All night long: London's best after-hours bars
After-hours bars make you feel like a dirty rotten stop-out... especially on a school night.
Unbeknownst to UK licensing laws, not all conversations end organically at 11pm. Sometimes we really do want the good times to just roll.
We all know that clubs are open well into the AM, but that's an entirely different affair... it's glad rags, it's entry fees, it's - dare we say it - the prospect of shakin' it on the dancefloor... Luckily after-house bars are an entirely more civilised affair: the bubble of conversation often to a backing of good music or cabaret.
There is, of course, the other draw of an after-hours bar: you feel like a dirty rotten stop-out... especially on a school night.
We've rounded up London's best after-hours bars...
Sleazy, hip and happening, The Scotch is back in business and opening later than ever. Once an infamous rock star hangout in the Sixties, it has summoned that spirit back to become a night owl’s paradise in Mayfair opening from 11pm till 5am.
Live music is the name of the game at The Alley Cat on Denmark Street. Stumble in on any night of the week and expect to see some musician or other on stage entertaining the crowd in the underground bar.
Dalston has a range of late night bars and clubs but perhaps the simplest of them all is Efes. The snooker and pool club keeps it simple. It’s a snooker and pool club that plays music. Thanks to that winning formula it has attracted a sizeable following of typically young/hip Dalstonites. Drinks are reasonable and opening hours run and run.
Falling somewhere between bar and club, The Big Chill House makes our list of favourite late night bars because it can offer you the best of both. Find a quiet corner and talk in hushed tones, or alternatively find a space and dance your heart out. We do both and so should you. Located in Kings Cross I has the benefit of yet more clubs nearby should you choose to turn your night into the next morning.
It may be in the basement of the Park Lane Hotel, but Trader Vic’s is not your average hotel bar. A tiki themed bar, the Samoan/South Seas style shack is an institution in London. The Mai Tai was invented in the original Trader Vic’s (in the USA) and the tradition continues with a 40-long cocktail list. Open till 3am.
INDO
133 Whitechapel Road E1 1DT
Open until 3am at the weekend, Indo can offer you all the sleazy, dive bar ingredients you can handle. Arty, grimy and so much fun that when it gets to closing time you’ll already be counting down the hours until next time.
When you’ve just been thrown out of Boujis you’re bound to be in a foul mood. However, never fear, just around the corner from South Kensington is the legendary Janet’s Bar where you’ll be free to drink until 3am on weekends amongst the clutter with hot dog in hand.
If you can blag your way into the members-only Phoenix Artists Club (it’s pretty easy) then you can stay until dawn – nearly. Show tunes entertain along with a variety of characters that you only find at places that stay open this late.
Well known as a great European restaurant, later in the evening Quaglino's transforms into a late-night, live-music mecca; one of the only venues in Mayfair open to the public with a late-night license and free entry, perfect for partying into the early hours.
