The best venues for enjoying a cigar in London
Light up, without the hate. You're amongst friends...
Light up one of these badboys in a fairtrade, vegan restaurant and you're likely to find yourself on the receiving-end of a dirty look from some skinny dude wearing hemp.
However, search hard and you will still find some venues across the capital which will indulge the delicious wafts of your cigar smoke.
OK, cigars might well be the fatter, more socially unacceptable cousin of an E-ciggy... but they're a New Year's Eve staple and the best way imaginable to make you look like Winston Churchill, Che Guevara or Arnie. And who doesn't want that?
Voltaire
Bars
19 New Bridge Street EC4V 6DB
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How times have changed – the stone vaults at Voltaire where once prison cells where inmates were kept, but now they are VIP booths with personal waiters where you can even plug your own iPod in. There’s a wide selection of Cuban and non-Cuban cigars which can be smoked in the garden, and you can join their cigar club for perks and discounts.
The rooftop terrace at Madison is bang opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, so the view alone is enough of a draw. For cigar aficionados there’s a selection of Cuban’s finest, and they’ve also hosted ‘cigar sessions’ in the past, with cigar and whisky tastings. The added benefit of heaters and blankets means it’s open all year round.
A Marylebone institution, Orrery’s Provençal theme extends to the look of the rooftop terrace, with its olive trees and fragrant lavender. Here you can have a meal from the a la carte menu or just pop up for a cigar and a cognac or two.
This group of <a href="http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/restaurants.php?type=name&rest=boisdale">three Scottish restaurants</a> is known for hosting live jazz, but they also boast a large selection of cigars that can be smoked on their terraces. Appropriate tartan blankets are provided for chilly nights.
Famed for its martinis, legend has it this is where Ian Fleming came up with James Bond’s memorable ‘shaken, not stirred’ line. There’s a separate bar in the adjoining garden where you can indulge in cognac and cigars.
A stone’s throw away from the British Museum, the Montague’s cigar terrace is one of the best equipped in the capital, as it even has books on cigar smoking. Their rangeincludes some of the rarest and most expensivecigars in the world (one of which is the Cohiba Behike 56, priced at £77). They also hold regular masterclasses on the subject.
Gaucho is acclaimed for its steaks, but many of their restaurants also have cigar menus. The South Kensington branch even has a separate bar called Galante, where they’ll pair cocktails with cigars for you.
Franco's
Italian
61-63 Jermyn Street SW1Y 6LX
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This Italian restaurant has serving well-heeled patrons of St. James’s for over 60 years. They don’t have a terrace which means cigar smoking is confined to the pavement, but its location on the swish Jermyn Street means there’s plenty to look at.
Although strictly speaking Milk & Honey is a members-only bar, non-members can book tables during the week until 11pm. Head to the rooftop to enjoy Cuban cigars, or you buy a box to take home.
A stone’s throw away from the British Museum, the Montague’s cigar terrace is one of the best equipped in the capital, as it even has books on cigar smoking. Their rangeincludes some of the rarest and most expensivecigars in the world (one of which is the Cohiba Behike 56, priced at £77). They also hold regular masterclasses on the subject.
