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Milk & Honey
Milk & Honey's number one 'House Rule' reads: 'No name-dropping, no star fucking', so prepare for a tight-lipped, but glamorous clientele at London's most renowned cocktail bar. It's a members' club that lets nonmembers in on week nights (though it's preferred if the plebeians stick to the beginning of the week), and you have to phone in advance to reserve your own private booth for a two-hour slot. Once you're there, you have to ring the bell and whisper your name into the buzzer, the speakeasy way. This practice is heavenly if you like privacy and great drinks, and hellish if you prefer a more down-to-earth atmosphere, but it's worth sampling the vast and exquisite cocktail list.
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Ministry of Sound
This legendary club-cum-enormous global brand suffered from a loss of 'edge' among clubbers in the early naughties but is now rejoining the top club ranks. Recommended Friday's Ministry Presents... is all drum'n'bass, garage, funky house, hip hop and R&B, across the four areas - Box, Bar, Baby Box and Lounge - with top DJs and live acts performing, while Saturday Sessions gives the crème de la crème of house, electro and techno DJs.
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Mitre
A beautiful, light-filled and airy pub with a large semicircular bar and walled courtyard at the back, the award-winning Mitre gets very crowded in the evenings and at the weekends, especially at lunch.
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Moose Bar
We bet you never thought you'd find a sky lodge in the Canadian Rockies in the middle of the West End? This wood-lined space on two floors has a simple ground-floor bar and a downstairs lounge/DJ'n'dance space with antlers for lampshades and cowhide on the seating. The cocktails are reasonable (around £7 to around £9 ), you can have a bite (of pies and nibbles) to eat and there's dancing until late on weekend nights.
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Mother Bar
Where can you go dancing till late on a Sunday night, you may wonder? Come to Mother. Still one of the best bars in town, it's above Shoreditch's original hipster club, 333. Though it's mobbed at weekends, don't be put off - there's a lounge, a dance floor and a fun, up-for-it crowd.
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Museum Tavern
This is where Karl Marx used to retire for a well-earned pint after a hard day's inventing communism in the British Museum Reading Room, and where George Orwell boozed after his literary musings. A lovely traditional pub set around a long bar, it has friendly staff and is popular with academics and students alike, and while tourists check-in for the atmosphere, the place retains its loyal regulars.
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Nag's Head
Located in a serene mews not far from bustling Knightsbridge, this gorgeously genteel early-19th-century drinking den has eccentric décor, a sunken bar and no mobile phones. A dreamy delight; don't bother if you're not pure of pub heart.
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Neighbourhood
Cherry Jam and Notting Hill Arts Club supremo Ben Watt's (another) excellent venue, Neighbourhood has a capacity of 500 and a mixed programme from author readings to house, electro and R'n'B nights, and there's even an occasional burlesque bonanza; so check what's on when you're around.
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North Pole
Still going strong after almost a decade, this quirky Greenwich bar/restaurant/club on three levels attracts a party crowd. Upstairs is the Piano restaurant, downstairs a club called South Pole. On the ground level it's more relaxed, with the DJ playing R&B and low sofas for chatting etc.
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Notting Hill Arts Club
London simply wouldn't be what it is without places like NHAC. There's a night for everyone in this small basement club, from knitting societies to country folk, house nights and Eastern European punk. The famous Thursday night monthly Yo-Yo night, where singer Lily Allen and producer Mark Ronson met, is one of the best nights for R&B, '80s boogies, hip hop, ragga and diverse live sets. Wednesday's über-popular Death Disco is still going strong.
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Old Blue Last
You walk into this inconspicuous pub and expect to find old geezers sitting at the bar, watching the snooker on the telly in the corner, but you find a massively trendy teenage-and-up crowd of Hoxtonites wearing hooded tops, fluorescent T-shirts and nylon caps. It hosts some of the best Shoreditch parties, has a rocking juke box and does a mean square pie to boot.
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Old Ship
This restful towpath pub is the prime stop-off for families and couples on their walks by the Thames. It looks south across the lazy bend of the river towards Putney, and is popular during the rest of the week, especially on spring and summer days, thanks to its outdoor dining area, terrace and 1st-floor balcony.
