Hotel bars are quickly becoming hospitality’s hottest asset. Once sleepy, dull lounges for weary travellers too tired to seek better alternatives, they are becoming some of the most exciting (and award-winning) cocktail destinations in the world. Unsurprisingly, London’s best hotel bars are leading the charge, with innovative menus shaken up by pioneering mixologists setting the standard for fine drinking across the globe. Upgrade your next pub trip to one of these brilliant boozy boltholes for a night out to remember. 

Manetta’s at Flemings, Mayfair

Must order: Atypical Christie – Plantation Dark Rum infused spiced tea, pear, banana liqueur, ginger ale

Located within Flemings, one of London’s oldest boutique hotels, Manetta’s Bar brings a touch of 1930’s glamour to the heart of Mayfair. Just a short stroll from Green Park, Buckingham Palace and Bond Street, this sleek bar was once the favoured haunt of literary luminaries, artists, and the era’s most notorious bon vivants, including Agatha Christie, James Joyce and Ian Fleming, are just some of whom are depicted on the walls of the bar. Manetta’s retains its storied past while serving up some of the most stylish cocktails in London, including the Paper Plane – Maker’s Mark, Aperol, grappa amaro nonino – and London Fog, with Yamazaki whiskey, muyu chinotto, umeshu and kumquat syrup. 

Visit flemings-mayfair.co.uk 

Dante at Claridge’s, Mayfair

Must order: Fluffy Margarita Royale – Don Julio Blanco, ancho verde, lime, fluffy pineapple, soda and Perrier-Jouet Brut

Due to popular demand and off the back of critical acclaim, New York institution Dante – which has been in residence at Claridge’s since last year – will open a permanent restaurant and bar at the hotel this summer. And the good news for cocktail connoisseurs is that New York restaurateurs Linden Pride and Nathalie Hudson return with yet another stand-out selection of serves which are designed to bring a taste of Manhattan to Mayfair. 

Alongside the signature martini hour, the world-class bar – which has scooped awards including the top spot in World’s 50 Best Bars, Time Out New York’s Bar of the Year, and World’s Best Bar and Best American Restaurant Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards – will offer the Endless Summer menu. Order the Pineapple Pimm’s or pina colada spritz, or push the boat out with Dante’s signature negronis. 

Visit maybourne.com 

Scarfes Bar at The Rosewood, Holborn

Must order: High Society – The Botanist, tonka vermouth, and manzanilla. But is it a hero or villain?

Quite literally one of the most decorated cocktail bars in London – largely because of its collection of star-studded caricatures featuring Daniel Craig and David Attenborough – Rosewood‘s flagship bar is inspired by the life and work of Gerald Scarfe. A renowned British artist and caricaturist, Scarfe was a regular illustrator for The Sunday Times and The New Yorker and purchasing one of his prints today will easily set you back £4,000. Lucky for Londoners, then, that the Rosewood hotel in Holborn has curated an exceptional collection of his works for its decadent drinking den, allowing you to sip on delectable cocktails while admiring Scarfe’s art. 

Director of bars Andy Loudon oversees the Heroes and Villains menu, where the heros are concoctions that changed history – and villains can be deemed as overdone classics. Highlights include Hot Air Balloon, featuring The Macallan 12 whiskey, Earl Grey sherry and peated almond, and the Diva: Grey Goose vodka, lychee honey, orange flower and citrus.

Visit scarfesbar.com 

The American Bar at The Savoy, Strand

The Savoy’s American Bar

Must order: Five O’Clock Somewhere – Plymouth Gin, Savoy Cocchi dry vermouth, Cocchi Americano, Tio Pepe, basil and tomato

London’s oldest cocktail bar has plenty to impress the modern drinker. Dating back to 1893, The American Bar at The Savoy is lauded as London’s first cocktail locale, popularising ‘mixed drinks’ in the early 20^th century and attracting a well-heeled crowd as a result (Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway were regulars). Head bartender Ada ‘Coley’ Coleman put this bar on the map in 1903 with creations like the Hanky Panky, while legendary bartender Harry Craddock cemented the hotel’s reputation during his tenure in the Roaring Twenties, and with the publication of The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. Despite changes and transformations, this bar remains at the forefront of modern mixology and is certainly a place to see and be seen in London. 

Now leading the historic bar is bartender Markus Basset whose current menu, Liquid Moments, is inspired by the countless celebrations and stories that have unfolded here. Expect serves like the Yeoman’s Toast, nodding to the Tower of London and its Beefeaters, more formally called Yeoman Warders, and Tea O’Clock, which is inspired by The Savoy’s centuries-long tradition of afternoon tea. At The American Bar, every detail is accounted for. 

