Diffords Guide to London's Best Pubs and Bars (diffordsguide/sauceguide)

As the title would suggest this is a pocket guide to the most
notable central London pubs and bars. We have broken a huge area into
seventeen districts and each venue is listed within its appropriate area
with accompanying colour photograph, essential details and a full review.

Editors' letter
I'm proud to call myself a Londoner. Few other cities can match its
architecture, culture, history and vibrancy. And its bar scene is a
completely unique combination of ancient pubs, historic hotel bars and
cutting edge contemporary venues.
Our drink offer is also pretty unique. Beers range from traditional real
ales (currently enjoying a renaissance), stouts and cider to the best
imported brews from Europe, America and beyond. Of course London remains
the spiritual home to gin and the range of spirits and liqueurs available
in London's best bars is truly extraordinary.
Despite our tiny domestic industry, Brits appreciate and drink more wine
than ever before. The average wine list in the capital includes bins from
all of Europe's classic regions, alongside Africa and the Americas, while
London is one of the world's biggest markets for champagne, port and
Madeira.
London is a huge city, the biggest in Europe, formed by engulfing and
merging villages over many centuries. This inheritance is reflected in its
patchwork of distinct districts and in this guide we have concentrated on
the areas we consider have the most important pub and bar scene. Of these
seventeen, if you are a visitor and have limited time, I'd advise you to
concentrate on:
Soho & Mayfair - W1 is London's core bar zone. Soho, on the east side of
Regent Street, is colourful and still a little edgy, home to film
companies, the gay hotspot of Old Compton Street and many of London's most
famous pubs and bars. Posh Mayfair, on the west side, hosts many of the
city's most exclusive spots.
Shoreditch -Ten years ago this was a rundown industrial area on the edge of
the City but today it offers London's most vibrant bar scene, while
retaining some of its East End edginess. Loft styled bars serving lager to
cool new media types are typical but some of London's best gastro pubs and
cocktail lounges are also here.
Notting Hill - Popular belief has it that Notting Hill is a virtual village
with Hugh Grant working in a local bookshop. Like Grant, however, many of
the original Nottinghillbillies have moved on. Still a new set of good
looking, young trustafarians appears to have arrived and some great bars
and gastro pubs have sprung up to serve them, putting the area back near
the top of London's bar league.
Knightsbridge & Belgravia - These well-to-do locales have few cutting edge
venues but plenty of pubs and bars with a long and distinguished pedigree.
Here classic hotel bars serve cocktails that cost more than a main course
in many other areas with complementary nibbles and a distinctive grace. But
best of all are the centuries old pubs.
A whistlestop tour of these will give a taste of London's diverse scene,
but all 250 bars in this guide have their own individual character. I
visited all of them, and many more, often more than once, before deciding
which were special enough to include. (As always, please let me know if you
agree with my selection and assessments.)
This is a guide to London's best pubs and bars. So who better than London's
very own gin, Beefeater, to help us publish it? We don't accept - let alone
ask for - payments from the pubs or bars we feature, and Beefeater's
sponsorship has helped us stay dispassionate.
Beefeater is one of the last true London Dry Gins, as Desmond Payne,
Beefeaters Master Distiller and his team still make it in central London -
in Kennington to be exact. So please think of them when you order your next
G&T, whichever pub or bar you choose.
Cheers
Simon Difford