Bars

Inspired by Goose Island Beer Co.’s original Brewpub in the brewery’s native Chicago, a London outpost opened at the end of last year, taking over a site on the corner of Shoreditch High Street and Great Eastern Street. Alongside Goose Island beers already available in the UK - including Midway IPA and last year’s Bourbon County Brand Stout - the launch of the Brewpub has brought a host of previously unavailable beers to the UK, showcased alongside a range of...

In the bowels of the Savoy Hotel, the Beaufort Bar has become renowned for its glorious, regularly changing drinks menus. Celebrating the hotel bar’s theatrical history, a new menu – ‘Music, Magic & Drama’ – has recently launched. Seeking to distinguish the Beaufort Bar from the world-famous American Bar, the new menu hopes to elevate the hotel bar experience through a refined signature offering, filled with expertly prepared mixed drinks. Conceived by Assistant Bars Manager, Joe Harper, and the newly...

Lewisham councillors voted unanimously in favour of an application for a new micro-pub in Hither Green last night. MathBrew, which will sell “quality beer and real ale” with the intention of making a “community pub” for locals to gather, was granted planning permission to open on Springbank Road. Councillor Silvana Kelleher said the pub could bring some “much needed life” back into the area, particularly commercial areas around the train station, which “suffered terribly in the 80s and hasn’t recovered...

Hide, the multi-faceted restaurant from Ollie Dabbous and Hedonism Wines, has enjoyed much acclaim since opening in April. Set across three floors, the 250-cover venue is home to three semi-separate venues: Above, a fine dining, tasting menu-only restaurant; Ground, a less formal space which champions Dabbous’ unmistakeable cooking style; and Below – fronted by Oskar Kinberg, formerly of Oskar’s Bar beneath Dabbous in Fitzrovia. Down the now-famous oak staircase, Hide Below occupies the Piccadilly basement, bedecked with numerous nods to...

Named after an old English drink of warm ale, gin, wormwood and spices, Purl London occupies a vaulted cellar in Marylebone. Opened in 2010, the bar was one of the first to join a new wave of prohibition-era speakeasy bars, having since become renowned for an innovative approach to cocktails, often using culinary techniques. A venture from the team behind Worship Street Whistling Shop and Dach & Sons, Purl’s cocktail menu changes regularly, adhering to current trends while championing seasonal...

Sustainability is at the heart of Nine Lives, a neighbourhood bar tucked away on Hollyrood Street, near London Bridge station. Opened last year as a project from Sweet&Chilli, the bar is committed to reducing their carbon footprint: many of the ingredients used are sourced from the bar’s own back garden, or within close proximity. The bar’s herbs are grown alongside the help of St Mungo’s homeless charity; apples are grown in co-founder Allan Gage’s garden to replace the need for...

With the launch of Gazelle in Mayfair, Rob Roy Cameron’s food at Tony Conigliaro’s Untitled has been somewhat overlooked. With a captivating approach to ‘molecular mixology’, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Conigliaro’s elaborate drinks have become a significant talking point here. In addition to the food menu filled with Japanese flourishes, Untitled bar and restaurant also serves a monthly tasting menu. On the second Sunday of each month, executive chef Rob Roy Cameron (formerly of El Bulli in Roses, Catalonia) curates...

With the launch of The Cans Festival, organised by Banksy in 2008, the artist was instrumental in popularising the ‘Graffiti Tunnel’ on Leake Street, underneath Waterloo station. Featuring London’s largest legal graffiti wall, Leake Street has since become renowned as a democratic cultural venue for street art. Ten years later, Rat Bar will open on Leake Street this weekend (Saturday 16th June), embracing the history and heritage of the area. The brainchild of creative events agency, Shout About London, Rat Bar promises to showcase...

“Here's to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life.” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his 1922 novel, The Beautiful and Damned. On modern life, Ernest Hemingway also claimed: “Modern life, too, is often a mechanical oppression and liquor is the only mechanical relief.” I could go on quoting famous authors all day, outlining their published relationships with drink. The point, however, is that literature and alcohol have deep intrinsic links that aren’t always flagrant on the surface. But with such...