Bottomless brunch in London: how it works and what it costs

Bottomless brunch is the most-booked thing in London hospitality and the most misunderstood. It is not unlimited drinks; it is a fixed window of unlimited drinks from a short list, attached to a food order, and the details vary enough between venues to ruin an afternoon if you do not check.

Here is how the format actually works, so you can read a listing properly.

The time limit is the whole product

Ninety minutes is the standard and two hours is generous. The clock starts at your booking time, not when you arrive, which is the single most expensive thing to get wrong. Turn up fifteen minutes late and you have paid for seventy-five minutes.

Some venues run the clock from the first drink served. Ask when you book, because it is a material difference and they will tell you honestly.

What bottomless actually includes

Usually prosecco, a house beer, and one or two cocktails, often an Aperol spritz and a bloody mary. It rarely includes spirits, wine by grape, or anything off the main cocktail list. Upgrading to champagne is a supplement, always.

One drink at a time is normal and enforced: you will not be served a second until the first glass is empty, and stockpiling before the clock runs out does not work anywhere reputable.

The food, which is not optional

Every bottomless brunch requires a food order, and at most venues the food is included in the headline price with a choice from a short brunch menu. Where the price looks unusually low, check whether food is extra, because that is normally why.

What it costs

The range in London runs from about £30 to £50 per person for ninety minutes with food included. The chain offers, of which Slug and Lettuce is the best known and most searched, sit at the bottom of that range and are genuinely the cheapest way to do it.

Anything much under £30 with food included is either a shorter window, a smaller drinks list, or an off-peak weekday slot, and all three are fine as long as you know which one you booked.

The rules that catch people

Everyone at the table has to do it. Almost every venue requires the whole booking to take the package, so a friend who is not drinking usually still pays, or pays a reduced non-drinker rate if the venue offers one. Ask before booking rather than at the table.

They will stop serving you. Licensing law makes it an offence to serve someone who is drunk, and bottomless venues enforce it more than ordinary bars because they have to. Refusal is not negotiable and there is no refund.

Deposits are normal and non-refundable at the popular places, usually per head, and cancellation windows of 48 hours are standard.

Service charge is calculated on the full package price, so factor another 12.5 per cent on top of the headline.

When to book it

Saturday from midday is the peak and books two or three weeks out in summer. Sunday afternoon is easier and often cheaper. Friday slots exist at a lot of venues now and are the quietest of the three.

A weekday bottomless brunch is usually the same product at a lower price, and it is the version to choose if the point is the company rather than the crowd.