The best cocktails bars in Britain have officially been named – and 25 of them are in London

an image of three cocktails in old fashioned martini classes — (Image credit: Chiave)

London is packed with brilliant boozers – from old man locals or underground speakeasies, one thing you can rely in the capital for is a good old knees up. One thing constantly all over the Soho streets and Tiktok feeds is a display of the big smoke’s cracking cocktail bars, and now the Top 50 cocktail bars for 2026 have officially been named, with plenty of London entries.

Satan’s Whiskers in Bethnal Green was the highest ranking London spot on the list, securing third place overall. This is actually a bit of a slip down the list since the previous years, having clinched the top spot in 2025 (and 2023, and 2019), but was pipped this year by spots in Liverpool and Birmingham. It’s known as London’s “bartender’s bar”, swapping the hoity-toity heights of, ahem, some London cocktail bars for character, uniqueness and warmth. You’ll be served up some seriously impressive tipples, and despite its laid back attire serves up a rotating carousel of around and up to 400 cocktails.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 15: A general view of the 2025 BAFTA Scotland Awards Nominees Party held at Sisi on November 15, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland.

A further four London cocktail bars made it into the top ten, meaning a solid 50% average. This is bang on consistent with the ratio on the rest of the list, as London spots have bagged 25 out of the top 50.

Waltz in Shoreditch made 5th place, followed by Amaro Bar in Kensinhton and Bar Termini in Soho which came in 7th and 8th spot. The last London local to make the list was Tayer + Elementary in Shoreditch.

Topjaw favourite (aka one of the most given answers) Three Sheets in Soho made the list, taking spot 11, with its Dalston sister site also making the list at number 32. Hot on its heels was Side Hustle in Covent Garden in 12th place, and Swift, Soho which ranked number 15.

Outside of London, Couch and Bar Glue took 1st and 2nd place, with Hull’s evocatively named The Brain Jar in 4th. The only other two non-London spots in the top 10 were Schofield’s Bar in Manchester, and Panda and Sons in Edinburgh.

An image of two espresso martinis on a wooden bar

The full London list was:

3. Satan’s Whiskers, Bethnal Green
5. Waltz, Shoreditch
7. Amaro Bar, Kensington
8. Bar Termini, Soho
10. Tayēr + Elementary, Shoreditch
11. Three Sheets, Soho
12. Side Hustle, Covent Garden
15. Swift, Soho
18. Archive & Myth,
19. Kwãnt, Mayfair
21. Murder Inc, Soho
25. Lyaness, South Bank
26. Equal Parts, Bethnal Green
31. The Connaught Bar, Mayfair
32. Three Sheets, Dalston
33. Viajante87, Notting Hill
35. Scarfes Bar, Holborn
36. 🔶🟥🔵, Hackney
37. Bar Kinky, Fitzrovia
39. Dram, Soho
43. The Spy Bar
44. Happiness Forgets, Hoxton
45. Disrepute, Soho
46. Opium Cocktail and Dim Sum Parlour, Chinatown
48. SOMA, Soho

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Hermione Blandford is the Content Editor for Shortlist’s social media which means you can usually find her scrolling through Instagram and calling it work, or stopping random people in the street and accosting them with a mini mic. She has previously worked in food and drink PR for brands including Johnnie Walker, Tanqueray, Gordon's, The Singleton, Lagavulin and Don Julio which means she is a self confessed expert in spicy margaritas and pints, regularly popping into the pub in the name of research.

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