Chris Moore's French-influenced cocktail bar on Bethnal Green Road in east London, opened 2018, runs a Calvados-heavy menu and ranks regularly on the World's 50 Best Bars list.
Food program: Snacks only
Tip: Counter seats walk in any night. Booking a fortnight ahead through their site secures a table. The cocktail flight is the easy ask.
Address: 423 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AN
Matt Whiley's hyper-seasonal cocktail bar on Sclater Street in Shoreditch London, opened 2018, builds the menu around local UK ingredients and zero-waste production.
Signature drink: Hyper-seasonal house mixes
Food: Snacks only
Tip: Counter seats are walk-up. The menu turns over by season; British produce defines the drinks list throughout the year.
Inside the Pan Pacific Liverpool Street hotel in the City of London, opened 2021, Silverleaf runs tea-infused cocktails and a sleek brass-and-walnut bar room from a hotel team.
Signature drink: Tea-infused cocktails
Food: Snacks and small plates
Tip: Walk-up at the counter; book the snug for groups of four. The tea-house design pairs every drink to a specific tea leaf.
Marian Beke's cocktail bar on Old Street in Shoreditch London, opened 2014, named for the Gibson Martini and built around the pickled-onion garnish that defines the drink.
Signature drink: Gibson Martini
Food: Snacks only
Tip: Walk-up at the counter; book the back for groups. The bar runs a long menu of variations on the classic Gibson template.
Tony Conigliaro and Marco Arrigo's Italian-cafe-and-cocktail-bar on Old Compton Street in Soho London, opened 2015, runs an aperitivo menu and the city's most photographed Negroni.
Signature drink: Caffe corretto and Negroni
Food: Italian snacks
Tip: Walk-up at the counter and bar tables. Tiny room of 20 seats; the espresso bar runs all day, cocktails from 16:00.
Tony Conigliaro's hotel cocktail bar inside the Zetter Townhouse on St John's Square in Clerkenwell London, opened 2011, runs a Victorian-styled drawing room and seasonally rotating menu.
Signature drink: Flintlock cocktail (gin, tincture of gunpowder tea)
Food: Snacks only
Tip: Walk-up at counter; book a side table a week ahead. The Marylebone Zetter sibling on Seymour Street has the same kitchen.
Agostino Perrone's hotel cocktail bar inside The Connaught in Mayfair London, opened 2008, runs the trolley-poured Connaught Martini and has topped the World's 50 Best Bars list twice.
Signature drink: Connaught Martini (trolley-poured)
Food: Hotel snacks
Tip: The trolley-Martini is the marquee order; £24 a glass. Book a fortnight ahead through the hotel; jacket required after 19:00.
