Anyone who did Dry January will by now be eyeing the door and contemplating a night on the town. Because it would be a shame to break your sober streak with any old rubbish, here’s a list of the very best places in London to drink right now. Even if you did that very British type of Dry January where you don’t go out for pints but have a bit of wine at home, you’ve definitely earned yourself a treat and should read on.
Seed Library X Ruben’s Reubens, Shoreditch
The East London hideout of cocktail avant-gardist Ryan ‘Mr Lyan’ Chetiyawardana slides into February with a fresh menu and barbecued bar snacks. For the next two months, pastrami prodigy Ruben Dawnay will offer a selection of comfort food to accompany the cocktails. The south Londoner who rose to prominence during lockdown by delivering mind-meltingly good brisket can be found serving such treats as smoked chicken nuggets, ingenious reuben spring rolls and sticky burnt ends covered in ranch dressing. As drinking food goes, it is unbeatable.
Highlights of the cocktail offering include a bright, sherbet-y gimlet made with fragrant coriander seed cordial and the cognac-centred Hazelbuck Fix. It takes a certain type of creativity to create a Mai-Tai-like drink out of brandy, cobnuts and pink buckwheat – whatever that is – but the team here has it in abundance.
That said, one of the nice things about Seed Library is that it makes little fuss about the (significant) amount of technique that goes into its drinks. The focus is instead on making sure guests are relaxed and having fun. As a result the softly lit space under One Hundred Shoreditch manages to feel cutting-edge cool and cosy at the same time. Very clever stuff.
The Barley Mow, Mayfair
The magnetic centre of town isn’t necessarily the best place to hunt for a good pub. For every little gem there are a hundred wood-panelled nothings serving fish and chips and Instagram stories to tourists. So when a really good new boozer joins the scene, it’s cause for celebration.
This exceedingly smart pub is already garnering praise for the restaurant upstairs. But the bar itself is an excellent place to stop in for a bit of humanity away from the bustle of Oxford Street. General manager Lara Rogers honed her craft at the nearby Guinea Grill. Which for fans of her alma mater will raise an important question: how is the Guinness at the Barley Mow? Reader, it is excellent.
The staff serve pints, neatly chosen wines and an impressive array of spirits with equal ease. Any pub that can turn out Chablis by the glass without losing its essential pub-ness is well worth your time. Bar food includes delicate little cockles with butter and parsley, haggis scotch eggs and the soon-to-be-classic hot meat bun. This is a tower of slowly roasted beef on brioche with crunchy pickles and gravy. You might find getting a table to eat difficult when the evening crowd descends, but the Barley Mow is as good for an afternoon bite as a stand-up drink or three in the evening.
Sake Collective, Shoreditch
The latest in a string of sake-centric openings in London, this importer and bottle shop on Commercial Street has a trim bar serving around 30 sakes by the glass and carafe. In the short time since its opening, it has become a destination for devotees seeking special bottlings not available elsewhere in the UK. But where Sake Collective really shines is in offering newcomers a way into this fascinating but potentially intimidating category.
There’s something very appealing about casting off Dry January and learning something new at the same time and this is a great place to do that. There are regular tastings and masterclasses advertised on the shop’s Instagram, but there’s also plenty of fun to be had posting up at the bar unplanned and asking for recommendations. The staff are fantastic at sharing their expertise while guiding you through a range that covers delicate sparkling sakes, aged styles and richly fruity varieties infused with yuzu or ume plum.
Must-haves include the Sanrensei Junmai Daiginjo Red, which is dry and fragrant with intense notes of strawberry, red apple skin and elderflower – and the Tamaasahi Albatross, which marries honeyed sweetness with bracing umami and Riesling-like acidity.
Swift, Borough
The third opening from the Swift team takes the grown-up but fun feel of the Soho original and places it so perfectly on Borough High Street that you’d think it had always been there. The Italian café décor and the list of beautiful, spritzy afternoon drinks have been transposed in their entirety. As has the Aperitivo Hour, which actually runs for a generous four hours from 3-7 p.m. every day.
To see in February it would only be sensible to take an afternoon off work and spend some time with a Solstice (Campari, blood orange, passionfruit and prosecco) or a Fleur de lis (calvados, dry vermouth, apple, woodruff and more fizz). From there it would be rude not to order the drink that launched 1,000 nights out, the Swift Irish coffee. A good measure of Jameson, caffeine, cream and a pancreas-challenging amount of demerara sugar later and you’ll be ready for anything the night throws at you.
If you’re travelling with non-drinkers or you’re wishing to keep the moderation going into February then fear not. Swift has always offered a shining example of a no-and-low menu. Not an afterthought mocktail in sight, just a nicely inclusive list of zero-ABV drinks shaken up by the bar team and a good selection of quality non-alcoholic wines.
Velvet, Westminster
The latest opening from legendary bartender Salvatore Calabrese, this ultra-lux bar in the Corinthia hotel is draped with velvet curtains, lined with velvet booths and generally fairly well-stocked with velvet. As the maestro comes to this project with more than 40 years of innovation behind him, booking a seat here is like going to see a singer on an arena tour or at a residency in Las Vegas. His old hits – such as the Breakfast Martini or the Spicy Fifty, made with vanilla vodka, elderflower, honey, lime and fresh chilli – still absolutely bring the house down.
Once you’ve ordered one of Salvatore’s inventions, there’s a list of 1920s classics to work through – including a natty take on the Black Velvet which adds sherry and gin to the traditional stout and champagne. Then you have your pick of frozen martinis and ‘modern era’ drinks created for the bar. There’s a Sazerac served with fresh truffles among them which is tasty, if insane.
The drinks are woundingly expensive, which is about right for this sort of hotel in this part of town. But for far north of £20 a drink you get the hospitality, the maestro, and – of course – the velvet. For a treat, totally worth it.
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