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The Best Places in the United Kingdom

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  1. Rank 1048. Villager

    Cocktail Bar

    Cymbals hang over the bar counter as makeshift lampshades, and ghetto blasters dot the room with the confidence of someone who knows the bit lands. Villager is a cocktail bar spread across two converted shops on George IV Bridge, split between a loungy sofa-and-palms side and a livelier bar room. The cocktails are the point; the wine and lager list is just there so nobody feels left out.


  2. A Spanish cocktail and tapas bar on a Stoke Newington corner where the surrounding block runs almost exclusively Turkish. Inside, kitsch furniture and bare brick set the scene for a rum and tequila-forward menu that leans into the classics while making room for wilder combinations. The tables are small and close together, which means the room feels busy even when it isn't, and the low lighting at night does its job.


  3. Every surface in this Northern Quarter bar is painted: murals and polka dots on the walls, stripes on the floor, flowers on the bar. When the rest of Manchester's drinking scene is busy doing moody prohibition chic, Walrus arrives in a Hawaiian shirt. The art out front sets the tone, a red-headed figure clutching a fish with the quiet confidence of someone who has already won the argument about interior design.



  4. The Wheatsheaf sits right at the edge of Borough Market, which means the Friday afternoon crowd has usually come straight from a cheese stall. It's a pub with reclaimed wood tables on flagstones, pastel panelling that nods to a Shaker kitchen, and a vintage frontage that somehow outlasted Thameslink construction work overhead. The vibe is designer rustic, the pints are cold, and the location does most of the heavy lifting.



  5. Chrome-topped bar, white marble front, stools that look like they'll punish you by the second drink but somehow don't. Yauatcha's ground-floor cocktail bar is a relatively recent addition, carved out at the back of the room after someone noticed the basement was already producing thousands of drinks a week and thought perhaps a proper bar was in order. The crowd drifts in from Soho looking like they've made a decision, not a reservation.



  6. Rank 1048. York and Albany

    Cocktail Bar

    A long black-and-grey bar faces the door of this cocktail bar tucked into the foyer of Gordon Ramsay's Camden townhouse hotel, high-backed armchairs pulled close to a fireplace nearby. The 22-drink menu runs classic martinis through fizzes and long drinks, which is a sensible range for a room that pulls in both hotel guests and locals who've discovered the armchairs are quite hard to leave.


  7. Rank 1048. Zenna Bar

    Indian


    Address
    77 Dean Street, London, W1D 3SH, United Kingdom · London
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 5 PM

    Friday 5 PM–12:30 AM

    Online
    WebsiteInstagram

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  14. Rank 1313. Apartment 58

    Cocktail Bar

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    Address
    101 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1DB, United Kingdom · London
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 6 PM

    Friday 6 PM–11:59 PM

    Online
    Website
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    Address
    30 Argyll St,, London, W1F 7EB, United Kingdom · London
    Hours

    Open now, until 1:30 AM

    Friday Noon–1:30 AM

    Reserve
    SevenRooms
    Online
    Website
  16. Rank 1313. Archer Street

    Cocktail Bar

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  19. Rank 1313. Baccarat Bar

    Cocktail Bar

    A cocktail bar tucked inside Harrods, where every drink arrives in a crystal glass made by Baccarat, which you can then buy on your way out if the mood strikes. Velvet, chandeliers, and a tight menu of high-end cocktails set the register firmly at "what's another round." Small plates from the Harrods kitchen round things out. It is, in short, a bar that knows exactly what it's doing and charges accordingly.

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  30. Rank 1313. Benares

    Modern Indian

    A flower-filled pool and a buzzing bar greet you on the way up to this Mayfair Indian dining room, which holds a Michelin star and pulls a crowd split evenly between power lunches and date nights. The chef's cooking takes Indian tradition somewhere more restless and precise, with the sourcing doing a lot of the quiet work. Private rooms make it a favorite with the suits, but the room itself earns the evening on its own.

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  34. A scale model of Concorde suspended from the ceiling sets the tone at this rooftop fine dining room inside The Peninsula, named after the Surrey racetrack and decorated accordingly. Claude Bosi's team turns out precise, unhurried cooking built around British ingredients, Lake District lamb and Cornish squid given the kind of attention that earned the restaurant two Michelin stars. Floor-to-ceiling windows open onto a terrace with views to match the ambition.

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  37. Rank 1313. Carom

    Indian

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  39. From the outside it still reads as a pub, the kind that's been anchoring this Barbican-edge block forever, but step inside and you're somewhere considerably more considered. The Martin brothers have a habit of rescuing tired City boozers and returning them better dressed and better behaved than they found them. Difford's Guide has taken note. The crowd tends toward suits loosening their collars after six, which feels exactly right.

