5 Great New Bars To Visit This October

The Lost Alhambra, Leicester Square

From the team behind some of London’s most Insta-friendly venues – including Waterloo’s Tonight Josephine and Soho’s Blame Gloria – comes The Lost Alhambra, a former theatre which has been revived after nearly 100 years. The Alhambra Theatre of Variety was a popular music hall which opened on Leicester Square in March 1854. It became the model for Parisian music halls, staging circus attractions alongside popular ballets. Once the ballerinas finished their performance, the dancers would head to the bar beneath the stage for a night of debauchery – eating oysters, drinking champagne and making eligible acquaintances. When the space reopens later this month, we hear that guests should expect much of the same. Sounds like a perfect place for an after-party.

28A Leicester Square, WC2H 7LE

Visit TheLostAlhambra.co.uk

The Hunter’s Moon, South Kensington

This refurbished Fulham Road pub has been kitted out with oak and vintage tile flooring, textured walls, soft autumnal furnishings and pendant lighting. The pub champions comfort and is filled with cosy nooks and comfy aged leather armchairs. The dining room’s homely touches include an original aga and an open fireplace. Open seven days a week, The Hunter’s Moon will offer a daily-changing menu of modern European dishes such as: scallop ceviche with whipped avocado, pickled ginger and truffled ponzu; slow roast suckling pork belly with apple tarte fine, Morteau sausage, choucroute and Madeira sauce; and blackberry and custard pavlova with pink praline crunch. Come Sundays, expect brunch and roasts, where the team will serve its signature ‘Bloody Susan’, a DIY bloody mary kit served on a lazy susan, ready for sharing.

86 Fulham Road, South Kensington, SW3 6HR

Visit HuntersMoonLondon.co.uk

Lyon’s Seafood & Wine Bar, Crouch End

After 20 years spent front of house at Hix, The Wolseley and Colbert, Anthony Lyon has opened his own local wine bar and restaurant in Crouch End. The glass-fronted space will have 16 bar seats and window seats for walk-ins. Head chef Talia Prince (Le Gavroche, Fat Duck) takes the helm in the kitchen, working alongside award-winning sommelier Kelvin McCabe, whose wine list champions English sparkler Ambriel and Bethnal Green urban winery Renegade. A small, experimental list of cocktails uses small-batch ingredients such as An Dúlamán’s seaweed-infused Irish Maritime gin and Oyester 44 oyster vodka. A selection of craft beers, including Ace Stout from Wild Card Brewery, will also change regularly. 

1 Park Road, Crouch End, N8 8TE; opens 11th October

Visit Lyons-Restaurant.com

No 35 Mackenzie Walk, Canary Wharf

Expect seasonal serves, craft beers and house wines when this one lands at the end of the month. A lively all-day hangout, the bar will be open from Monday morning coffees to Sunday evening nightcaps. Breakfast will be served from 7:30am, alongside all-day brunch at weekends, offering early risers Caravan coffee, cold-pressed juices, breakfast rice bowls and tacos. On Thursday and Friday evenings, there’ll be DJ sets to soundtrack post-work drinks and dinner will come in the form of small sharing plates. From the cocktail list, we like the sound of the ‘Raspberry Sour’ (fresh passionfruit and raspberries, J&B Rare and Somerset cider liqueur) and the ‘Stirred Not Shaken’ (Tanqueray Ten, Belsazar dry vermouth and a grapefruit twist).

29-35 Mackenzie Walk, Canary Wharf, E14 4PH; opens 29th October

Visit No35MackenzieWalk.co.uk

Little Bat, Islington

Quirky neighbourhood bar Little Bat has relaunched. A sister to revered Shoreditch cocktail bar Callooh Callay, it has reopened with a 24-cover restaurant serving up the likes of black figs with smoked yogurt, Cobble Lane bresaola, pecans and radishes. Extending the drinks philosophy of Callooh Callay, owner Richard Wynne has revitalised the bar menu, which now includes signature drinks infused with seasonal purées. A ‘family cabinet’ gives customers the opportunity to bring in their own spirit and keep it in the cabinet, dipping into it whenever they like for £50 a month. From 11pm on weekends, the dining room will be completely cleared and bar guests invited to party the night away with music, drinks and bites from the all-night bar snacks menu.

54 Islington Park Street, Islington, N1 1PX

Visit LittleBatBar.com