Bar Kinky.

Bar Kinky

The house Negroni is built on chacha, the Georgian grape-pomace spirit, with pomegranate and sagan dalya tea, and The Infatuation called it one of London's finest cocktails2.

Why go

The bar sits in the basement under Kinkally, the Georgian khinkali restaurant at 43 Charlotte Street, and it borrows the kitchen's larder rather than a generic cocktail pantry. Svanetian salt runs through drinks on both floors (Citizen Femme). Andrew Pruts runs the bar; he came from Insider in Moscow, which entered the World's 50 Best Bars at number 13, the highest position the list has given a brand-new opening, and he brought its habits with him, including one team member whose job is the ice (The Nudge, Foodepedia). The room is chrome, concrete and red light with roughly six seats at a central island bar, so a bartender talks you through the list one drink at a time (Time Out). Founder Diani Militski opened it in autumn 2023 alongside the restaurant, whose kitchen is run by David Chelidze of Hedonist. It went into the UK Top 50 Cocktail Bars at 37 in 2026, its first year on the list (DesignMyNight).

Order this / avoid

• Order: the Narnia, the chacha and sagan dalya Negroni. Then the Nomad, Pruts' own Negroni riff of gin, vermouth, strawberry and coriander, which the Standard found arriving beneath a veritable hedge of wild herbs: Alan Titchmarsh on the lash1. Time Out points Guinness drinkers at the Vision, sweet and creamy at the top, sour and slightly savoury at the bottom3. Order a Hemingway daiquiri off-list too: the Standard rated them in the top 10 per cent of London's offerings. Eat the beef tartare sandwiches.
• Avoid: arriving as a group and hoping. Six seats, walk-ins only, and the venue says large groups should contact them first (venue). Also skip it if anyone needs step-free access, per the venue's own statement.

What locals & experts say

• Evening Standard (7 October 2024), Josh Barrie: We are both taken by Bar Kinky. It is fabulous. His verdict line: This bar must not be overlooked. It is a statement; an example of the best of new-London.1
• The Infatuation (8 October 2025), Heidi Lauth Beasley: "this intimate, futuristic bar acts as a kind of exclusive preview for when Architectural Digest starts giving cover stories to aesthetically flawless spaceships." The guide leaves it unrated because it does not score bars.2
• Time Out (6 February 2025), Grace Beard: this stripped-back cocktail den is all moody metals and concrete, livened up by sultry red lighting. And with only six or so seats at the bar, it's as intimate as it gets.3
• Top 50 Cocktail Bars (UK), 2026: 37th, on its first appearance, from a list the organizers say is picked by an expert panel. The guide's own line on the room: a copper vaulted room which only has space for half a dozen people around its central island bar.4
• Citizen Femme (30 May 2024), Ella Mansell: The industrial interiors of raw metal bartops, minus any ornamental flourishes, are dimmed under the edgy-romance of playful red lighting.6

Good to know

• Timing: Tuesday to Thursday 17:30 to midnight, Friday and Saturday 17:30 to 2am, closed Sunday and Monday (venue).
• Booking: walk-ins only for the bar. Time Out's route in: message the bar on Instagram and they'll get back to you within minutes to let you know if they have any space. There is a private bookable room for groups3.
• Access: the venue states it is not wheelchair accessible at the moment, and cannot host children under the age of 5 (venue). The bar is down a staircase.
• Hygiene: the premises registration covering the ground floor and this basement holds an FSA rating of 2, improvement necessary, from a Westminster inspection on 23 June 2026, with component scores of 10 for hygiene, 15 for structure and 10 for confidence in management (record). That is a recent inspection, and worth knowing before ordering food here.
• Price: cocktails from GBP 14 as of the Standard's October 2024 visit; Time Out prices the bar 3 of 4.
• Sites: one only. Bar Kinky is the basement of Kinkally, 43-45 Charlotte Street W1T 1RS, and there is no second location. Anything that puts it in Newington Green is wrong.

Verdict

should-visit — Six seats, a chrome basement, and a bar program built on Georgian ingredients that almost nothing in London touches: chacha, sagan dalya tea, svanetian salt shared with the kitchen upstairs. Andrew Pruts came from Insider in Moscow, which entered the World's 50 Best Bars at 13, the highest debut the list has recorded, and he runs a dedicated ice position here. It went into the UK Top 50 Cocktail Bars at 37 in 2026 on its first appearance, and the Standard's reviewer put its Hemingway daiquiris in the top ten percent of London's. It stays off the top rung because the room holds almost nobody, the food is snacks, and the premises took a hygiene 2 in June 2026.