Visit thesavoylondon.com

Side Hustle at NoMad, Covent Garden

Must order: Pandan Negroni – El Tequileno Reposado, Campari, Cocchi Vermouth Di Torino, coconut water and pandan

Housed within the storied walls of the former Bow Street Police Station – once the headquarters of the Bow Street Runners, England’s first official police force founded in 1749 – Side Hustle blends an old-school, gentlemen’s club feel with a South American-inspired menu to create a destination for gathering, grazing and lingering. Having recently won Best International Hotel Bar, this hideaway within the NoMad hotel is a force to be reckoned with. 

Under the direction of bar director, Maxim Schulte, the cocktail menu speaks to the likes of Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile and Brazil and makes use of one of the largest collections of agave in London. Expect cocktails with a kick, such as a michelada featuring sour beer, Scotch Bonnet pepper and white miso, as well as the inventive Butternut Milk Punch: Diplomatico Exclusiva rum, squash, pineapple, and whey. Arriba!

Visit hilton.com

Velvet by Salvatore Calabrese at the Corinthia, Whitehall

Must order: Leather Chronicles – Don Julio 1942 tequila, Rinomato Americano Bianco, Johnnie Walker Blue Label Whisky, chestnut porcini, PX sherry

Follow the Corinthia's trail of a tinkling piano and step behind richly-hued curtains to discover Velvet by Salvatore Calabrese. Aptly decorated with more velvet than you can shake a stick at and under the direction of mixology maestro Salvatore Calabrese, Velvet is as theatrical as it is delicious. The menu taps into Calabrese’s cocktail nous – garnered over five decades in the bar business and which has amassed him nearly a quarter of a million followers on Instagram – and constantly changes to push the boundaries, with a former menu looking to the famous quotes to supercharge its serves. 

The current iteration is named Echoes of Memory and innovatively reimagines nostalgic flavours and the feelings they leave behind. Cocktails are divided into Recollection, Elsewhere, Touch and Feel and Deja Vu, ranging from the whiskey-based Woodland to the Chain Reaction with Hendrick's gin, acqua bianca and bubbles. With impeccable service and late-night hours (the bar is open until 1am every day apart from Sunday and Monday), this is the ultimate date night destination. 

Visit corinthia.com

Connaught Bar at The Connaught, Mayfair

Must order: Connaught Martini – Tanqueray No 10 Gin, a blend of dry vermouths, and a selection of bitters served tableside 

The Connaught offers a smorgasbord of delectable restaurants and bars – think Hélène Darroze’s three Michelin-starred outpost, and one of London’s best whisky spots, The Coburg Bar – but it's the eponymous bar that's the star of the show. Despite top-notch interiors by David Collins Studio that ooze Art Deco elegance, it’s the menu that does the talking here, and secured the World's Best Bar gong for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021. 

Award-winning mixologists Agostino Perrone and Giorgio Bargiani offer two menus: innovative serves from Of The Moment and then its classic cocktails. The former celebrates the bar’s creativity and spirit of adventure, introducing fresh twists on cocktails using rare botanicals, unique blends and rediscovered vintages; our top pick is the French and Tonic featuring bubbly Mediterranean flavours including Botanist Gin, apricot, lemon, lavender and Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blancs. For many though, the Connaught’s classics are the best you’re going to get, so don’t overlook the signature martini, Bloody Mary and Vieux Connaught: a smoky and aromatic take on the Vieux Carré, the classic New Orleans aperitif created by Walter Bergeron at the Carousel Bar in 1938, featuring Ron Santiago De Cuba 11 Rum, Johnnie Walker Blue Label and topped with saffron smoke.

Visit the-connaught.co.uk

Vesper Bar at The Dorchester, Mayfair

The Vesper Bar

Must order: Vesper – Stolichnaya Elit vodka, Dorchester Old Tom gin, Del Duque 30 sherry and re-distilled Forbidden Fruit

For movie-star looks and a mixology menu to match, head to the Vesper Bar at The Dorchester. Housed within the Mayfair Grand Dame that dates back to 1931, this bar relaunched in 2023 following a transformationg of legendary cocktail institution, The Bar at The Dorchester, into a modern bolthole. Designed by Martin Brudnizki to hark back to the spirit and elegance of the 1930s – a time when manners were still important and mayhem was celebrated – ornate touches can be spotted at every turn, from the  palladium leaf ceiling to the mirrored columns dotted around the space. 

