Top 10 places to go for a drink

Here are the top venues.

1. Coburg Bar, The Connaught Hotel, Carlos Place W1
Extensive wine list and range of cocktails. Customers tend to be well-dressed and moneyed.
When to go: when you feel the need to be pampered.
What to have: one of the cocktails.

2. The White Horse, Parsons Green SW6
Eighty bottled beers on offer and more than a dozen-strong draught selection.
Go: at lunchtime on a summer day.
Have: pint of Meantime London Porter.

3. Hawksmoor, Commercial St E1
American-inspired steakhouse and cocktail bar. The cocktail selection is neither severe nor expensive, with much at £6.50.
Go: when your belly is feeling brave.
Have: a Tobacco Old Fashioned.

4. Milk & Honey, Poland St W1F
Non-members are welcome before 11pm — as long as you book in advance. Serves wonderful cocktails.
Go: before 11pm if not a member.
Have: ask the bartenders

5. Lonsdale, Lonsdale Rd W11
Decorated in Seventies sci-funk style, with brass bubble walls and red leather seating. Fair prices.
Go: late in the evening but not too late — it gets stupidly busy.
Have: classic London cocktails.

6. Mandarin Bar, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Hotel, Knightsbridge SW1X
Caters for whisky aficionados, a vast selection of cocktails. Attentive table service and nightly jazz.
Go: when even shopping at Harrods isn't posh enough.
Have: keep to the classics.

7. Vinoteca, St John St, Farringdon.
More of a gastropub in spirit, emphasis on robust and strictly seasonal food. Boasts 200-bottle wine list.
Go: after work.
Have: wine.

8. Shochu Lounge, under Roka restaurant, Charlotte St, W1T
Evening-only lounge bar serving hot or cold sake and a range of cocktails.
Go: When you need a fix of alcoholic exotica.
Have: Hello Kitty — a house punch that hits you with a velvet glove.

9. The Rake, Winchester Walk, SE1
Tiny wooden shed of a room with a big range of beers that would put a Belgian bar to shame. There are also ciders, perrys, jenevers and schnapps.
Go: after forage in Borough Market.
Have: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

10. The Warrington, Warrington Crescent, W9
Inside the historic Warrington hotel, it boasts beer sourced from local microbreweries.
Go: When you want a proper, historic pub interior with ace beer.
Have: a pint.

*The full list is in Time Out today