Nightjar.

Nightjar

The December 2025 list runs a basil and mascarpone fat wash through the vodka, a French toast fat wash through the Breakfast Martini, and clarified carrot and orange through a Harvey Wallbanger, which is prep-kitchen labor served in a coupe.

Why go

Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson opened this basement off the Old Street roundabout in 2011, and the music came before the drinks. My wife sings jazz, swing and blues, and we wanted somewhere that would do justice to the music, Weil told Foodism5. A band has played every night since, from 9pm, and the cover charge goes straight to the musicians (Nightjar). The list is split by era, Pre-Prohibition 1600-1918, Prohibition 1918-1932 and Post War 1940-2000, and it turns over: the current menu is stamped December 2025, and the UK's Top 50 Cocktail Bars still lists Prohibition-section drinks that have already gone. Behind it sits real production. Nightjar bottles its own kalamansi liqueur and its own Chartreuse, and fat-washes for texture rather than for a menu line.

Order this / avoid

• Order: Beyond the Sea, gin with fino sherry steeped in kombu and an olive-brine air, which is the clearest look at what the prep is for. Pan con Tomate, vodka over BBQ tomato and cherry-tomato water with the basil and mascarpone fat wash. Name of the Samurai if you want the Japanese whisky and daiginjo sake build with blossom smoke.
• Avoid: arriving at 9pm on a Friday with no table. Weekend live-music bookings go over six weeks out, and only a few walk-in tables are held back each night, first come first served (Top 50 Cocktail Bars). There is no standing room, so no seat means no drink.

What locals & experts say

• Jordan Bassett, Time Out London (6 November 2024): This subterranean cocktail bar is held in very high standing - which is ironic, considering they don't actually allow anyone to stand around and make the place look untidy. His verdict on the pair of sites: Nightjar: still outstanding.2
• The World's 50 Best Bars, in the award body's own venue record: earning it a consistent spot on The World's 50 Best Bars list, taking third place in 2012 and second a year later. Read the years. Nightjar is not on the 2025 list of 1-50, and the entry treats those placings as history rather than current standing.3
• Top 50 Cocktail Bars (UK), the category specialist, unbylined so this is the masthead rather than a person: get a seat next to the bar to watch the bartenders in action. Its page prices single serves at £12 to £25 and the low and no-alcohol drinks at £8.4
• Mike Gibson, Foodism (5 May 2015), on the standing it had built by then: It may be a trendy place, but what it's categorically not is a flash in the pan. The same piece records the Difford's Guide Class Award for Best New Bar in 2011.5

Good to know

• Where: 129 City Road EC1V 1JB, an unmarked door near Old Street. There is a second Nightjar at 49-51 Carnaby Street in Soho, opened 2022; this entry is City Road and every source above names it.
• Timing: evenings only, Sunday to Wednesday 6pm to 1am, Thursday to Saturday 6pm to 3am. Band from 9pm, every night.
• Booking: recommended. Groups up to 20 are taken Sunday to Thursday on a pre-order and a minimum spend.
• Cost: £12 to £25 a cocktail, plus the music cover charge.
• Hygiene: the FSA records rating 5 for 129-131 City Road, with components 5, 5 and 5, where lower is better. The rating date is 19 March 2019, so it is clean and seven years old.6
• Michelin: not recorded either way. Our cached Michelin data covers stars only, and a bar sits outside the restaurant guide, so no absence here means anything.

Verdict

should-visit — The reason to go is behind the bar, and it is visible on the list. Nightjar fat-washes vodka with basil and mascarpone for the Pan con Tomate, runs a French toast fat wash through a Breakfast Martini, clarifies carrot and orange for a Harvey Wallbanger, and bottles its own kalamansi liqueur and its own 'Chartreuse'. That is a production kitchen wearing a bar's clothes, and it is dated December 2025, so it is current work rather than a legend. Edmund Weil and Rosie Stimpson opened in 2011 with the music first, she sings jazz and swing, and a band has played every night since; the cover charge goes to the musicians. Time Out's Jordan Bassett called it 'still outstanding' in November 2024. It holds at should-visit rather than must-visit because the World's 50 Best placings are 2012 and 2013, it is off the 2025 list, and nobody with a byline has scored the current drinks. Seated only, band from 9pm, so book it as the evening rather than a stop on the way to one.