First on the list, is a classic London bar which is a great place to kick off any night out in the city. The lovely Bar Americain in the underground Brasserie Zedel just off Piccadilly Circus, is an art deco beauty which makes you feel like you’re The Great Gatsby. Enjoy dinner in the popular French brasserie, or just stop for a bar snack and one of its pre and post-prohibition era cocktails, like the Chrysanthemum, made of vermouth, benedictine, orange bitters and absinthe. brasseriezedel.com

For some central London action, there’s no better place than Bar Termini on Old Compton Street, in the heart of Soho. This ever-popular venue, named after Rome’s train station, is the place to be for morning espresso, morphing into afternoon cocktails, including its famous House Negroni and Spritz Termini, with gin, rhubarb cordial, Aperol and prosecco, accompanied by cheese and meat platters. You can even get its trademark cocktails to-go, in bottles. bar-termini-soho.com

From a Rome train station to a real one – Booking Office 1869, is a splendid re-imagining of St Pancras station’s original ticket hall and is an absolutely stunning space, with a Victorian-style Winter Garden-feel by French designer Hugo Toro. Settle into a banquette and relax with one of its classic-with-a-twist cocktails, like its House Martini, with beeswax. The food is also good with share plates, or classic comfort food like the Booking Office Burger. Who cares if you are not actually catching a train. booking-office.co.uk

One of the newest entrants onto the London bar scene, comes with the best views. JOIA Bar, in the newly-opened Art’Otel, in Battersea Power Station, is a pretty bar with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the hip new district. With blush pink furnishings, it’s all about the Iberian Peninsula, with tapas and inventive cocktails like the Citrina – gin, chamomile and elderflower cordial and yellow chartreuse perfume. Head upstairs to the JOIA Rooftop Bar for an al fresco experience, complete with infinity pool. joiabattersea.co.uk

From one of London’s newest, to its oldest wine bar – Gordon’s Wine Bar, on Villiers Street by Charing Cross station. Running since 1890, this higgledy-piggledy wine bar in a cellar, is straight out of a Dickens novel, or Diagon Alley, whatever your reading preference. It has a huge wine list and cheese-pairing plates as well as mezze and there’s a pavement seating area all year round. gordonswinebar.com

So cool it made number two on the World’s 50 Best Bars list for 2022, Tayer + Elementary is a bar in two halves. Designed by award-winning owners Monica Berg and Alex Kratena, the front section is an everyday bar for a quick cocktail served out of taps, or own-label beer and wine, plus light bites. The other half is the high-tech part, where you sit in a dark space and watch cocktail alchemy, a kind of fine-dining for drinks. With a seasonal menu and changing recipes, every visit is memorable. tayer-elementary.com

Finally, there are many upmarket rooftop bars in London – but one of the most popular is a lot more democratic, in the down-to-earth district of Peckham, south London. Frank’s Café is a cult bar on top of a multi-storey car park and only opens in the summer, for obvious reasons. A Negroni at Frank’s is a summer essential for hipsters in the city, along with hearty pub grub like pastrami brisket bun. boldtendencies.com