The best cocktail bars in Soho
A negroni poured to the brim, a martini at the Swift bar, chai sours until 3am. Soho has eight bars on the UK top fifty. These are the ones we would walk to.
By Only Soho Editorial
The best cocktail bar in Soho is Bar Termini, 25 seats on Old Compton Street, and the drink is the house negroni. That is not a controversial call: Soho put eight bars on this year's UK Top 50 Cocktail Bars list, and Termini came highest, at number eight. But a good night in Soho is a crawl, not a sit, so here is the route, with the drink at every stop and the hour to arrive.
Bar Termini, 7 Old Compton Street
Bar Termini is a tiny 1950s-style Italian bar from Tony Conigliaro's team. Service is seated only, so you may wait for a stool. The negronis come in four house styles, poured right up to the brim. Order the house negroni, a plate of charcuterie, and do not touch the glass until it is on the table. Go early evening, when the coffee crowd turns into the aperitivo crowd.
Swift, Old Compton Street
Swift is two bars in one building. Upstairs is mostly walk-in and built for a martini standing up. Downstairs is reservations only, in two-hour slots from five, with more than 300 whiskies on a 68-page menu and live jazz on Tuesdays and Sunday evenings from six until nine. From Monday to Thursday, before six, cocktails start at £7. Order a martini upstairs, then book the basement for a whisky.
Three Sheets Soho, 13 Manette Street
The Soho branch of the Dalston bar, number 11 on the UK list, tucked off Charing Cross Road. It is a neighbourhood bar with world-class standards and short, balanced drinks. Order the French 75, which is the house signature, or the Sazzaquack, made with Chinese five spice.
SOMA, 14 Denman Street
SOMA is a minimalist speakeasy from the team behind Kricket next door, with drinks drawn from the Indian subcontinent. The soundtrack starts as jazz and ends as golden age hip hop, which tells you how the night goes. Open until 3am at weekends. Order the old fashioned sweetened with jaggery and toasted coconut, then the rum sour with clarified chai and ginger.
Disrepute, beneath Kingly Court
Disrepute is the date bar: underground, velvet booths, brass and mirrors, with a menu that celebrates counterculture. It is on the UK Top 50 too. Book a booth for half nine and order whatever the bartender is proudest of this week.
Bar Lina, under Lina Stores
After hours, you walk through the door of the Lina Stores deli and down into a plum-coloured speakeasy. Drinks are built on Italian spirits and house-made ingredients, with hot, carby snacks. Order a negroni or a spritz and something fried.
Bar Américain at Brasserie Zédel, 20 Sherwood Street
Bar Américain is a 1930s art deco cocktail bar under Brasserie Zédel, walk-in only, with Prohibition-era drinks on the list. It is the most glamorous room in Soho for the price of a cocktail. Go before dinner upstairs and order a martini.
For later
- El Siete, Brewer Street. A neon-red agave bar below El Pastor, open until 1am every night. Seven margaritas on the list. Order the one with mezcal.
- Cahoots, Soho. A 1940s bar with a vintage tube carriage and weekly live music, drinks in hip flasks and a menu printed as a newspaper. Order something in a flask and lean into it.
- The Mulwray, above The Blue Posts, 8 Rupert Street. A first-floor bar from the team behind The Palomar, on the Chinatown edge of Soho. Order the saffron negroni.
How to drink well in Soho
- Arrive before eight. The small bars, Termini and Swift upstairs among them, fill fast once dinner lets out. Early is easy.
- Book the basements. Swift downstairs takes reservations only, and the booths at Disrepute are worth securing for a date.
- Use the happy hour. Swift does cocktails from £7 before six, Monday to Thursday, which is the best price for a drink this good in Soho.
- Eat something. Termini does charcuterie and cheese, Bar Lina does hot, carby snacks, and Chinatown is a short walk from most of these bars.
The crawl
Termini at six, Swift upstairs at seven, dinner, then Disrepute or SOMA after ten. If you want the whole field, The Nudge keeps a Soho bar list updated, and the UK Top 50 for 2026 is a good map of who the trade rates. Pace yourself. Soho will still be here at 2am.