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Pacha
The London outpost of the seminal 'Aybeefa' club is one of the city's most sumptuous venues, eschewing the 'industrial' look that dominates London clubland for the oak-wood panelling, upholstered booths and stunning stained-glass ceiling of a 1920s gentleman's club. The crowd is glitzy and showy, so dress up sexy to fit in.
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Perseverance
Perseverance is a charming Victorian boozer downstairs with a very pleasant upstairs dining room. It's always busy with office workers during the week, but it also does a brisk trade with locals over the weekend, when you can be guaranteed a seat.
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Plan B
It doesn't have to be plan B - it could be an evening's plan A if you're looking for a friendly, low-key DJ bar any night from Thursday to Sunday. Even on Tuesday and Wednesday nights the decent cocktails are enough to woo you to this large room, decorated in an urban minimalist style - all concrete, exposed brick and benches with frosted-glass side panels.
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Plastic People
This is a tiny club with just a dance floor and bar and a booming sound system that experts say easily kicks the butt of bigger clubs. It also features the most progressive club nights, without fear of introducing new or controversial music. Head here on Fridays for And Did We Mention Our Disco with Rory Phillips (of ex-Trash, current Durrr DJ), Saturdays for Balance with a healthy mix of Latin, jazz, hip hop, house and techno.
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Player
Player was one of London's top cocktail bars during the 1990s, when Dick Bradsell, the Lenin of London's cocktail revolution, started mixing his substantial and stylish drinks behind the basement bar. He has since moved on, and although the bar still serves great drinks, the clientele is a lot less suave. A cooler Soho crowd heads down after , when you too should descend and sample the cocktail list. Only members are admitted after .
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Polski Bar
Formerly known as Na Zdorowie ('cheers' in Polish), Polski Bar changed its name probably as a result of no one being able to pronounce it before or after many-a-flavoured vodka shot, but the spirit (no pun intended) has remained: around 60 different types of vodka, from coffee to fruity to wheat flavoured, there's even kosher vodka, or simple old Polish slivowica . There's great Polish food here, too.
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Prince Alfred
Pubs don't really come much better than this charming place. Originally designed in Victorian times to separate the classes and sexes, the semicircular bar is divided into five gorgeous booths, each with its own little door. Thankfully, nowadays everyone's allowed to sit where they please, and the pub is always busy with adoring locals. The Formosa Dining Room is an excellent place to eat, and the chef has an unbeatable reputation.
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Prince Of Teck
This Earl's Court mainstay is nearly always packed with travellers and is festooned with Australiana (well, stuffed kangaroos, anyway). It's large and comfortable, and has big screens on both floors. This is the default pub for young Aussies and Kiwis in the neighbourhood.
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Prince Of Wales
While pubs that hang eclectic kitsch from their ceilings in a bid to seem quirky can be tedious, the Prince of Wales is still a very pleasant Clapham hang-out, and its décor, unlike that of most pubs of the genre, is genuinely collected rather than supplied en masse. Real ales appear regularly.
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Princess Louise
We might have used the word gem before, but we take all of the other instances back. This late-19th-century Victorian pub is spectacularly decorated with a riot of fine tiles, etched mirrors, plasterwork and a stunning central horseshoe bar.
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Prospect of Whitby
Once known as the Devil's Tavern, the Whitby in Wapping dates from 1520 and is one of London's oldest surviving drinking houses. It's firmly on the tourist trail now, but there's a terrace to the front and the side overlooking the Thames, a decent restaurant upstairs and open fires in winter. Check out the pewter bar - Samuel Pepys once sidled up to it.
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Queen's
While the ghost of actress, royal 'friend' and former next-door neighbour Lillie Langtry is said to reside in the cellar of this spirited joint, the pub proper is haunted by contemporary beauties such as Jude Law and the other fashionistas of Primrose Hill. The food and drinks won't disappoint, and there's plenty to look at among the clientele.
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Queen's Larder
In a lovely square southeast of Russell Sq, this pub is so called because Queen Charlotte, wife of 'Mad' King George III, rented part of the pub's cellar to store special foods for him while he was being treated nearby. There are benches outside for fair-weather fans and a good dining room upstairs.
