Our Five Favourite Bars in South and East London

With thousands to choose from, finding the right bar in London can pose a tricky challenge. It's home to many great places to grab a drink, but here are our top five in South and East London to help make your decision a little easier.

1. Beer Merchants Tap

Warehouse style beer hall with a huge range of beers from around the world.

Just round the corner from Hackney Wick, the Beer Merchants Tapis a hip warehouse-style beer hall. Find over 20 keg taps, two cask pumps and hundreds of bottles and cans sourced from the best breweries around the world. Whether you know your stuff or not, this is the ultimate place to come and taste something new.

Location: 99 Wallis Road, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LN

2. Coupette

French-inspired bar with Art Deco lighting in Bethnal Green

Exposed brick, Art Deco lighting and a vintage ‘Tabac’ sign add to the ambience at this French-inspired bar in Bethnal Green. The classic spirit of Normandy, Calvados, is the star ingredient here, so order one of the aptly named Apple cocktails to give it a go. There’s charcuterie, savoury crepes and cheese plates to go with it.

Location: 423 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AN

3. The Cocktail Trading Co.

Cocktail bar offering classics as well as creative inventions of their own

With its dark wood panelling, Brick Lane’s Cocktail Trading Co.feels like a cross between a private members bar and a pub. There’s a sense of mischief about the menu, which includes Willy-Wonka style inventions like the Victoria Sponge Bellini with chilled champagne, cognac and strawberry syrup, and the Bride’s Nectar with calvados, chartreuse and jasmine mead. All arrive garnished with a flourish.

Location: 68 Bethnal Green Rd, Shoreditch, E1 6GQ

4. Smokey Kudu

African inspired cocktails under the Queen’s Road railway arches

Another awesome bar beneath Peckham’s railway arches–this time at Queen’s Road–Smokey Kudu is the place for South African inspired cocktails. Bag a place at the glamorous bar counter and watch the barmen mix drinks like the Kudu Spritz with Select Aperitivo, Rooibos and bubbles, and the Capetown Mule with fragrant rum, lime, apricot and savannah cider. Walk-in only.

Location: 133 Queen's Rd, Peckham, SE15 2ND

5. Brick Brewery Tap Room

Craft Beer microbrewery with 20 lines of the house and guest beers

If craft beer is your thing, make a beeline for southeast London’s hip Camberwell and Peckham areas. Tucked beneath the railway arches of Peckham Rye station Brick Brewery is a microbrewery where a young crowd come for cold pints of pale ale and lager. The Tap Room includes 20 lines of house and guest beers.

Location: Blenheim Grover, Peckham, SE15 4QL.

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