The 20 most beautiful bars in London

The Connaught Bar

Competing with the American Bar at The Savoy on the Art Deco elegance front, stepping inside the Connaught Bar in Mayfair is like stepping back in time into a more stylish and glamourous era when classic cocktails were only just being invented.

Designed by David Collins, the mirrored bar is framed by Art Deco detailing while Cubist touches add to the geometric aesthetic and textured walls shimmering in platinum silver leaf overlaid with dusty pink add an extra layer of opulence.

Run by Italian mixologist Ago Perrone, No visit would be complete without a trip to its famous Martini trolley. Connaught Martinis are only “quietly stirred”, never shaken, and are served with a unique twist tailored to your taste with handmade bitters.

Most impressively of all, they are poured from a considerable height by Perrone. The Connaught Bar was named the world’s best bar in 2016.

Mr Fogg’s Salon

The brainchild of Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling of the Inception Group, Mr Fogg’s Salon, above the equally eccentric Mr Fogg’s Tavern in Covent Garden, is inspired by the adventures of Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days.

With its swagged velvet curtains, Victorian fireplace, sumptuous chaise longues and shiny silver punch bowls, when you step inside if feels like going back in time. The bar is the fictional home of Fogg’s actress aunt Gertrude and her housekeeper Fanny McGee.

The story goes that aunt Gertrude bequeathed Fogg a pied-à-terre on St. Martin’s Lane in her will, which he allowed her housekeeper to turn into a tavern, keeping the salon on the first floor to himself. Old portraits, frilly lampshades and hanging hats add to its homely feel.

The Blue Bar at The Berkeley

Originally designed by David Collins, the man behind the aforementioned Connaught Bar, the Blue Bar inside The Berkeley hotel in Knightsbridge is a paradise for pastel lovers with walls painted a fetching shade of lavender with lilac seats to boot.

The beautiful blue-hued room features original Edwin Lutyens lighting and paneling lacquered with “Lutyen’s blue” – allegedly the bar boasts 50 different shades of blue.

The bar was recently given a refresh by Collins’ protégé Robert Angell, who introduced a white onxy bar and black crocodile print leather floor into the mix. We have to admit we prefer the original, pictured here, to the refresh.

In 2016 the bar was extended and a glass pavilion designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners added to it, which diffuses light throughout the bar.

Cocktails are categorised by colours – green, yellow, red and blue – each one denoting a different mood: green for long and fresh, yellow for elegant and effervescent, red for rich and complex, and blue for crisp, clean signature mixes.

Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings

Bringing the outside in, the Garden Room at Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings in Clerkenwell is essentially Kew Gardens with cocktails.

Bursting with vivid green houseplants, trees and hanging baskets, which pop against the cool white walls, marble table tops and vintage fireplaces add to its country house chic.

With its wrought iron chairs and trailing creepers, it’s the kind of bar you can imagine Miss Havisham designing if she was let loose in the capital.

The Beaufort Bar at The Savoy

Boasting some of the most striking interiors in London, the shimmering golden Beaufort Bar at The Savoy takes inspiration from Art Deco aesthetics.

Occupying what used to be The Savoy’s cabaret stage, once graced by the great George Gershwin, the bar is brooding and glamourous.

The space retains its theatrical feel with its striking black-and-gold colour scheme, Oriental-inspired Art Deco flourishes and live music.

Most impressive of all, the gold is the real deal – rumour has it the bar is home to £40,000 worth of the precious metal, which does wonders for the complexion when coupled with candlelight.

The Beaufort’s cocktails are equally decadent – topping the list is a £12,000 bottle of Harewood rum, possibly the oldest rum in existence, and an inimitable piece of liquid history.

The bar also offers one of London’s most extensive lists of Champagne by the glass including rare vintages of Cristal.

The Mint Gun Club

Fans of turquoise and millennial teal will love Stoke Newington newbie The Mint Gun Club, an adorable tea house, bar and deli run by former Milk & Honey head bartender Richard Hunt.

The bar is inspired by Hunt’s childhood spend in far-flung lands, while interiors have a stripped back Scandinavian feel splashed with exotic touches like Moroccan tiling and Polynesian artefacts.

During the day you can sip rare teas from all over the world served with Turkish delight, cucumber sarnies, almond hummus with rose harissa and chargrilled aubergine.

At night you’ll find stronger sips like the Penzance Gimlet, made with gin, fennel, chamomile, honeysuckle and Manuka honey; and the Milanese Nightingale, that marries Aperol, gooseberry and bramble wine, elderflower liqueur, neroli and sweet orange flower.

The Coral Room

The Bloomsbury hotel is a haven for sumptuous interiors, from the velvet-clad basement bar to the fairy light festooned Dalloway Terrace.

Its grand new salon bar, The Coral Room, shines a light on English wine. It started life as the whitewashed lobby with black leather furniture and floral sofas. No prizes for guessing the colour scheme now, though with the brass bar lights emitting a warm vermillion glow, the walls do appear more burnt orange than coral.

Designer du jour, Martin Brudnizki, the man behind the interiors of Sexy Fish, The Ivy, J Sheekey, Aquavit and the Scarfes bar at the Rosewood, has once again worked his magic here.

