Best Cocktail Bars

Editor’s note: Repeatedly the world's best bar. The Connaught Martini is reason enough to stop here once a month.

Consistently ranked among the world's finest bars, the Connaught Bar is a masterpiece of Art Deco design by David Collins. The martini trolley, mixed tableside, is one of the great rituals of London cocktail culture.

Editor’s note: Polished, art-deco, ageless. The flutes are kept ice-cold and the staff remember you.

Claridge's Bar is the art deco hotel bar at Claridge's on Brook Street, and cocktails are the point. There is live jazz, and the old-world glamour is laid on with confidence rather than fuss. Go for a cocktail and the music, and let the room do the talking.

Editor’s note: Where Fleming wrote his martinis. Order a vodka martini, watch them theatre it tableside.

On St James's Place, in St James's rather than Mayfair, Dukes Bar is where Ian Fleming found the inspiration for James Bond's Martini-drinking habits. The Martini is still the reason to come, prepared at your table. The hotel itself is closed for refurbishment, with reopening due late summer 2026, but the bar has stayed open throughout, walk-in only.

Editor’s note: Just outside Mayfair but worth the walk. Black, gold, and a list that rewards bravery.

Once the Beaufort Bar, this room at the Savoy now trades as the Beaufort Wine Bar, and the focus has moved from cocktails to wine, with a list of more than 250 wines. It sits on the Strand in WC2R, outside Mayfair, so treat it as a trip out rather than a local.

Editor’s note: Members-club levels of clubbiness without the membership. Negronis as they should be.

Harry's Bar on South Audley Street is a private members' club, one of the Birley Clubs, modelled on the Venice original. Inside, expect Bellinis, reliable Italian cooking and a loyal, well-heeled crowd. It is members only, so do not expect to walk in off the street.