The Kennington Lane gay bar established in 2004 is home to Horse Meat Disco on Sundays, the long-running global disco residency that defines what Vauxhall sounds like at 3am.
Tip: Sunday Horse Meat Disco is the night, not Saturdays. Get there by 22:00 or queue down the road.
Address: 349 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, London SE11 5QY
The Clapham High Street double-room bar and cabaret club is the south London institution, with nightly drag shows in the front room and a club floor in the back that runs until 4am at weekends.
Tip: The Friday and Saturday late shows are the draw, get a wristband for the back room before midnight.
The Old Compton Street basement is the only dedicated lesbian bar on the Soho strip, run by Ku Bar with a vaulted basement sound system and a calendar of community nights for women and non-binary people.
Tip: Wednesday Butch Please and the weekend basement parties are the regular highlights, the upstairs bar is the chat room.
The 2013 Kingsland Road room founded by Amit and Aneesh Patel is the original London listening bar, built around a horn-loaded vinyl-only sound system and a Japanese-influenced izakaya menu.
Tip: Bookings open six weeks ahead, the bar stools take walk-ins. Sundays are the quietest, the playing is at its most adventurous.
The 2016 King's Cross flagship with a custom Living Voice sound system and a programme of guest selectors built the audiophile-bar template that is now copied across the country.
Tip: The Friday all-night selector sessions are bookable, the standard evening is walk-in. Sit on the velvet bench, the speakers are aimed at it.
The Kingsland Road sister room to Brilliant Corners from the Patel brothers and Giant Steps adds live performance to the listening-bar formula, with a Japanese-leaning food menu and a tight gig calendar.
Tip: The Wednesday and Sunday live sets are the most adventurous, weekends lean to DJs. Bookings open three weeks out.
The Holyrood Street basement just off Bermondsey Street pairs a custom-built sound system with a Mexican taco kitchen and a cocktail programme that has won regular World's 50 Best Bars recognition.
Tip: The mezcal flight at the bar is the way in, the booth at the back of the room is the listening spot. No bookings, walk in early.