The heigh ceilinged room is dressed with bespoke Murano glass chandeliers, brass-studded coral leather bar stools and a polished marble bar.

Glitz and glamour abound with a rakish hat tip to the 1920s and Fitzrovia’s famed eponymous residents, The Bloomsbury Group.

The American Bar at The Savoy

The iconic American Bar, housed within The Savoy, has been serving up Martinis for more than a century. The inspiration behind Harry Craddock’s 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book, which remains a well-respected tome within the drinks world, The American Bar is an institution.

As transatlantic travel became more popular in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, many American Bars opened throughout London, serving up mixed or ‘American’-style drinks.

The bar’s first notable bartender was Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman, who took the helm in 1903, and was succeeded by Harry Craddock.

With its classic 1920s art-deco interior, suited pianist tinkling the ivories and immaculately presented team of bartenders dressed in pristine white blazers, walking into the American Bar feels like being transported back to a bygone era.

Plush sofas and candlelit tables make for a sophisticated spot to indulge in a classic serve. Sadly, dashing Erik Lorincz, the bar’s 11th head bartender in its history, shook his last cocktails at the bar this week and has hung up his white tux to travel the world in search of cocktail inspiration. His replacement has yet to be announced.

Sky Pod at Sky Garden

With its jaw-dropping panoramic views of London’s concrete labyrinth, on a clear day, when drinking in the view of the buzzing metropolis, it feels like you’re standing within the beating heart of the modern world.

Like Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings, the Sky Pod at Sky Garden brings the outside in, and with its floor to ceiling glass windows, feels like being inside a giant greenhouse, only one with killer cocktails.

With house plants flanking either side of the room and curling up the grand staircases, a circular bar takes centre stage in the middle of the room.

The Bathhouse

Tucked away from the bustle of the City, the Bathhouse in Bishopsgate Churchyard is a hidden haunt harking back to Victorian London.

Serving as a Turkish baths for stressed out city dwellers during the 19th century, it’s now a quirky nightspot. Deceptively small on the outside, the venue is cavernous once you descend into its depths via a spiral staircase.

Wonderfully, it has kept many of its original features, from the blue Turkish tiles on the roof, to the marble bar, flanked by statues of Mary and Jesus.

The ceiling is swagged with red velvet and birdcages are dotted among the tables. A woman tinkers with a grand piano in the corner, playing Viennese Waltzes.

Small, cosy and dimly-lit, it’s an ideal place to take a date you want to impress – a slice of hidden London; a secret subterranean beating heart.

The Fumoir at Claridge’s

The dimly-lit Fumoir bar at Claridge’s has such a timeless feel, you half expect to walk in and find Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly sipping Martinis on the burgundy leather stools.

Framed by Art Deco lights, the back bar is home to so many exquisite decanters it looks could be mistaken for a perfume cabinet. With action centred around the marble horshoe-shaped bar, the Fumoir’s opulent aubergine décor and crystal lighting was designed by Thierry Despont.

The tiny bar has been serving cocktails for the duration of Claridge’s 200-year history. Formerly a cigar and cocktail bar, hence its name, the three-stool bar serves “era-defining cocktails” with a twist, forgotten classics and future classics.

Exclusive to The Fumoir, its Saffron sidecar is a blend of Martell Cordon Blue Cognac, saffron infused Cointreau, lemon juice and fresh pear.

Dandelyan

One of the world’s most awarded bars, Dandelyan ticks all the boxes with its beautiful, daring, botany-inspired cocktails and chic Art Deco interiors.

The brainchild of the tirelessly creative Ryan Chetiwardana, who fuses art and science in his drinks unlike any other, action is centred around Dandelyan’s green marble bar, cut from one solid piece, where an army of mixoloigsts are busy beavering away.

Designed by Tom Dixon, interiors are inspired by the “Golden Age of Transatlantic Travel” in a nod to its Sea Containers location.

Emerald wood panelling, geometric lights, gold and brass accents and sumptuous lilac leather sofas add to the overall elegance of the space, which boasts sweeping views of the Southbank.

A regular high scorer on the World’s 50 Best Bars list, Dandelyan has been making a name for itself on the international bar scene since it opened in 2014. The current ‘Vices of Botany’ menu is inspired by our love of escapism and guilty pleasures.

George’s Bar at The Gilbert Scott

The already stunning bar at The Gilbert Scott in St Pancras has just been given a makeover to make it even more alluring.

Now called George’s Bar, in a hat tip to the high ceilinged space’s architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott, Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing had a hand in creating the cocktails.

Scott was an eminent Victorian architect known for his Gothic Revival style and was chiefly associated with the design of churches and cathedrals.

He also put his hand to the Albert Memorial, for which Queen Victoria knighted him, and the St Pancras Renaissance hotel, where the bar resides.

Another David Collins extravaganza, the brief was to make the bar a more informal space inspired by the grand cafés of Paris and Vienna.

The leather banquettes have changed from beige to racing green, exposed lights have been softened with red lampshades, round tables house tiny lamps, and the entrance has been prettified with indoor trees.

