London’s Best New Bars of 2025

This year saw London’s cocktail scene take a deep breath and not take itself too seriously. Dive bars and speakeasies are having a moment – but even the more outlandishly themed bars (hello, Bloodsports and All My Gods) are turning out creative drinks lists. It’s also been the year for the neighbourhood wine bar, with great new independents like Coulure Wine responding to their communities. The list also wouldn’t be complete without some truly standout openings by luxury hotels. These are the best new bars of 2025.

For more guides to the best of London in 2025, read our list of this year's best new restaurants, our team's favourite dishes, and our top picks of restaurants to open outside of London.

In opening its first London outpost, boutique hotel brand Miiro has also created one of this year’s most innovative neighbourhood cocktail bars. Sprout, the bar at Miiro’s Templeton Garden, is helmed by industry veteran Will Meredith (ex-Lyaness) and business partner Ellie Camm, with a seasonal menu that takes inspiration from market stalls. You’ll find drinks such as the whimsical Celeriac Milk Punch – a blend of gin, cider brandy and celeriac roasted with mustard seeds and paprika – and the Red Onion Manhattan, which combines sweet onions with English rye whisky. The Tomato Collins balances the umami of tomato with the sweetness of strawberry wine. The tranquil setting matches the drinks, with a terrace overlooking lush gardens and sheltered by Georgian townhouses.

This tiny, elegant Japanese cocktail bar tucked away in Shoreditch is named after Bill Evans’s 1957 jazz standard, Waltz for Debbie. The menu is split in two: In Season is a nod to Japan’s 72 “micro seasons”, and Evergreen reflects modern bar techniques including carbonation, fermentation and re-distilling. Owned by highly regarded bartender Gento Torigata (ex-Kwant), every detail – from drinks to interior – is carefully chosen and presented.

Roxy Velvet – tattooist, artist, burlesque dancer, biker – teamed up with the whisky-focused Dram team and created a rock’n’roll dive bar in a Bethnal Green railway arch. It sounds like an east London cliche, but you simply won’t care when you’re having this much fun. All My Gods has a real sense of humour (there’s a Buzzballz vending machine) and friendly staff who will help you find a cocktail to suit your taste. With cocktails at £10, frozen vodka Martinis at £8, and Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne at £13, you’ll struggle to find a reason to leave.

Karaoke, Guinness and Thai food: all the ingredients of a great night out. In spring this year, the Mc & Sons group added Molly Mc’s to its roster of south London Irish pubs, inspired by the tradition of Irish music sessions that took hold in London post-WWII. It’s also celebrating another Irish London pub tradition: serving Thai food. The space is expansive yet suitably cosy, with snugs and smaller singing rooms. It has a good classic cocktail menu skewing towards Irish spirits, excellent beers and a Saturday brunch menu.

A horror-themed sports bar in Covent Garden is an unlikely hit in a neighbourhood more prone to elevated cocktail bars. Unadulterated fun and a touch of mayhem meant that this cavernous, unpretentious joint has become a firm favourite since opening earlier this year. The food (American diner-style burgers, loaded fries et al) is expected and well-executed (it is part of the Meatliquor family, after all). Drinks are less expected: split into Highballs, Bloods (drinks with tomato juice), Frozen, Old Skool and Shots, the list is long and very alluring. When there’s no sport to watch, the many screens play cult horror films until 2am – think the 1992 cult hit Bram Stoker’s Dracula with Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder.

Not one to rest on its laurels, Belgravia’s Mediterranean restaurant Wildflowers transformed its upstairs bar a year after opening, giving the space its own identity as a Basque-style wine and pintxos bar. Bar Flor is a beautifully designed spot, with illustrations on the walls and cosy lighting. The wine menu is concise but interesting, with mostly European wines; there is also a focus on vermouth and sherry, and elegant cocktails that incorporate them. Perfect with pintxos of Cantabrian anchovy, shallot and salted butter, or jamon rillettes and guindilla peppers – or a more substantial calamari sandwich.

There’s something incredibly satisfying about discovering a hidden bar – especially when, once you’re in, you’re greeted by a genuinely exciting cocktail menu. As Above, So Below is everything you want in a speakeasy: it’s behind a barbershop (you have to press a buzzer to get in), and it’s dark and moody with exposed brickwork. It’s led by bartender Jay Rivera, whose Filipino heritage plays into some of the cocktails – such as the Hot & Cold, which has cold Kola soda on the bottom and warm ube horchata foam on top. The drinks are pared back but pack a flavour punch.

One of the year’s most anticipated hotel openings was The Chancery Rosewood, which took over the Grosvenor Square site that was once the US Embassy. The luxury hotel’s chic seventh-floor rooftop bar is a triumph, with sweeping views across west London. It wears its American legacy on its sleeve, with design harking back to the golden-hued sophistication of mid-century modernism. The drinks menu champions American whiskies and wines (particularly from small producers), and cocktails are stripped down without compromising creativity.

This neighbourhood wine bar has some serious clout behind it. It’s owned by Mags Janjo, founder of import company MJ Wine Cellars, and GQ’s 2022 sommelier of the year, Henna Zinzuwadia. Together, they’ve curated an impressive list which celebrates Black-owned wineries and lesser-known natural wine producers. It’s a place where the wine novice will feel welcomed and looked after, and the connoisseur will be intrigued. The pair also run supper clubs and tastings throughout the year – part of their mission to make Coulure Wine a community hub as well as a top-tier wine bar.

The Hawksmoor group’s St Pancras expansion was one of the more surprising openings at the tail end of 2025. With its high ceilings, velvet seating and marble tabletops, the space feels made for sipping Martinis. The menu promises to serve them at precise sub-zero temperatures so that each serve can be enjoyed at its best, whether it’s a Gibson, a Vesper, a Steakhouse or a classic gin Martini with a twist. That said, the drinks menu remains approachable, with more than just Martinis, and the service is friendly.

Sometimes, a dramatic revamp can feel just like a new opening – and London saw several notable examples this year. Chinatown institution Experimental Cocktail Club reopened in October with a whole new concept and a chic refurb in celebration of 15 years on the scene, with snacks by Jackson Boxer and cocktails that delve deep into the classics. Cinnamon Kitchen, another beloved institution, reopened its Anise Bar in the City with a cocktail menu that is 50 per cent non-alcoholic and drinks that incorporate spices to pair with the Indian-inspired bar menu. St John has opened a cosy wine bar in Neal’s Yard, just across the courtyard from its previous location, with a blackboard listing its own wines as well as a selection of the team’s favourite pours.