktail bar, it might look something like Flipdog. Taking its name from a little-known 17th-century cocktail-making technique involving a red-hot poker – more on that later – this eye-catching venue in Old Street’s Imperial Hall is like a Surrealist painting come to life. Textured metallic walls in the upstairs ‘Drinkery’ make it feel like you’ve been beamed onto an especially stylish spaceship, while Dalí-esque faces and eyeballs adorn the upholstered booths in a low-lit subterranean bar that features chrome surfaces, wooden panelling and liberal use of burnt orange and electric blue. Eclectic, eccentric, yet somehow it really works.  And you might say the same about Flipdog’s drinks. Intended to evoke moments that will be familiar to anyone living in a bustling metropolis like London, the signature cocktail list features concoctions with names like ‘Sunday Roast’ and ‘Morning on the Platform’. There’s real creativity and panache to presentation at Flipdog; the ‘Half Pint’, a sweet, tart, carbonated concoction featuring Johnnie Walker, Nixta corn liqueur, sherry and citra hops, looks every bit like a fancy craft beer, arriving on a beer mat with a head of oat-corn foam, while the warm, dark rum-based ‘Night Cab’ is garnished with an impressively realistic edible leather tag.  And as for that red-hot poker? It’s used to make ‘Morning on the Platform’, a rich, nutty concoction of toasted sesame bourbon, peated Scotch,...

Bonne Route is a natural wine bar, but before you think that London already has enough of those, note that there’s something particularly alluring about a spot which feels like you’re in someone’s (exceptionally well-furnished) living room. Bonne Route sits in a tiny but cool pocket of Quernmore Road (just past the pedestrian walkway at Harringay train station) and hits all the marks of a good wine bar – solid snacks and a well-chosen selection of white, red, rose, and orange wines – with an atmosphere that’s more cosy than snooty. It’s a cute spot if you nab one of the too-few outdoor tables, but Bonne Route is at its best inside and after dark, when it’s candle-lit and blowing a gale outside. Order this I’ve never been let down by whatever French orange wine is on the menu, but you can also order from the small menu of cocktails. The margarita is always good. Oh, and try the pickled olives. Time Out tip  It’s a cute spot if you nab one of the too-few outdoor tables, but Bonne Route is at its best inside and after dark, when it’s candle-lit and blowing a gale outside.

We’re already huge fans of Hausu, the sassy restaurant inside the former waiting room of Peckham Rye station, with its Victorian tiled loos, complete with original wartime posters about venereal disease. Frankly, the lavs are worth the visit on their own. But now there’s yet another reason to check this place out. Venture up the enticing, mahogany-clad staircase and you’ll also find a beguiling cocktail bar, with inventive drinks, moreish bar snacks and giant vaulted windows from which to gaze upon the building of Peckham’s new public square. Inside it’s a simple but potent set-up; original brick walls are offset by flutteringly sexy red curtains, vintage 1970s classroom chairs, beige walls lined with vinyl and some largely unobtrusive decks in a corner. Yes, it’s another ‘listening bar’, but in this case, it just means you’ll likely hear some very good music (anything from Studio One reggae to winsome folk), which is what all bars should be aiming for, really. Salted daterini tomato martini is a light and elegantly savoury take on the most hyped cocktail around, while the fennel negroni is sweeter than you’d think, offering an ouzo-adjacent burst of aniseed and a pineapple sidecar hums with cognac and a fruity shrub.  Order this  The fennel negroni is barely a negroni at all (which is why I like it). Don’t forget the bar snacks, as these cocktails are potent. Oysters, topped with house hot sauce and lime leaf, are almost a meal in themselves, and on a warm day, sunsweet...

Chiave is a cosy bar that comes with a certain amount of conceptualising, not least the fact that the cocktails on bartender Bilal Tekec’s menu are nominally paired to individual songs (which you can access by QR code). It’s quite fun – I was thrilled when I got the fact that the name of the boldly savory, olive oil centric martini the Spybreak was a reference to a modest successful 1997 single from big beat combo the Propellerheads. Still, the concept never really gets in the way of what is really a fairly simple experience: Tekec’s drinks are on the whole tasteful remixes of tried and tested cocktails. The bar snacks selection is petite but perfectly formed and refuses to get into small plates territory (the fanciest thing on it is the very delicious £10 plate of cream cheese and mushroom truffle sauce crackers). There is, naturally, a nice soundsystem. The staff are extremely friendly. What makes it magical on a hot day is grabbing a seat by the fully open front and just watching backstreet Shoreditch drift by like an unusually trendy Mediterranean country. Chiave is in no way flamboyant, but the vibes are immaculate. Order this Flamenco Sketches – named after a Miles Davis number – is a sensational pomegranate and raspberry-based vodka cocktail-slash-fruit explosion that also comes in a non-alcoholic variety. Time Out tip If the weather’s nice, do anything in your power to get a window seat .