The Artesian at The Langham

Voted the world’s best bar no less than four times, a cocktail at the Artesian is a right of passage for any self respecting drinks connoisseur.

Nestled within the plush bosom of The Langham hotel in Marylebone, the decadent cocktail den rose to prominence under the dream team of Alex Kratena and Simone Caporale, whose daring drinks changed London’s cocktail landscape.

Among their quirky concoctions were the Unfinished Business, a Manhattan aged in a leather wine skin; the Tanqueray 10 laced Camouflage served in a golden pineapple; and the Join the Colony – a vodka-based sip served in a giant ant.

In keeping with The Langham’s opulent interiors, the Artesian is all Art Deco elegance, with its purple, silver and white colour scheme.

Its regal purple leather seats, high ceilings and gorgeous silver detailing on the wall panels creates the feeling of drinking in the drawing room of a rich great aunt with exquisite taste in soft furnishings and chinoiserie.

Nine Lives

The neighbourhood bar in Bermondsey oozes laid-back charm with its vintage furniture, hanging plants, bamboo detailing, woodern lanterns and wicker chairs and has something of a Scandi-meets-seventies vibe.

The hidden gem is nestled in the Victorian basement of number 8 Holyrood Street and feels a bit like being in an old hotel in Southeast Asia by way of Stockholm. We love cosy its mishmash feel and the cocktails are worth the detour too.

Scarfes Bar

Another Martin Brudnizki extravaganza, Scarfes Bar, nestled within the elegant Edwardian surrounds of the Rosewood hotel, pays homage to caricaturist Gerald Scarfe, whose irreverent etchings adorn the walls.

Brightened by leather armchairs in primary colours, with its roaring fireplace, live piano music and collection of over 1,000 antique books, the space is one of the cosiest in London.

Brudnizki took inspiration from Victorian drawing rooms and gentleman’s clubs and has preserved the space’s original Baroque features. Look out for the 1870 lollipop rocking chair, sourced from a vintage fair in New York.

Bar Americain at Brasserie Zédel

Yet more Art Deco opulence abounds at the Bar Americain at Brasserie Zédel, where the cocktails are classic and the music vintage.

Inspired by early air travel, there’s a plane motif on the walls, and the warm brown colour scheme and chocolate brown leather chairs create an inviting atmosphere of timeless elegance.

The star of the show is the well-stocked back bar, where golden elixirs glint in glass decanters. The brainchild of Art Deco lovers Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the pair take their inspiration from 1930s America via lashings of varnished wood, gilded gold fixtures and vintage light fittings.

Given its Jazz Age theme, it’s the perfect place to sink an Old Fashioned, Manhattan, or a Gimlet into the small hours.

Swift

One of our go to bars, Swift not only nails it on the live music and cocktail front; the Soho hotspot boasts killer interiors too.

Swift is very much a tale of two bars. On ground level you’ll find a light and buzzy apéritivo bar serving Martinis many ways and signature serve the Sgroppino, a refreshing blend of Prosecco and lemon sorbet that sells like hot cakes.

Ideal for a pre (or post) prandial sharpener, with its studio lights and cinematic signage, the bar has the feeling of a grande dame’s dressing room.

Downstairs is decked out like a New York speakeasy with flattering low lighting and stunning Art Deco detailing around the mirrors. It’s an effortlessly stylish space that gives the impression of having been around for years, which is no mean feat for a shiny new venue.

Sexy Fish

While the name sounds like the kind of curious juxtaposition the Surrealists would make up, owner Richard Caring was adamant that his next restaurant would be called Sexy Fish.

Chided at first, the name stuck, and the glitzy venue in Berkeley Square has quickly been catapulted to fame, overtaking the Chiltern Firehouse as the celebrity spot du jour.

From the marble floor to the burnt orange leather booths, interiors are opulent and lavish. A turquoise mermaid designed by Damien Hirst languidly keeps watch at one end of the bar, while a giant crocodile crafted by Frank Gehry crawls along one of the walls.

In the private dining room you’ll find a pair of giant coral reef fish tanks complete with tropical fish in vivid hues like canary yellow and electric blue.

It’s straight out of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet when the star-crossed lovers meet at the Capulet knees-up. The look was created by Martin Brudnizki, who also worked his magic on the recent refurb of The Ivy.

Isabel

It’s easy to see why Isabel in Mayfair scooped this year’s Restaurant Design of the Year award. The South American small plates venue was designed by owner Juan Santa Cruz, a Chilean investment banker turned restaurateur who leans on the Art Deco design aesthetic.

Isabel has a gentleman’s club vibe with its abundance of varnished wood, with Santa Cruz taking inspiration from the ocean liners of the 1930s.

The decadence is ramped up with woven silks, Macassar wood, Chinoiserie detailing and flashes of gold along the bar and ceiling, where 300 polished brass lamps hover – a deliberate design quirk to give diners’ skin a golden glow.

The mirrored ebony bar, where white jacketed mixologists shake up Martinis, is anchored by a quartet of trees. Be sure to look out for the hand-painted flamingo wallpaper in the loos.