London’s Satan’s Whiskers voted top cocktail bar in the UK

The ‘unassuming’ Bethnal Green bar is renowned for its daily-changing cocktail list and a team that prides itself on providing excellent service and great music ‘embodying the ideal neighbourhood bar’. 

Last year’s winner Lab-22, in Cardiff, took second while the number three spot went to London’s Tayēr + Elementary, also in East London. 

This year’s highest climber hails from Bournemouth, with Ojo Rojo rising 31 places to number 15 on this year’s list.

The highest new entrant this year is Soma, based in Soho. London dominates this year’s list with 23 bars in the Top 50 spots, followed by Yorkshire, which claimed five of the Top 50 spots including Public, in Sheffield – a tiny cocktail bar which occupies the former men’s toilet below the Victorian town hall. 

Christopher Lowe, publisher of Top 50 Cocktail Bars, said: “Whilst London continues to dominate this year’s list, it is very exciting to see other major cities across the UK make their mark on the list. The ever-growing interest in cocktails and bartending within the UK means we are spoilt for choice on where to go, and this list allows for the best of the UK bar scene to have a spotlight placed on them – and for consumers to find these hidden gems.”

Aidy Smith, host of this year’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars, added: “It was my absolute honour to join the Top 50 Cocktail Bars family last year and present an awards program which sits at the beating heart of our industry. It’s been a rough couple of years and these people have fought relentlessly to keep the nations spirits high in so many wonderful ways - it’s time to pay a nod to that. I’m raring to go and couldn’t be more excited to announce the liquid pioneers of 2023. From the Northern coast of Scotland and the valleys of Wales to the southern tip of England, this Isle is home to some of the best mixology and bar-team talent on the planet and it’s my pride and honour to read each and every name on the list.”