Hot new London bar openings: October 2016

Dickie’s Bar

Irish chef Richard Corrigan opens a cocktail bar at his eponymous Mayfair restaurant in collaboration with mixologist Gregory Buda from The Dead Rabbit this month. Dickie’s Bar will serve seasonal cocktails made with ingredients from Corrigan’s private farm in Ulster designed to pair with the bar food on offer. Playing on Corrigan’s Dublin roots and the bar’s London location, Irish whiskey and English gin will be given top billing. Among the cocktails on offer is one featuring Jameson Black Barrel, peach, bergamot, vanilla and lemon.

Streatham Wine House

The effervescent Jimmy Smith of the West London Wine School has added another string to his bow with the Streatham Wine House in Streatham Hill. A three-way project with his American wife Beth and best friend Matt Wicksteed, the trio are bringing fine wines to SW2 at their cosy new bar.

Inspired by trips to Spain, the Rhône and the Loire Valley in “Jeff”, Jimmy’s orange VW camper van, the bar specialises in European drops, selling the likes of Jean-Luc Colombo La Divine Cote Rotie 2010, La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 2001, and Nicolas Joly Coulee de Serrant Savennieres 2005 via Coravin alongside sparklers from Hambledon, Gramona and Charles Heidsieck.

Every Cloud

East London already boasts the lion’s share of London’s coolest bars and now it has yet another to flaunt. Enter Every Cloud in Hackney Central, a tiny drinking den with jazzy gold pineapple wallpaper. Headed up by Felix Cohen of the Manhattan Project, the cocktails are killer.

We’re keen to get our lips around a Salted Peanut Cuba Libre, made with salted peanut infused Havana 3-year-old rum, lime and coke. The Barely Sour, which blends Chivas Regal 12, barely malt and lemon also looks lovely. We’ll be ending the evening with a Maxwell’s Demon, featuring Jameson’s, coffee, muscovado sugar and condensed milk.

Tropicana Beach Club

Boasting over 30 palm trees, some as tall as 30 feet, this capacious, 600-capacity venue offers Londoners a tropical escape from the smoggy capital. With oodles of tiki cocktails and a beach party vibe, the venue from the people behind Café de Paris features a lagoon pool dance floor surrounded by beach cabanas, hammocks and surfboards.

With live bands and DJs playing throughout the night, the late-night venue looks set to jazz up the entertainment wasteland between Covent Garden and Holborn. Expect blue screen sunsets and impromptu tropical thunderstorms. Signature sip the Flamingo Fling features Brugal Blanco rum, Martini, passoa, apple juice, lime juice and elderflower, and is served in kitch a flamingo glass, natch.

The Laughing Heart

Named after a rather wonderful poem by Charles Bukowski, The Laughing Heart is an effortlessly cool late license wine bar in Hackney. Run by Australian Charlie Mellor, previously of the popular P Franco, Brawn and Primeur, the bar’s chef comes by way of celebrity haunt the Chiltern Firehouse and New York’s Per Se so expect the grub to be top notch. Open until 2am, wine nuts can get their natural, organic and biodynamic fix in the basement bar, with a large number of the drops on sale for under £50.

The restaurant upstairs boasts over 300 wines resting in an ice-filled trough running the length of the dining room. Look out for the oysters and natural wine granite. Among the wines on offer are a Ligurian Vermentino from Testalonga; Swartland rosé from Intellego; and an old vine Garnacha from Ribera Sacra made by one to watch Daniel Jimenez Landi.

Six Storeys

Opening in Soho this December is the Daddy of late-night venues: Six Storeys. Run by hospitality group Camm & Hooper, Six Storey in Soho Square will transport guests back to the decadent days of the Prohibition era. The Lobby Bar on the ground floor will offer classic cocktails and sloe gin jelly, while guests can head to The Parlour on the first floor for wine in comfy sofas and French fancies like twice bake soufflés.

The Lounge on the second floor is an event space, and we like the sound of The Decantry on the third floor dedicated to fine wine and craft cocktails like fig Martinis and truffle gin cups. Head to the top two floors for panoramic views of the Big Smoke by night.

Zelman Drinks 

Russian restaurateur Mikhail Zelman, the man who brought us Goodman steaks and £20 lobsters at Burger & Lobster is to open a late-night bar aimed at the restaurant trade in Finsbury Park. Called Zelman Drinks, in a hat tip to his Soho meat mecca Zelman Meats, the site will occupy what used to be music venue The Silver Bullet.

Zelman is keen to attract chefs and restaurant workers who want to carry on the party after service, but will be keeping things casual at the bar rather than focusing on fine wines and craft cocktails. The bar, which has a 4am licence and no cover charge, will host live music and DJ sets.