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London has a drink problem. It’s still a challenge finding somewhere to enjoy a quiet pint after 11 o’clock at night. Even if you succeed, chances are that you’ll be paying through the nose for the privilege. Much of the city’s more appetizing nightlife happens behind closed doors in exclusive private members’ clubs. That said, some of these have recently relaxed their door policy and during normal licensing hours (see below), you are really spoiled for choice. Traditional pubs survive across town, a few of them overblown attempts to match tourist expectations, others with genuinely extraordinary Victorian interiors, but many just straightforward local boozers doing what they’ve always done. And some do much more besides. Gastropubs have mushroomed – especially in north and west London. Music bars have blurred the distinction between club and pub, many with dance floors still jumping into the wee small hours in Shoreditch and Soho. And then there are the hundreds of candlelit wine bars, swish brasseries and elegant hotel bars, sweaty dives and designer cocktail lounges. Whatever the occasion, London can raise a glass to it.
Friday and Saturday nights remain the most difficult times to find a seat or space at the bar, and by the same token Monday nights are appreciably less busy. In the West End, Soho, Covent Garden and Mayfair make up the most promising stamping grounds: Soho for specialist music and latenight drinking; Covent Garden for more of the same, with broader appeal; and Mayfair for cocktails in smart hotels and piano bars. In the City, most pubs are closed at weekends and only open until 9pm during the week. Further afield, in the west it’s Notting Hill for style bars and gastropubs, Knightsbridge and South Kensington for more sophisticated drinking; in the east, Shoreditch for art music, clublife and latenight partying and Clerkenwell for the same, with more of a designer touch; in the north, Camden stays open late and loud, while Islington too can be mad, bad and dangerous to know, with backyard King’s Cross in between still pulling in the clubbers every weekend; in the south, Brixton remains their most popular destination, with Clapham the place for marginally quieter pleasures in antique pubs and contemporary style bars.
The standard licensing hours in London are Mon-Sat 1100-1500, 1800-2300, and Sun 1200-1500, 1900-2230, although most places now stay open all afternoon Mon-Sun. Most establishments staying open later (usually until anytime between 2400 and 0300) will charge admission after 2100 or 2200, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. Clubs usually run from 2200 until 0300 and charge anything from £5 to £15 for entry.
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