It’s official: 4 London bars are in the 50 best in the world right now

If you’re after a tip-top tipple, London boasts more than enough excellent bars to have you covered. This city has the mixological majesty of any refined drinker’s wildest dreams; in Time Out’s list of London’s greatest bars you’ll find everything from plush, cosy hideaways and immaculately curated listening bars to high-tech experimental drinkeries.

And we aren’t the only ones who think highly of London’s bar scene. Today (October 8) World’s 50 Best Bars has crowned the planet’s top places to drink, and several of the capital’s institutions made the cut.

World’s 50 Best is an annual list that celebrates Earth’s greatest bars, and it gets its ranking via votes from a group of industry experts that includes bartenders, consultants, drinks writers and cocktail specialists. In September the ranking published the 51-100 longlist for 2025, which featured three London bars – A Bar with Shapes For a Name (at 73), Kwãnt Mayfair (79) and Three Sheets Soho (80)

In 2025’s top 50, four London bars made the cut, exactly the same number as in 2024. In fact, not only is it the same London bars in the top 50, but the drinkeries placed in the same order (albeit in different spots in the overall ranking). 

The highest-ranked London spot was Tayēr + Elementary. T+E placed fifth in the 2025 list, which is down one spot from last year but very impressive nonetheless. The Old Street spot has a history of doing well in World’s 50 Best’s lists, placing second in both 2021 and 2022.

Next-highest was Connaught Bar, which placed just behind Tayēr + Elementary in sixth overall. The Mayfair spot climbed several places from its 2024 ranking (when it came 13th) and it’s another long-regarded favourite of World’s 50 Best. The Connaught took top spot in the list in 2020 and 2021, and reportedly makes the best martinis in London.

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Next up was Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green, which came in at 21st (up from 29th last year), followed by Scarfes Bar at 31 (climbing from 37). Both received a full five stars in recent Time Out reviews. 

Top spot overall this year was awarded to Bar Leone in Hong Kong, which took the crown for the first time. Leone was only opened by Italian bartender Lorenzo Antinori in 2023, and came second in the list in 2024. It’s also the first Asian bar to bag top spot.

World’s 50 Best described how low-intervention style Bar Leone has made its mark with a ‘world-class cocktail programme and a refreshing sense of humour’, saying that it ‘pays tribute to Italy’s “cocktail popolari” and classic bartending, while nodding to the casual, community-focused spirit of Trastevere’s traditional neighbourhood bars’. You can find out more about Bar Leone with Time Out Hong Kong here.

London bars in the 2025 World’s 50 Best Bars list

Here are all four of the bars from London that made the ranking this year, including their placement in the overall list

1. Tayēr + Elementary (5)
2. Connaught Bar (6)
3. Satan’s Whiskers (21)
4. Scarfes Bar (31)

You can find the full World’s 50 Best Bars list here.

The best bars in London, according to Time Out.