Bars

The Best Hotel Bars in London

Where the city's most considered cocktail programmes meet architecture worth dressing for.

Guides/Hotel Bars

The Edit

A great hotel bar is a particular thing. It must work for the guest who has nowhere else to be and the local who has chosen it over every other option in the city. The eight bars on this list do both — including one we consider the finest in London. Each has been visited repeatedly, at different hours, and assessed on the quality of the drinks, the calibre of the service, and the simple question of whether you want to stay.

The Connaught Bar

The Connaught·Mayfair

Agostino Perrone's bar on Carlos Place is, by most serious measures, the finest hotel bar in the world — and certainly in London. The Martini trolley is the most famous ritual in the city's cocktail scene, but the full menu is equally considered. The room itself, designed by David Collins, is one of the great interiors.

The tableside Martini trolley — a London institution
One of the world's most decorated cocktail programmes
David Collins interiors of extraordinary refinement

The verdict

The standard. Nothing else in London comes close.

The Velvet Bar

Corinthia London·Westminster

Our favourite bar in London. The Velvet at the Corinthia is everything a great hotel bar should be — deeply comfortable, impeccably staffed, and possessed of an atmosphere that makes the rest of the evening feel like an afterthought. The drinks programme is serious without being showy, and the room has a warmth that the more celebrated bars in this city rarely achieve.

Our editors' choice — the bar we return to most
A cocktail programme of quiet confidence and real depth
One of the most comfortable rooms in London

The verdict

Our favourite. The bar we'd choose on any evening, without hesitation.

The Peninsula Bar

The Peninsula London·Belgravia

The Peninsula arrived in London in 2023 and its bar immediately established itself among the city's best. The room is grand without being cold — high ceilings, considered lighting, and a service culture imported directly from Hong Kong. The cocktail list draws on the hotel's Asian heritage in ways that feel genuinely original rather than decorative.

The Peninsula's signature service culture — among the best in London
A cocktail programme with genuine Asian influence and originality
One of the most architecturally impressive new bar rooms in the city

The verdict

The finest new hotel bar to open in London in years.

Magritte

The Beaumont·Mayfair

Named for the Surrealist painter whose spirit the room quietly channels, Magritte at The Beaumont is one of the most considered bar interiors in London. The 1920s American hotel aesthetic is executed with real conviction — the bar snacks are exceptional, the cocktails are rooted in the classics, and the crowd is reliably interesting.

One of the most beautifully realised bar rooms in London
Classic cocktails executed with precision and restraint
The bar snacks are among the best in the city

The verdict

Quietly brilliant. The kind of bar you want to keep to yourself.

The American Bar

The Savoy·Strand

The oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain, and still one of the best. The American Bar at The Savoy has been serving since 1893 and carries that history without being weighed down by it. The drinks are serious, the service impeccable, and the room — all Art Deco lacquer and leather — is exactly what a hotel bar should look like.

Britain's oldest surviving cocktail bar
The Savoy Cocktail Book — the original, still in use
Live piano most evenings

The verdict

History worn lightly. A room that earns its reputation every night.

Brooklands Bar

The Peninsula London·Belgravia

Brooklands, the rooftop bar and restaurant at The Peninsula, takes its name from the legendary motor racing circuit and carries the reference with style. The views across Hyde Park Corner are among the best in London, the cocktail list is inventive, and the room — designed with the same precision as the rest of the hotel — is a genuinely exciting place to spend an evening.

Exceptional rooftop views across Hyde Park Corner and beyond
A cocktail programme inspired by British motoring heritage
One of the most talked-about new openings in London

The verdict

The most exciting rooftop bar in London right now.

Scarfes Bar

Rosewood London·Holborn

Named for the illustrator Gerald Scarfe, whose work covers the walls, Scarfes Bar at the Rosewood is the most characterful room on this list. The drinks are well-made, the fireplace is lit in winter, and the atmosphere — part drawing room, part salon — is unlike anything else in London.

Gerald Scarfe illustrations covering every surface
A working fireplace — the best seat in winter
Live jazz most evenings

The verdict

The most characterful bar in London. Genuinely unlike anywhere else.

The Library Bar

The Lanesborough·Hyde Park Corner

The Lanesborough's Library Bar is the quietest room on this list — and the most formally beautiful. Regency interiors, a butler service that anticipates rather than reacts, and a drinks list that rewards careful reading. For evenings when the city should feel very far away.

The most serene bar room in London
Butler service of exceptional quality
An extraordinary cognac and whisky selection

The verdict

For those who prefer conversation to spectacle.

Member access

We can reserve the right table.

Several of the bars featured here operate reservation systems or have preferred seating for known guests. London Edit members benefit from our relationships with the front-of-house teams at a number of these properties — meaning the right table, at the right time, without the usual friction. Our lifestyle management service extends this further.

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How we choose

We visit anonymously, pay our own bills, and return more than once before forming a view. No bar or hotel has been informed of this guide's existence. Our assessments reflect visits across different evenings, seasons, and levels of service pressure.

Members receive preferred access and reservations at the bars that matter.

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