The Best Bars in Covent Garden

The Savoy American Bar carries a century of cocktail history without feeling preserved in amber. The room is smaller than most people expect — intimate, amber-lit, with the kind of hush that suggests serious drinking is taking place. The Corpse Reviver No. 2 remains the benchmark, but the Hanky Panky made correctly is what keeps regulars returning. Book ahead; walk-ins are possible but rarely rewarded on weekends.

Order: The Corpse Reviver No. 2

Terroirs has been one of London's most reliable natural wine bars since before natural wine became a shorthand for everything. The list rotates constantly, favouring small producers from the Loire, the Jura and Catalonia. Stand at the bar if you can — the conversation that starts there tends to be better than anything happening at the tables. Charcuterie and anchovies are the right accompaniment.

Order: Ask the barman what just arrived — they will have an opinion

Most people come to Frog for the tasting menu. We come for the bar downstairs. Adam Handling's team applies culinary precision to drinks: fermented fruit shrubs, aged spirits, house-made tinctures. The space is low-ceilinged and close, which suits the menu perfectly. Go before or after dinner elsewhere and you will spend considerably less while drinking considerably better than most of your neighbours.

Order: Seasonal signature cocktail — rotates monthly

Hawksmoor's Seven Dials outpost does its best work in the bar rather than the dining room. The Shaky Pete's Ginger Brew has a cult following, and the Old Fashioned programme — using different base spirits each quarter — gives regulars a reason to keep returning. The room is dark walnut and brass, loud enough to mask awkward silences, quiet enough to hold a proper conversation.

Order: Shaky Pete's Ginger Brew

The rooftop Radio Rooftop Bar gets all the attention, but the Opal Bar on the ground floor is where the more interesting drinking happens. The cocktail list draws on Spanish spirits and Mediterranean botanicals. Tables fill quickly after 6pm on weekdays, so arrive around 5:30pm or book. The Picante Negroni variation has become our standing order whenever we are in the neighbourhood.

Order: Picante Negroni

We are not generally in the business of recommending Irish pubs, but this is a genuine exception in an area full of manufactured heritage. It gets loud and warm in the evenings — packed with locals who have been coming for years alongside visitors who wander in and end up staying far longer than intended. The Guinness is poured correctly, without rushing, which in this part of London is an achievement.

Order: Guinness, poured properly

Cahoots sits in a former Underground station air raid shelter and commits fully to the 1940s wartime conceit — ration-book menus, vintage carriages, period costumes on staff. The theming could tip into parody but the cocktails are genuinely good and the space has real character. Book for weekends well ahead; Friday and Saturday evenings fill weeks in advance. The GWR Gin Fizz is exactly what it should be.

Order: GWR Gin Fizz

The Nag's Head is an antidote to everything precious in Covent Garden's bar scene. Low ceilings, cash only at the bar, real ales, no cocktails, no background music beyond whoever happens to be talking loudly. It has been pouring pints on James Street since 1921 and has no intention of changing. An honest pub among a lot of theatre.

Order: Whatever real ale is on cask that evening

Named for caricaturist Gerald Scarfe, this is the sort of place that rewards arriving early and leaving late. The room is lined with Scarfe's original artwork — satirical portraits of political figures — and the cocktail list is one of the most considered in this part of London. The bar team here has no interest in churning tables, which means the pace is exactly right. The Diplomat cocktail has earned its place on the permanent menu.

Order: The Diplomat

To get in, you answer the door as a prospective client with a case to solve — brief, painless, and effective at shifting the mood before you descend to the bar. Once inside, the 1920s speakeasy atmosphere holds up without being exhausting, and the cocktail list plays along with the conceit without using it as an excuse for mediocre drinks. Their house twist on the Corpse Reviver gives the Savoy's version real competition.

Order: The Case Closed — their signature spirit-forward cocktail