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Best London Bridge Bars

Looking for a bar in London Bridge? We’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to, and compiled a handy list of the best. Whatever your budget or taste, SquareMeal is here to help, with a selection of the best bars for every occasion. Read on for our pick of the best bars in London Bridge.

Updated on 30 October 2018

Aqua Shard (bar)

Aqua Shard (bar)

Level 31, The Shard, St. Thomas Street, Southwark, London, SE1 9RY

At the risk of upsetting the neighbours, if you only do one bar at The Shard, make it Aqua. For panoramic views, this high-level atrium lounge – three storeys high – beats the bar at Oblix. It’s slicker and sexier than Gong and is a hotter date than Hutong, above. The interior is decked out like a Manhattan-style loft; if you can discern the menu in the gloaming, try one of the gin- or tea-inspired cocktails. Start pleasantly with Devonshire Cream Cup (gin, Aperol, crème de fraise, lemon curd, tarragon balsamic vinegar and lemon juice, topped with Earl Grey ‘air’) before descending into wickedness with the Four Stages of Cruelty (Tanqueray 10 gin, Sauvignon Blanc, elderflower and Curious Brew beer). The bar is open throughout the day, so you can choose how to take your vista: with bright sunshine or with a myriad twinkling night-time lights.

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Bermondsey Arts Club

Bermondsey Arts Club

102a Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1 4TP

A former public convenience near Tower Bridge has been converted into a subterranean drinking den with an art-deco look of chequered floor tiles and marquetry panelling that pays homage to the golden era of cocktail making. With most sips pegged at £9.50, you’d expect a decent drink and you won’t be disappointed: Sage of Consent, for example, packs enough punch for a rumble in the jungle with its blend of butter-washed rum, sage, citrusy bergamot, lemon juice and dark cane sugar. Alternatively, if you’re looking for something lighter, there are some cheaper aperitifs and spritzers – try the aptly named South of the River (sloe gin, lemon, sugar and Prosecco) or the more serious Chrysanthemum with its mix of absinthe, Bénédictine and Lillet Blanc. BAC is open until 2am, which sounds like a good excuse to use to use the night tube – even though the nearest station is a 15-mInute walk away.

Bars
Call Me Mr Lucky

Call Me Mr Lucky

11 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1RQ

Courtroom Bar at The Dixon

Courtroom Bar at The Dixon

211 Tooley Street, London, London, SE1 2JX

Formerly Tower Bridge Magistrates’ Court, this Grade II-listed pile has been repurposed as Marriott-owned boutique hotel, The Dixon, named after John Dixon Butler, the 1906 civic building’s original architect.

The hotel’s cleverly converted lounge bar is still recognisably the oak-panelled courtroom of yore, now decorated with funked-up old police mug shots of characterful Edwardian petty crooks.

Food – bar snacks include hot Brie with gooseberry and chilli dip, and oxtail croquettes with red onion jam – is under the auspices of Clive Watson, the restaurateur behind Provisioners (link), downstairs here, as well as Riding House Café (link) and Blixen (link).

Drinks include a yuzu and absinthe-laced, seaweed-infused gin Martini or the Hanky Panky and Vieux Carré hybrid, Peach Plum Quarter, among a dozen criminally good cocktails put together at a sunken bar under the magistrates bench’s original canopy.

Unless you stick to a chai tea and raspberry coupette, one of various lo- and no-alcohol options, there’s no chance of leaving here sober as a judge.

£30 - £49
Bars
GONG by Shangri La at The Shard

GONG by Shangri La at The Shard

31 St Thomas Street, London Bridge, London, SE1 90U

Squeezed in at the sharper end of The Shard, Gong is London’s loftiest bar. It resembles a Bond baddie’s penthouse in the sky – complete with separate Champagne bar and a swimming pool open for punters to lounge by (but not to dip into) from 8pm. From this high altitude, the city below forms a magical tapestry, and with a couple of drinks here costing much the same as the £31 ticket to the touristy viewing platform above, we rate Gong as the more civilised sightseeing option. Blue-sky thinking has gone into the bar’s 2016 ‘Circle of Life’ cocktail list. But while the drinks may be worthwhile, we’re not entirely persuaded by the overblown presentation that veers between kooky and kitsch (drinks served in Kinder Eggs or gilded birdcages, for instance). Such sophisticated mixes as Asian Explorer (Tanqueray 10, mushroom-infused Madeira, nigori saké, coconut and ginseng) have no need of flummery.

£50 - £79
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Nine Lives

Nine Lives

8 Holyrood Street, Bermondsey, London, SE1 2EL

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Tap & Bottle

Tap & Bottle

Flat Iron Square, 64 Union Street, London, SE1 1SG

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Prosecco House

Prosecco House

1 Crown Square, One Tower Bridge, London, SE1 2SE

Bars
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