16 editor picks across United Kingdom.
16 speakeasies worth the night across United Kingdom, editor-ranked. All United Kingdom guides.
Agostino Perrone's bar inside the Connaught in Mayfair has won World's Best Bar more than once and runs the table-side martini trolley service that the rest of the industry copies.
TipOrder the martini trolley, the choice of vermouth and bitters at the table is the experience. Reservations open one month ahead.
The Hoxton Square basement run by Alastair Burgess pairs a tight rotating cocktail list with a no-nonsense room policy that has kept it on the World's 50 Best Bars list more or less continuously since 2014.
TipBookings open one week ahead at 12:00 sharp, set a reminder. Walk-ins get the bar if anything.
The Queen Street basement is the Edinburgh cocktail benchmark, a stone-vaulted room with no booking line that has been a fixture on the World's 50 Best Bars list for years.
TipArrive before 19:00 on a Friday or queue, ask the bar for off-menu sours and the team will build to the spirit you prefer.
The basement on City Road behind an unmarked door is the standard against which every London speakeasy is measured, with nightly live jazz and a cocktail menu that takes the prohibition era seriously.
TipBookings only, walk-ins are turned away after 19:00. The 22:30 second set is when the band loosens up.
Ryan Chetiyawardana's ingredient-led bar at Sea Containers is built around the seven Pinnacle Guide ingredients that change every year, and the menu reads like a chef's tasting more than a drinks list.
TipSit at the bar, the conversation with the bartenders is the menu's commentary track. Saturday afternoons are the quietest slot.
The 1893 cocktail bar inside the Savoy is the oldest surviving American-style cocktail room in London, with the legacy of Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book still on every back-bar shelf.
TipListen for the live piano from 18:30, the room transforms. The age limit is 14 plus accompanied, dress code is enforced.
Iain McPherson's basement on Queen Street, entered through a faux barber shop with 25p haircut signs, has been on the World's 50 Best Bars discovery list since 2014.
TipPush the bookcase at the back of the barber shop to find the bar, ask for the bartender's seasonal freezing-technique cocktail off menu.
The Bread Street aperitivo bar inspired by Fellini's La Dolce Vita holds the UK's largest Amari collection at nearly 75 bottles, regular fixture on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list.
TipOrder an off-menu Negroni built around an unfamiliar Amaro, the staff are pleased to walk you through the collection rather than rush you out.
The Wentworth Street basement opened in 2014 in a former tailor's stockroom, with a Northern Soul and rock and roll soundtrack and a price list that undercuts the rest of the central speakeasy scene.
TipWalk in early, the room is small and they do not take bookings past 19:00. Cash and card both work.
The Milk Thistle hides four floors of carved-wood cocktail rooms behind an unmarked door on Colston Avenue, the grand flagship speakeasy of central Bristol.
TipAsk about the whisky vault below street level; walk-ins stand a chance early on weeknights.
The converted Victorian pump house down Advocate's Close off the Royal Mile holds over 300 whiskies under stone walls and warm amber lighting, an award-winning cocktail list.
TipThe bar staff are happy to lead a whisky flight on the spot, ask for a smoke-led tasting if you want the peaty Islay end of the back bar.
The Stockbridge basement bar from the team behind Bramble runs a tighter cocktail list around the namesake Last Word, with armchairs, a working fireplace and weekend gigs.
TipSaturday acoustic sets start around 21:30, the back room is the warmest seat and the only one where you can hear the players over the bar chat.
The Absent Ear is an award-winning cocktail bar on Brunswick Street in Glasgow's Merchant City, a Van Gogh-themed speakeasy entered through a hidden door.
TipReservations are strongly advised; book through the bar's own site, since it takes no bookings on DesignMyNight, and note it is closed on Mondays.
The Washhouse is a speakeasy hidden behind a laundrette front on Shudehill in Manchester, entered through a door shaped like a washing machine.
TipBook by phone first; inside, pick up the old phone and tell the operator you want to wash some dirty clothes.
Behind Closed Doors is a funk and soul speakeasy on Oldham Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter, reached down a black-tiled staircase to the bar.
TipVinyl DJs play every Saturday from 22:00; it runs to 04:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Filthy XIII hides award-listed cocktails behind a deliberately scruffy Cheltenham Road shopfront, the Bristol bar where the city's bartenders drink off-shift.
TipAsk the bar to freestyle from whatever is open; it beats the printed list most nights.
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