Bars of the year: David Ellis, On the Sauce at his favourite drinking spots of 2021

It’s a tough gig but someone has to do it — David Ellis names his favourite boozing haunts of this cursed year
Ideal: the front bar at Joe Allen
Charlie McKay
David Ellis @dvh_ellis15 December 2021

Never knowingly an abstemious drinker, things nevertheless took what you might politely call a “professional” turn this summer as I began to write a column called On The Sauce, a sometimes blurry recollection of the bars I’ve ended up this year.

“Have you literally managed to get yourself paid to get pissed?!” my Whatsapps began to read. Only a handful were worried.

Despite being a knotty year for pubs and bars, putting it softly, this year has seen some wonderful places chipping away at the ice and pulling out the stoppers. I didn’t get everywhere — A Bar with Shapes for a Name, for instance, will have to wait till 2022— and the Duchess of Dalston was another on my list that I didn’t tick off. But so it goes; there are only so many nights, and only so much sleep I can go without. Wish me better luck next year.

In the meantime, here’s where I enjoyed drinking most this year, listed in no particular — the only obvious oversights being the Coach and Horses on Greek Street, the French House on Dean Street and the Guinea Grill on Bruton Place (looking for a dream two-hander? Start with a Martini at next-door Bellamy’s, then swing into the pub for endless pints and plates of lamb chops). Unless it is after midnight — when I invariably will have ended up downstairs in Soho’s lovely Black Book, polishing off wine I can’t really afford and tossing up between Trisha’s and the Groucho — if I am lost, look in on these three pubs first. Check my flat second. 40 Dean Street third; I may be happily going foggy on the drink named for me. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. But this lot would be a smart call. Salut.

Joe Allen

As the clock swept past 2am and I found myself being embarrassing on the Freedom dance floor, I suddenly realised quite what a riot I’d had at Joe Allen beforehand. I’d popped in at 5pm for one, and well… it’s the usual story. After 18 months closed, the Theatreland spot finally raised the curtain once again in September, with Russell Norman sorting the front bar. It is cosy, it is dark, and drinks — dreamily made classics, all — are about £12. In other words, it is ideal.

2 Burleigh Street, WC2, joeallen.co.uk

KOL Mezcaleria

The best bars keep a straight face as they suggest a little waywardness. KOL’s subterranean concrete bunker is a one-room bar that feels like it should have desert sand across the floor, no phone signal and Danny Trejo permanently installed in a corner. There is, though, a tremendous sense of still here: it is somewhere to sit at a high stool, order a tequila martini and wonder wistfully about, well, everything.

9 Seymour St, W1, kolrestaurant.com

Homeboy Nine Elms

While I’ve never not got lost on the way here, the perilous and for some reason permanently rain-soaked journeys have always proven worth it. Run by the charming Ciarán Smith and too-charming Aaron Wall — he who once unashamedly and in fact rather gleefully tried to talk my date into being his date — come for droll riffs on the old familiar sorts (sample name: The Sex Advice. Sample tasting note: It’s. A. Cosmo). I go too often, which is the right amount.

Unit 6 New Union Square Embassy Gardens, SW11, homeboybar.com

Bar Crispin

By instinct not a natural wine sort — I tend to think they add stuff in for a reason — Bar Crispin convinced me there’s some merit to the raw stuff. With a decor that appears to be an ode to the humble triangle, I like the cut of sommelier and manager Alex Price’s jib; she knows her stuff, doesn’t push, and has a well-chosen list of fine wine. Built for a swift one before barrelling into Soho.

If natural wine is your bag — and well, even if it’s not — also try Aspen & Meursault in Battersea. It’s got a nicely low-key vibe, the food is good and the wines are so extraordinarily carefully chosen. Owner Sunny Hodge appears to have an astonishing knowledge of his stock, and a persuasive way about him.

19 Kingly Street, W1, barcrispin.com

Side Hustle

This wood-panelled, marble-topped bar is my favourite thing about the new NoMad hotel. With brass rails and yew-green leather booths, it could be in Grand Central Station and yet, despite the velvet-jacketed appearance, is actually much less serious than it might be. Drinks come knock-out strong, sometimes in skulls, sometimes with cocktail umbrellas. I like a little silliness. It explains my personality.

28 Bow Street, WC2, thenomadhotel.com

Sambrook’s Brewery Tap

I’d sort of thought I was allergic to the beardy funk of most brewery taprooms, but Sambrooks cheerily proved me otherwise: here, there is pizza, plenty of beer — none of it with those life-draining explanations of yeast and hops, unless you want it — and a short list of good cocktails, including Tommy’s Margaritas. I remember gulping them down as quick as they could pour them. You will feel welcome here, beard or no beard.

1 Bellwether Lane, SW18, sambrooksbrewery.co.uk

Painter’s Room

One has to really try to get a bad drink in Claridge’s, but it’s to their credit that the hotel is still adding to its line-up. Lady Penelope pink, the Painter’s Room feels like a spot Hercule Poirot might prop up. While in general I sort of hate “riffs on a classic” — invariably, the riff is worse — Nathan McCarley-O’Neill may be the first man ever to actively improve on the classic Negroni, adding a splash of Campari and insisting on Punt e Mes vermouth. One for a serene night of calm.

Claridge’s, Brook Street, W1, claridges.co.uk

Le Quecum Bar

Not new, but my find of the year. Beckoned by trailing vine leaves and the gypsy swing of three guitarists riffing on appealingly wonky Django Reinhardt numbers, three of us wandered in to be fixed with a stare by owner Sylvia Rushbrooke. “Food or drink?” she said. “Drink,” I said. “How much?” she challenged. “Lots,” I replied confidently — and as it turns out, correctly. We stayed late, the music swung, the room spun, and we were in Paris soon enough. Rightly a local institution and among my nights of the year. You could not hurry here too quickly.

42-44 Battersea High Street, SW11, quecumbar.co.uk

Pizzeria Mozza

I had never heard of a Red Hook before coming here, and I am not alone; every since asking for this right-up-my-street mix of rye, vermouth and sweet maraschino liqueur, I had been met with blank stares from even the most accomplished barmen. There have been two exceptions. The first was Declan McGurk, Boatyard Distillery bigwig and former director of bars at the Savoy, who cheerfully went: “oh yes! Must be Punt e Mes for that, no other vermouth cuts it”, which slightly terrified me as I realised he has a power of recall that is worrisome; he and I have chatted an awful lot of bollocks over the years and I was hoping much of it had been forgotten. Not so. The other to recognise it was the head barman at the Ned’s terrific Library Bar — my favourite spot in the entire behemoth — who happily made it, while explaining that it was the first time someone had asked him for one in perhaps 15 years. Anyway, for my money — and I’ve been doing taste tests, believe me — Mozza do it best. I pop in, sit at the counter, order this and am happy. Their other cocktails are finely made too, the pizzas are a hit, and it’s a joy to have a place so close to Oxford Circus that’s actually rather good.

4-5 Langham Place, W1, treehousehotels.com

The George

I never made it to the Cadogan Arms, restaurant group JKS’ first inroad to pubbing, though I’ve heard good things, not least from Jimi. I have swung by this one in Fitzrovia, albeit it only briefly, but I’ve included it here as a nod to the work JKS are doing and the softly-softly approach they’ve taken to boozers. The place is smart, looks great, has plenty of decent beers, proper cocktails and some good food. But the point is — it isn’t too gastro. They haven’t taken the “pub” out of it. In other words, they’ve kept the bits we all liked and upped the ropey side of things. Other big groups could learn something from that.

55 Great Portland Street, W1, thegeorge.london

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