There are now a number of Barcelona Tapas bars in London and their stated mission is to bring the authentic taste of Spanish food and wine to stressed out city dwellers. In this they undoubtedly succeed. The relatively new City venture is a bright basement on Lime Street near Leadenhall Market and Lloyds of London. The food is superb with an abundance of mouth watering tapas and lots of dishes that one rarely finds outside Spain. But what’s also great about this place for gin lovers is the bar stocked with all our favourite gins. Signature drink is the Martini – hmm goes very well with tapas too.

Callooh Callay

65 Rivington Street,
Shoreditch,
London, EC2A 3AY

Tel: 0207 7394781
Nearest tubes: Old Street and Liverpool Street

Whacky name, fab bar. Callooh Callay takes its name from Jabberwocky, the nonsensical poem by Lewis Carroll, and has many quirky design touches that make it a fascinating place to hang out. For example the surreal Narnia wardrobe. Enter it and you find a cool little lounge, a mirrored bar and lavs lined with old cassettes.

The cocktail list has been winning this bar loads of awards and it’s one of the few places you’ll find a properly made Vesper Martini and other classic gin drinks. A great selection of Gintime gins demonstrates this bar is serious. The wine list is pretty special too with lots of excellent by the glass offerings and there’s plenty of choice for beer drinkers too. The food is just what you want ie light bites, sharing plates and a Credit Lunch for a fiver. If you’re into people watching Callooh Callay offers hours of entertainment with a typically Shoreditch crowd never ceasing to amaze and amuse.

Circus

27-29 Endell Street,
Covent Garden,
London, WC2H 9BA
Tel: 020 7420 9300

Web: www.circus-london.co.uk

Closed Sundays and Mondays

Located on Endell St in Seven Dials in the heart of Covent Garden, Circus is a brand new venue for drinking, dining, dancing and late night escapades. Designed by iconic British designer Tom Dixon, it serves Pan-American cuisine alongside an amazing list of cocktails and punches created by Henry Besant and Dre Masso of The Worldwide Cocktail Club. The bar team is headed up by the legendary Dick Bradsell so you can be sure of a raft of beautifully made drinks. Our top tips are The Bloody English made with Beefeater 24, blood peach, orange and all spice sugar and the fab Pomegranate and Kaffir Lime Fizz. Hendricks, Plymouth and both Beefeaters are the top gins here and, as you sip your concoctions or tuck into some delicious nosh, you’ll be entertained by array of surprising and intriguing acts that take place in the bar and restaurant area. So get ready to be treated to a quirky, fun evening like no other.

Hawksmoor

157 Commercial Street
London, E1 6BJ

Tel: 0207 247 7392
www.thehawksmoor.co.uk

Named after the architect who designed nearby Christ Church, Hawksmoor is the ultimate steakhouse and cocktail bar. The décor is elegantly simple with white walls and open brickwork, black seating, tables of reclaimed Burmese teak and a magnificent bar sourced from a 1930s dance hall in Hull. Cocktails are exceptional here with Hawksmoor's nine page cocktail list required reading for the connoisseur. The menu features a mix of long lost classics and some new inventions from gin king and top barkeep, Nick Strangeway. His current gin rave is the Bloodhound, a fabulous mix of gin, sweet and dry vermouth and either strawberries or raspberries, that dates back to 1922. Watch out too for Nick’s amazing collection of Victorian punchbowls and glasses.

Quality is the key to the food menu too with great starters and a fantastic array of steaks and chops from the famous Ginger Pig butchers. Forget traceability, this meat is from animals who’ve been lovingly reared and probably privately educated. And you can tell.

The Light Bar

233 Shoreditch High Street
London, E1 6PJ

Tel: 020 7247 8989
Web: www.thelighte1.com

Located on Shoreditch High Street, The Light Bar is just a stone’s throw away from the heart of the City. One of London’s first cool bars the tasteful mixture of industrial brick and steel décor reflects the building’s industrial heritage as electricity generating station that once supplied power for Liverpool Street and Bethnal Green stations. This huge space now houses a 300 plus capacity bar and an 85-seater restau on the ground floor. Upstairs DJs spin tunes until 2 in the morning on weekends whilst the roof terrace is perfect on a summer’s night or any time if you’re a smoker. The Light is very much a destination where you can eat, drink and dance the night away. The restaurant menu is based on French/Mediterranean cuisine with an entire range of prices up to full a-la-carte. The bar is perfect for chilling and chatting with a great selection of wines by the glass and a raft of premium spirits with Millers, Millers Westbourne, Hendricks and sloe gin the top gin choices.

Opening Hours: 12 – 00 Mon – Wed, 12 – 02 Thurs and Fri, 18.30 to 2.00 Sat, 12 – 22.30 Sun

Pinchito

32 Featherstone Street,
London, EC1

Tel: 020 7490 0121.
Nearest Tube: Old Street
www.pintxopeople.co.uk

Just around the corner from Old Street Tube station is Pinchito, baby brother to the award winning Pinxto People in Brighton and modelled on the same format ie a fantastic range of authentic Basque-style tapas and great drinks. They love gin at Pinchitos so loads of Gintime gins behind the bar and great new ways to drink them in signature serves like the Gin Choice, a fabulously fruity combo of gin, kiwi fruit, elderflower cordial, lemon grass and bitter lemon. Then there’s the Valentino, a new take on the champagne cocktail with strawberries, gin, elderflower and Cava, and Pink Sangria - strawberries, lychee and elderflower with rose wine and gin. There's plenty of choice on the food menu too, which majors in fresh, immaculately sourced ingredients served in delicious tapas. Hmm, ideal with gin.

The Tabernacle, off Old Street in EC2 is one more reason why this part of East London maintains its rep as the home of cool. Set in a Victorian warehouse conversion, on the ground floor is an airy and spacious bar next to 60 cover restau. Downstairs is another large bar with a late license at weekends that becomes a film club on Sundays showing classic & pre-release movies. Tabernacle has something for everyone with a music policy covers everything from deep house to classic tracks and resident. The Cocktail List, devised by Angus Winchester of Embassy (New York) and Trailer Happiness, is equally eclectic with signature gin cocktails such as the ever poupular Ginger Tom and mean Dry Martinis.