We all know how impressive the London cocktail bar scene is, with mixologists in the city creating unreal concoctions to knock your socks off (or knock you off your stool). But we now have even greater confirmation just how brilliant the city’s cocktail bars are. Announcing the winners yesterday evening (February 1), Top 50 Cocktail Bars revealed that four out of the top five cocktail bars in the UK are in London – even if we did miss out on that top spot!
According to the Top 50 Cocktail Bars, the list is compiled by the bar industry, making it a unique list of venues those in the know like to visit. The organisers recruit over 100 industry experts which make up the voting academy, from bartenders and owners, to drinks writers and influencers in order to curate an extra special list which has something for every type of drinker.
Topping the list in fine fashion was Cardiff’s Lab 22, but Swift in Soho ranked at #2, London’s highest entry. Top 50 Cocktail Bars praised Swift for their “eye-catching cocktails [which] include the Freja made using Grey Goose vodka, Dolin blanc vermouth, lychee, lemon and soda. Also, the Petal made using sweet vermouth, raspberry, framboise, Campari and prosecco.”
And, after Swift, a familiar pattern emerged, with London bars taking us to the #5 spot. In third place was The Connaught Bar in Mayfair (which has previous in this area of study), highlighted for it’s famed Martini trolley, “which brings ceremony to perhaps the world’s most well-known cocktail, guests ordering the libation will see a bartender wheel their drink’s very own stage towards them.”
Hot on their heels were Tayer + Elementary in Shoreditch and Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green. In fact, the entire list was something of a London domination, with exactly half of the cocktail bars in the Top 50 residing in capital.
For the full list head to the Top 50 Cocktail Bars website here.