The name hints at the hotel’s links with James Bond author Ian Fleming, who used to be a regular guest, and his creation of the Vesper Martini, which remains on the menu today. Elsewhere, bar manager Lucia Montanelli and her team have just launched the Planetarium menu which mirrors the bar’s Venus‑inspired interior via serves Saturn – vodka, ginger, Ceylon tea and mango – and Uranus, featuring pisco, chamomile, chardonnay, pear and iris.

Visit dorchestercollection.com

Lyanness at Sea Containers, Southbank

Lyaness

Must order: Lobster Frappe – Courvoisier VSOP cognac, Ceylon arrack, coconut, cucumber, absinthe

The brainchild of the world’s most decorated bartender, Ryan Chetiyawardana, aka Mr Lyan, Lyaness brings pioneering cocktails, stylish decor and a buzzing energy to Sea Containers. Dressed in a palette of ocean blues and overlooking the River Thames, the team here encourages guests to embrace weird and wonderful flavours in order to try something new. Not sure what to go for? The expert team will happily concoct your perfect drink.

The Collaboration 2.0 menu is based on the idea of taking two unlikely subjects, making them work together and bottling it in a cocktail. As a result, expect some wacky but tasty serves, such as the Pink Belly Gimlet with gin, carrot, salami, honey and lemon.

Visit seacontainerslondon.com

Artesian Bar at The Langham, Marylebone

Must order: Mulberry – Don Julio 1942, Cointreau, Amaro Santoni, mulberries and lime

One of London’s oldest hotels is home to one of its most modern bars – and it’s a match made in heaven. Housed in The Langham, which dates back to 1865, is Artesian which specialises in conceptual and inventive cocktails and, as a result, has taken home the title of World's Best Bar not once, but four times. It's helmed by Giulia Cuccurullo, who became the bar’s first female head bartender in 2021, and has created countless cocktail menus – but none as impressive as Artesian’s current Ultimo, featuring 16 distinct serves. 

Following the success of the Volume I and Volume II menus, Ultimo is centred around a single ingredient – think Cep, which features gin, sherry and mushrooms, and Wild Strawberry, mixing berries, vodka and Aperol. Complementing the cocktails is a concise menu of chef Chet Sharma’s Bibi bites, blending Indian flavours with inventive twists.

Visit langhamhotels.com

Brooklands Bar at The Peninsula, Belgravia

Must order: The Asprey Cocktail – Clix vodka, raspberry and blackberry eau de vie, and dry vermouth

A must-visit drinking den for any petrolhead, Brooklands Bar sits alongside Claude Bosi’s restaurant of he same name to offer an aviation-inspired space with serious views of London’s skyline. Many of the bar’s distinctive design elements echo cutting-edge achievements in automotive and aviation design: the geodetic ceiling is inspired by the work of Barnes Wallis, who was instrumental in the development of airframe structures in the early 20^th century, while the carriage seating and leather-lined wall panelling recall those of the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, and the glass chandelier is inspired by the blades of turbine engines. Posters and pictures, along with a library cabinet stocked with books, maps and historic items, have been gifted from Brooklands museum. 

Created by The Peninsula London’s head mixologist James Tamang, the bar’s cocktails balance precision engineering with inventive creativity. Alcohol content is measured in machs, so the higher you go, the stronger the serve. For all-out occasions, skip to the luxurious cocktails section where serves will set you back at least £75, but with cocktails such as Spectre featuring aged whiskies like Thomas H. Handy Antique Collection, mixed with sweet vermouth and campari cask, it’s hard to say no. 

Visit peninsula.com

The Spy Bar at Raffles at The OWO, Westminster

Must order: Whisky Mouthwash – Johnnie Walker Blue and Black Label Whisky, red dulse, kay sake, Idyll pine forest soda and cherry

As the spiritual home of James Bond, and its Mayfair-born author Ian Fleming, London bars love to nod to 007. But the Spy Bar at Raffles at The OWO takes things one step further, paying homage to the plethora of spies whose secrets were guarded by the walls of the Old War Office. It is located in two rooms that were formerly numbered 006 and 007 in the early 20^th century and functioned as high security storage vaults for identity papers and mission reports of MI5 and MI6 agents. The lobby of the Spy Bar was once a guard room, while other rooms along this corridor were used for briefing and debriefing spies before and after going into the ‘field’.

The top-secret menu isn’t available online but is inspired by the espionage that played out in the building and the stories that unfolded. Rumoured cocktails include Dig for Victory – celebrating the garden behind the building which was used during the Second World War, and features fresh flavours of caramelised pear and jasmine – and The Spy Who Loved: a tribute to the success and sacrifice of Christine Granville, one of the British Allied forces' most trusted and successful spies, featuring Belvedere vodka, Campari, passionfruit spirit, artichoke and cocchi di torino. 

Visit theowo.london

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