5 New Bars To Try This March

Larry’s, Peckham

The team behind Salon and Levan is opening Larry's in Peckham. Taking cues from the corner bars, diners and cafes of New York, Larry's will be open all day, kicking off with coffee and pastries, serving deli-style sandwiches for lunch and offering a concise menu of sharing plates for dinner. Larry’s is named after 70s dance music pioneer and DJ Larry Levan, and will stay open late into the night, playing music from its vintage sound system while guests settle in for drinks or dinner. The bar team will also swap a lengthy wine list in favour of a lean and constantly changing offering of two wines of each colour (white, red, orange, rosé and sparkling). These will take the form of a quality house wine and a guest wine from interesting, low-intervention winemakers. Keeping it simpler still, there will be just two cocktails and one beer.

12-16 Blenheim Grove, Peckham, SE15 4QL; from 17th March

Visit LarrysPeckham.co.uk

Tavla, Shoreditch

East London’s bar scene has a new addition in the form of Tavla, located on the ground floor of new hotel Hart Shoreditch Hotel London. Tavla, which means backgammon in Turkish, will have socialising at its core with backgammon boards on every table and a rotating roster of vinyl DJs playing every Thursday and Friday. The bar will launch with a menu of updated classics and barrel-aged cocktails, alongside a selection of bar snacks and flatbreads inspired by the Levantine flavours showcased in the hotel’s in-house restaurant, Barboun. House classics will be given a playful twist including the ‘Bloody Meryem’ (Ketel One vodka, Casamigos mezcal, lemon, tomato juice, Turkish spices and nigella and sumac salt), a Turkish twist on a bloody mary. Barrel-aged cocktails will bring notes of wood, vanilla and tannins to serves such as the ‘Turbo Negroni’, made with Tanquery No. Ten gin, barberry, coffee-washed Belsazar Red and Campari.

Leonard Street, Hackney, EC2A 3HS

Visit Tavla.London

Swift, Soho 

Multi-award-winning cocktail bar Swift is launching a new drinks menu that celebrates its neighbourhood. While five of Swift’s old favourite drinks remain on the list (think ‘Irish Coffee’, which is made with a Colombian dark-roast filter coffee from Soho’s Algerian Coffee Stores), there are 15 new additions, with each drink influenced by Soho’s LGBT, coffee and music movements. Guests will also find plenty of references to the neighbourhood’s colourful past in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Of the new drinks, we like the sound of the ‘Scala’ – made with Beefeater gin, gooseberry, picpoul de pinet, lime sherbet and geranium – which is inspired by Scala theatre,  aka the cinema of sin, known for being the first of its kind to screen adult films in the 70s.

12 Old Compton Street, Soho, W1D 4TQ

Visit BarSwift.com

Timeless Bar, Hackney

Funicular Productions, the team behind the award-winning immersive show The Murdér Express, is launching Cocktail Time Machine, a cocktail-themed experience at new east London venue Timeless Bar. The experience invites guests back in time and space to enjoy some of the world’s best-loved cocktails at the moment of their inception. During the 75-minute event, guests will be transported through three decades and countries via three different, era-defining cocktails (think the ‘Pina Colada’ from the 50s and the ‘Cosmopolitan’ from the 80s. Back in the present, intrepid time travellers are invited to continue the adventure in Timeless Bar, a drinking destination in itself with an all-day happy hour.

Sidworth Street, Hackney, E8 3SD

Visit Cocktail-Time-Machine.com

Bar El Rincón, King’s Cross

This spring, Camino is launching Bar El Rincón, a new wine and tapas bar next door to Bar Pepito and opposite Camino King’s Cross. Focusing on sustainability, Bar El Rincón will have a small selection of drinks. Camino founder Richard Bigg has worked with Borough Wines to select a white, red and rosé Spanish wine as well as a sparkling and a sangria – all available only on tap to reduce waste – while beers come from Barcelona. Camino exec chef Nacho del Campo will oversee the tapas, creating new specials exclusive alongside classics including arroz negro (black rice with cuttlefish, squid ink and aliolli), croquetas de jamón, gambas ajillo (prawns with garlic, chilli and white wine), ibérico meatballs and cheese and spinach cake.

Varnishers Yard, King’s Cross, N1 9FD

Visit Camino.UK.com