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1001
'Laid-back' is an understatement here - 1001 is frequented by those who haven't yet been to bed after their night out or those who come here to snooze in the candlelit atmosphere at noon. Coffee and cocktails are prepared while DJs play excellent music, and seating is all comfy sofas and massive cushions. The crowded outside area dishes up burgers all day Sunday.
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333
Hoxton's true old-timer, 333's stripped-down manner doesn't bow down to Shoreditch's silly cool and pretence. The club keeps hosting great nights, remaining a favourite London club for over a decade. Just off Hoxton Sq, it's simultaneously scruffy and innovative - it's been a key player on the electro-glam and indie rave scene, with the riotous monthly Troubled Minds night that mashes up grime, rave, dancehall, electro, indie, hip hop and hardcore.
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93 Feet East
This great venue has a courtyard, three big rooms, an outdoor terrace that packs in the cool East London crowd on sunny afternoons. There are some excellent nights, like the super popular 'rave, bling and trash scene' from Styleslut and Wasteclub on Fridays. Relaxed Sunday afternoon Rock'n'Roll sessions have short film screenings, with girls on roller skates selling popcorn. It's worth getting a ticket through the website to beat the queue.
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Amused Moose Soho
One of the city's best clubs, Soho's Amused Moose is popular with audiences and comedians alike, perhaps helped along by the fact that heckling is 'unacceptable' and all of the acts are 'first date-friendly' in that they're unlikely to humiliate the front row. At Camden's Enterprise pub there's also Amused Moose Camden, with a similar crowd and policy. Check out their Absolute & Almost Beginners comedy course if you think you can cut it too.
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Anchor Bankside
This riverside pub dating back to 1775 (but rebuilt after a fire destroyed it a century later) has superb views across the Thames from its terrace and is the most central (and most popular) riverside pub in London. Samuel Johnson (1709-84), whose brewer friend owned the joint, wrote part of his dictionary here. Even better than the terrace is the small seating just off the 1st floor.
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Aquarium
The Saturday night hitch-up between '70s disco evening Carwash and this converted gym seems like an excellent match: clubbers dressed in sexy, retro gear - compulsory, but disco wigs not allowed - now mingle around the huge pool or in the trendy bar. Absolutely Sunday focuses on old-school house, garage and R&B. Trainers are not welcome here.
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Area
Home from home for circuit party boys but still very welcoming to all, Area describes itself as 'polysexual' and hosts some of the most inventive nights in town, including monthly Queer Kandi and Saturday nighter Evolve.
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Babalou
The Bug Bar in the crypt of a Methodist church has metamorphosed into a bar/lounge/club called Babalou with fabulous cocktails and parties. The neogothic architecture stays but there are now North African touches and discreet little 'snugs' (OK, booths) done up in red velvet.
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Baltic
This very stylish bar at the front of an Eastern European restaurant specialises - not surprisingly - in vodkas; some four dozen of them are at hand for your perusal and enjoyment. The airy, high-ceilinged dining room, with a glass roof and lovely amber wall, is just behind should you need some blotter.
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Bar Blue
This style bar attached to Vinopolis and close to the Thames has floor-to-ceiling windows and a colour scheme supposedly derived from a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin. The stools, the bar, the ceiling - everything but the nearby river - are bluer than blue. It's a great place for a cocktail before or after a performance at nearby Shakespeare's Globe.
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Bar Italia
Soho's original red-eye special still conjures up Italy c 1950, with black and white photos, bunting, panettone, coffee machines and even football photos moving on the hoarding next door. A favourite at any time of day or night - or in any state.
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Bar Kick
A much larger sister venue to Clerkenwell's Café Kick, this place has a slightly edgier Shoreditch vibe. This time, too, there's some floor space left over after four footy tables were installed, so there are leather sofas and simple tables and chairs.
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Bar Music Hall
This venue's most recent (and most promising incarnation is Bar Music Hall. It's large and therefore rarely too crowded, and hosts some of the hottest nights in Shoreditch. Wednesday's Slipped Disco is all underground acid and clipped electro, and Saturday night's Foreign is all the rage with drag queen DJ Jodie Harsh and fabulous Molaroid, art projections, techno, electro, rave, pop, ragga and anything in between. Oh, and it's free to get in.
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Bar Vinyl
Bar Vinyl is the epicentre for Camden's young and urban crowd, with cool kids behind the decks, a record shop downstairs and graffiti whirling along narrow walls. It's super-friendly at the same time, though, and everyone's here to relax, enjoy some music and gobble a pizza, rather than pose. Weekends are packed and buzzing, midweek nights are quieter, and the music is always good.
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Barcode
Tucked away down a side street is this fun gay bar, full of a diverse range of people enjoying a pint or two and some evening cruising. There are frequent club nights in the downstairs area, including the very popular gay comedy night Comedy Camp every Tuesday.
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Bedroom Bar
A great place for a cheap post-pub night of dancing, Bedroom Bar has good cocktails, banquettes to lounge on, and enough floor space for dancing to the DJ's tunes.
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Bistrotheque
The lovely Bistrotheque offers three things: fine dining in its stylish white restaurant; partying and cabaret in the Cabaret Room; and drinking in the Napoleon Bar, a moody, slightly decadent room with dark walls and plush seating. The drinks are expertly mixed and the bar staff always friendly. You might see the Puppini Sisters singing, the likes of Stephen Bayley giving talks and a bit of gay bingo (though not all on the same night).
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Black Cap
This friendly, sprawling place is Camden's premier gay venue and attracts people from all over North London to its great terrace and downstairs club, where you'll find plenty of hilarious camp cabaret as well as decent dance music.
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Black Friar
It may look like Friar Tuck just stepped out of this 'olde pubbe' just north of Blackfriars tube station, but the interior is actually an Arts & Crafts makeover dating to 1905. Not surprisingly, the Black Friar is the preserve of City suits during the week, but they disappear at the weekend, leaving it to the rest of us. There's a good selection of ales and bitters here.
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Blind Beggar
Notorious as the place where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell in 1966 in a gang war over control of the East End's organised crime, the Blind Beggar has had a makeover in recent years and looks like just about any other boozer along this stretch of the East End's main thoroughfare. But its historical associations (not to mention garden with benches) continues to draw visitors and locals alike.
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Bollo
Out of the way even by Chiswick's standards, this backstreet gastropub has been a huge success, run by local restaurateurs who redeveloped it from a simple local. It's best at the weekend when it is at its busiest, catering to a well-heeled, older crowd looking for a pub and diningroom rolled into one.
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Bradley's Spanish Bar
Hanway St is home to several tapas-and-flamenco bars and speakeasy Spanish bars open until dawn and serving beer from crates. Bradley's is vaguely Spanish in décor, though it's very Spanish in its choice of booze: San Miguel, Cruzcampo and some decent wines. The punters are squeezed under low ceilings in the nooks of the basement, while a vintage vinyl jukebox plays out rock tunes of your choice.
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Bricklayers Arms
A determinedly down-to-earth stalwart of the Hoxton scene, the Bricklayers Arms attracts an unpretentious but cool-looking, generally mid-to-late-20s crowd. This essentially old-style pub is often seen as a solid place to start the evening, before heading off elsewhere.
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Cafe Kick
A bare-boards bar with a Continental European feel, where the action centres around the handful of 'fussball' tables.
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Candy Bar
This is the hottest lesbian bar in town, a great, friendly place, with a long bar on the ground floor and a miniclub in the basement where DJs play most nights. Look out for karaoke every Tuesday, which is a blast. Men are admitted as guests to women (one man allowed per woman).