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    Address
    1 Dockley Rd, London, Greater London, SE16 3AF, United Kingdom · London
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 4 PM

    Friday Noon–2:30 PM, 4 PM–9 PM

    Reserve
    SevenRooms
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
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  48. Rank 1313. Gaucho, Charlotte Street

    Argentine Steakhouse

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  49. Rank 1313. Gaucho, Piccadilly

    Argentine Steakhouse

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  52. Rank 1313. HEJ Coffee

    Swedish Coffee

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  53. Rank 1313. Homeboy Bar - Islington

    Modern Irish Cocktail Bar

    The Guinness is poured properly and the Irish whiskey list is taken seriously, which tells you most of what you need to know about this cocktail bar on Essex Road. Homeboy leans into modern Irish hospitality without winking about it, so expect a crowd that actually knows what they ordered. Live music most nights of the week, DJs on weekends, and rugby on a screen big enough to matter.

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  54. Rank 1313. House of Tippler

    Cocktail Bar

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  55. The crudo bar at this sleek Mayfair spot is the reason to pull up a stool rather than a chair. It's an Italian bar with serious cocktail credentials, Difford's Guide, listed, set inside a room that manages to feel both polished and relaxed. The terrace catches good light. Order something cold, eat something raw, and let the elegant surroundings do what elegant surroundings in Mayfair always do: make you feel you've made excellent decisions.


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  59. Rank 1313. KOL MEZCALARIA

    Modern Mexican Cocktail Bar

    Santiago Lastra's Michelin-starred Marylebone restaurant runs on a single conviction: Mexican soul, British ingredients. Nearly everything on the tasting menu is sourced from the UK, with sea buckthorn standing in for lime where lime won't grow. The wine list leans into Slovakia, Georgia, and Croatia rather than the usual suspects, and the final courses move downstairs to a mezcaleria that smells exactly like you'd hope.


  60. Rank 1313. KPH

    Diner American

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  63. Rank 1313. Lockes

    Cocktail Bar

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    Address
    119 Sydney Street, London, SW3 6NR, United Kingdom · London
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 5 PM

    Friday Noon–3 PM, 5 PM–12:30 AM

    Reserve
    SevenRooms
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
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  72. Four floors of whisky obsession in the shadow of Spitalfields Market, with a thousand drams on the ground floor and a basement cocktail bar, The Proofing Room, named for the bakery that occupied the space before the war. The cocktails lean on the original Soho location's Vault recipes, so the Coconut Butter Old Fashioned travels well. Above it all, a private members club with a cigar terrace, for those who like their evenings to escalate.

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  73. Rank 1313. Mojo Leeds

    Cocktail Bar

    Rock star prints cover the walls of this packed cocktail bar on Merrion Street, and the music is loud enough that you're basically shouting your order. Mojo has no interest in delicate Martinis or hushed appreciation, and the crowd packing in seems grateful for that. Chunky glasses of fruity, generously poured cocktails do the work, shots fill the gaps, and the whole thing runs on a holiday-bar energy that somehow never feels try-hard.

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    Address
    18 Merrion Street , Leeds, LS1 6PQ, United Kingdom · Leeds
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 5 PM

    Friday 5 PM–5 AM

    Online
    Website
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  76. Rank 1313. New Bloomsbury Set

    Cocktail Bar

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  78. Rank 1313. Nine Lives

    Mexican

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    Address
    8 Holyrood Street, London, SE1 2EL, United Kingdom · London
    Hours

    Closed now, opens 5 PM

    Friday 5 PM–Midnight

    Reserve
    SevenRooms
    Online
    WebsiteInstagram
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  80. Rank 1313. Northcote Records

    Cocktail Bar

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  82. Rank 1313. Nuvo

    Cocktail Bar

    A chrome Buddha greets you at the door of this cocktail lounge and piano bar in the Brindleyplace development, which tells you most of what you need to know about the vibe. Twinkling ceiling lights, comfy chairs, and live piano most nights of the week make it easy to lose track of time. Sink into a seat at the black stone bar and the place wraps around you quickly.

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  92. Rank 1313. Ribiera

    Latin American

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  93. Rank 1313. Roadhouse

    Cocktail Bar

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  95. Rank 1313. Same Again

    Cocktail Bar

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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

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    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      Four fifths of the score is the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin Key outweighs a listicle. The last fifth is where it is: the ranked places to eat and things to do around it, and how safe the country is. When you sort by what's nearby, distance from you changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. The places are 60% of it: the best of what's within reach, weighed by distance. The setting is the other 40%: how life goes in that country (how people rate their own lives, how long and how well they live, how safe they are) and what it's like right there (the air, and the weather). If the score looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.

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