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The Late Edition

London's evening edition. Independent, updated daily.

Guides Guide Any time Updated 9 Sep 2026

Best bars in London: the ones worth crossing town for

The best bars in London sorted by what you actually want from the evening: a view, a seat, a late licence, or somewhere you can hear each other.

A bartender making a cocktail

Every list of the best bars in London is a list of the same twenty rooms, most of which take bookings a month out and none of which is any use at half past ten on a Thursday when you want a seat.

So this is sorted by what you are actually after. A bar that is perfect for one of these is usually wrong for the others, which is why single ranked lists are not much help.

For a view

Rooftop bars has the full list, including which are free to enter, which need booking and which shut for winter. The short version: the free ones are better value and the booked ones are better in bad weather, because a rooftop with no cover is a lottery from October.

The free viewpoints in sunset views are the version with no minimum spend, and several have a bar anyway.

For a late licence

Late drinking is a licensing question rather than a taste one. Past about half eleven the choice is set by who is allowed to serve, not by what you fancy, and the map of that is smaller and more concentrated than most people assume. Our after dark page lists what is still running past midnight on any given night.

For something to do

Activity bars cover darts, shuffleboard, mini golf and bingo. They are the best answer for a group that does not all know each other, and most are noticeably cheaper before seven. Karaoke in London is private booths rather than a stage, which suits most people better.

For hearing each other

The hardest thing to find in London and the least written about. Pubs beat bars for it, early beats late, and upstairs beats downstairs almost everywhere. Dog friendly pubs and pub quizzes both skew towards rooms where conversation is the point.

For a specific week

London Cocktail Week is the one time of year the expensive rooms are cheap, and the Bermondsey Beer Mile on a Saturday is the cheapest good drinking in the city if you are prepared to walk between railway arches.

What is actually on tonight, including which bars have something programmed rather than just being open, is on tonight.

What is coming up

All guides

London month by month

Twelve guides, one a month

Things to do in January Things to do in February Things to do in March Things to do in April Things to do in May Things to do in June Things to do in July Things to do in August Things to do in September Things to do in October Things to do in November Things to do in December

What is on right now

All 2207 listings

This guide is rewritten each year before the dates come round. For what is actually happening this week rather than what happens every year, the listings below are dated, checked against the venue and carry the venue's own link.

Next up

  1. Theatre £45 to £110, under 30s and students from £10

    Main Stage: Kimberly Akimbo

    Times vary Main Stage, Hampstead

    Until 7 Nov

  2. Theatre £15 to £35

    Bush Theatre: Darkling, by Titas Halder

    19:30 Bush Theatre, Shepherd's Bush

    Until 24 Oct

  3. Theatre From £31

    Young Vic: Thelma and Louise

    19:30 Young Vic, Main House, Waterloo

    Until 24 Oct

Or pick a part of town

Soho Covent Garden Islington Bloomsbury Camden Shoreditch Dalston Battersea Fitzrovia Crouch End

Questions people ask

What are the best bars in London?

It depends what you want from the evening. For a view, the rooftop bars, with the free ones better value and the covered ones better from October. For late, the venues with a late licence, which are fewer and more concentrated than people assume. For a group, the activity bars. For conversation, an upstairs pub room early.

Which London rooftop bars are free to enter?

Several, and our rooftop bars guide marks which. The free ones generally have no minimum spend but no cover either, which matters from October onwards.

Where can you drink late in London?

Past about half eleven the choice is set by licensing rather than taste. The late night listings cover what is still serving, and the after dark page lists what is still running past midnight tonight.

When is London Cocktail Week?

It runs in October and is the one week of the year when the expensive rooms are reachable. Our London Cocktail Week guide is updated when the dates and the venue list are confirmed.

This guide is rewritten rather than refreshed, and everything named in it is checked against the venue's own page. Times and prices change; where a listing links to a venue, that link is the one to trust. How we choose what goes in.