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Time Out
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The hotel bar that makes the best martini in London, according to expert bartenders
Martinis are having a massive main character moment right now. Gone are the stuffy James Bond connotations; in London the martini is the tipple du jour, with icy coups stuffed with olives appearing in the Instagram photo dumps of all the city's coolest people. Charli xcx just hosted her wedding afterparty in a Dalston bar known for serving £8 ones. Many of London's drinkers will claim to know the best place for sipping the timeless bevvy, but if it's done wrong it can leave you trying to chug down a glass of tepid gin (or vodka) while wondering what all the fuss is about. So to find out where exactly is the best, Time Out asked seven bar experts, including Tayer + Elementary's Monica Berg, Lyaness ' Mr Lyan, and Coral Anderson of Swift, to nominate the best martini in the city. Here's what they said. According to the bar experts, London's very best martini can be found at the Connaught Hotel. This uber swish Mayfair hotel has several bars, two of which were nominated by our cocktail professionals for having the best martinis in town. First up was the hotel's famous Connaught Bar, recommended by co-founder of Hackney bar Equal Parts, Carina Soto Velásquez. This bougie art deco haunt often tops world's best bars lists, and has been known for slinging martinis served from a very posh trolley since it opened in 2008. 'The Connaught Bar makes an incredible classic martini,' said Soto Velásquez. 'All the work they do around the martinis there is brilliant. The classic gin martini with a lemon twist is gorgeous.' Also nominated was the Connaught Hotel's Coburg Bar, the quieter and smaller sibling to the Connaught Bar, which Three Sheets ' Max Venning said served up London's number one martini. More low-key than the grand main bar, punters are more likely to nab a table at the Coburg than the often full Connaught Bar. 'I like to sit outside in the atrium. It's really bright and airy and you can look over Mount Street,' Venning said. Venning's go-to order is a dry vodka martini with a twist, made with Belvedere. 'It's really crisp, and nice and stirred down with good dilution.' As for the runners up, perhaps London's most famous martini spot, Dukes Bar at Dukes Hotel in Mayfair was nominated by Monica Berg, while Rita's co-owners Missy Flynn and Gabriel Pryce recommended the Martini Bar at Egerton House Hotel – another Mayfair establishment. Mr Lyan's favourite was Waltz Bar, an intimate and new Japanese cocktail joint in Shoreditch serving a 'nice version of a Gibson'. Exale Brewing's Stephanie Randle-Solley chose the plush new Shoreditch resto and bar One Club Row, while Coral Anderson's pick for London's best martini was at Satan's Whiskers, a Bethnal Green cocktail bar known for serving top-notch classics. The best bars in London for 2025.
Time Out
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
The best dive bar in London, according to bartending experts
Finding a good dive bar in London can be tricky. It has to be sufficiently dingy, a little bit grubby, and bar orders should ideally only be one syllable – we're talking beers, shots, and maybe crisps. London might have an abundance of pubs, ranging from the old-fashioned variety to sleek hipster haunts, but when it comes to a proper dive, choices can be limited. That's why Time Out asked seven different bar industry insiders – including Coral Anderson from cocktail bar Swift, Mr Lyan of the acclaimed Lyaness, and Carina Soto Velásquez, co-owner of what we've just named London's best bar, Equal Parts – to recommend their favourite dive bar in the city, so we could come up with the definitive answer to the question of London's best. According to the experts, the best dive bar in the city is Blondies in Clapton. The east London metal haunt has been open since 2015, and is famous for its packed-out gigs, as well as outrageously OTT Halloween decorations every October. 'Blondies is sweaty, chaotic, charming, very loud and just brilliant,' said Stephanie Randle-Solley from Exale Brewing, an independent brewery and taproom in Walthamstow. 'They have really great gigs, so make sure to check their listings,' she added, remembering a particularly raucous night when she saw Australian punk duo Mannequin Death Squad play in the tiny room. Randle-Solley recommended ordering the Blondies lager, the in-house beer that's made at the bar's Leytonstone taproom. Blondies Brewery was recently put under a licence review after noise complaints, and has been crowdfunding to save its future ever since. 'It's not particularly high ABV, it's an easy gig drink,' said Randle-Solley about the brew. Max Venning, co-founder of Three Sheets in Dalston and Soho also nominated Blondies as the best dive bar in London. 'It's a great grungey rock and roll dive,' he said, also pointing out the live music, or what he calls 'mad gigs'. Runners up included the legendary Oxford Street boozer Bradley's Spanish Bar, chosen by Missy Flynn and Gabriel Pryce from Rita's; the Americana-esque Rasputin's in Hackney, known for its £7 martinis and recommended by Coral Anderson; and The Victoria, a late-night pub and gig venue in Dalston, chosen by Mr Lyan. An honourable mention goes to Slim Jim's Liquor Store in Islington, also known for its gigs – Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong even put on an impromptu show there in 2023 – whiskies and 3am licence, which was also shouted out by Venning and Mr Lyan. The best bars in London for 2025.
