The 10 Best Cocktail Bars For Stylish Nights Out In London

Quench your thirst in Soho’s hip El Camion bar. The interior is both sultry and jazzy, with vibrant artworks hanging on the walls and bewitching patterns adorning the various surfaces and furnishings. The bar holds nightly events that focus on a particular drink or form of entertainment: DJ’s frequent the bar on Fridays and Saturdays, catering to a fun loving crowd of weekend partygoers. The menu offers a multitude of Mexican beers and cocktails; try the Cadillac Margarita, made from Olmeca Altos Reposado Tequila, lemon juice, triple sec and a grand marnier float. El Camion also boasts an impressive collection of tequilas, with over 300 different varieties.

Enter Shoreditch’s award winning Nightjar bar, where enjoying flavoursome cocktails and partaking of delicate food are the only requirements. Nightjar’s broad range of drinks have been inspired by different periods and events in drinking culture, including pre-prohibition, prohibition and post-war cocktails. Enjoy the delectable Brown Derby: Bulleit bourbon, freshly squeezed pomelo, grenadine, bee pollen syrup and the sweet tartness of pickled berries. The interior is decked out in low, ambient lighting and the furnishings a distinguished collection of dark wood and red pieces, lending the establishment a brooding elegance. Bookings for large groups of partygoers can be made via email and the venue can be hired privately for more intimate gatherings.

In the Union Street Bar in Borough, quality and downtown elegance prevail. Relax in one of the bar’s cosy corners where intimate conversation can be enjoyed alongside excellent cocktails, evoking flavours of the Mediterranean in the heart of London. The exposed walls of the bar and sensitive, low lighting provide the venue with an easy sophistication. Choose the Southwark Angel, made with Tanqueray Gin, green Chartreuse, cucumber and a squeeze of lemon juice or go for the quintessentially British Harlequin Tea Set, with Beefeater gin, crème de cassis, earl grey syrup and Regan’s orange bitters. Enjoy this eclectic selection of drinks alongside the bar’s list of upmarket snacks, from balsamic beef meatballs to green sweet fried peppers.

With a name derived from Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, Shoreditch’s Callooh Callay is a hidden sanctuary of quiet cosiness where excellent cocktails are available in abundance. The Victorian themed venue is divided into the main bar, the lounge (where tables can be booked for up to eight people) and the upstairs bar, where autumn and winter cocktails are concocted. The drinks menu boasts some tempting beverages; opt for the Quince of the Stone Sage cocktail, constructed from roasted apricots mixed with sage and combined with Ketel One vodka, Briottet quince liqueur, lime juice and bitters. For ravenous cocktail consumers, there is also a hearty food menu where a selection of nibbles and bar snacks can be purchased.