Three Sheets Dalston

Max Venning got the keys on a Wednesday and was pouring on the Friday, and when the first customer wandered in off Kingsland Road and asked what the bar was called, he had to admit he had not decided (CLASS).

Why go

It was the summer of 2016, the space had barely been changed from its days as a coffee shop, and the opening menu was five drinks. For a while it traded as Between the Sheets, until Noel Venning worked his notice in Manchester and came down. The first half-year was, in Max's word, terrifying.

Two years later black cabs were arriving from central London with cocktail tourists in them. The bar entered The World's 50 Best Bars in 2018 and made three editions in all, and took Bar of the Year at the Class Bar Awards in early 2019 (CLASS).

The drink everyone comes for is the French 75, and the process is the point. The verjus and gin are used to split the lemon juice, the mix is strained through a coffee filter, then carbonated three times below four degrees with twenty-minute breaks between each pass, and bottled. New drinks come off a development shift every week and go on the list only when the whole team agrees one is finished. The brothers describe the Dalston list as evolving rather than changing outright, which is a different discipline from a seasonal rewrite.

Neither site took outside investment. The room is narrow, the decor is minimal, and the ingredients sit on a shelf behind the bar (50 Best).

Order this / avoid

• Order: the French 75, bottled and fizzy to the last mouthful. The Dirty Martini, the only serve that crossed to Soho untouched. The White Russian, on miso syrup with a little Caol Ila. Whatever is newest on the list, since that is where the weekly development shift ends up. Ask for a non-alcoholic serve and let them choose it.
• Avoid: Mondays, when it is shut. Bringing a crowd, because this is the small room. And do not expect the Soho versions: the French 75 was rebalanced with oak and tea for the second site.

What locals & experts say

• Bea Bradsell, bars ambassador at DrinkUp.London, in Time Out's industry poll, naming this branch by its street: "Three Sheets on Kingsland Road is a great place to relax after a stressful week. Their cocktails always blow my mind. I have complete faith that anything on their menu will be delicious." ref
• Hamish Smith, CLASS, March 2024, on how a Dalston side street ended up on the world list: "A couple of years in and black cabs from central London are a regular sight, pulling up on Kingsland Road, nervous cocktail tourists peering out of the window. Could this actually be the site of one of The World's 50 Best Bars and its famous French 75? It was and in fact this narrow, unassuming bar made three editions, not to mention winning Bar of the Year at the Class Bar Awards in early 2019." ref
• The Vennings, in the same piece, on why the acclaim cooled, which is the most useful thing anyone has said about this bar: "it wasn't that their style had grown old, it was because it had just grown wide. Every new bar seemed to talk Three Sheets." Max adds the line under it: "Around 2017-2019 it felt like we were every bartender's favourite bar." ref
• The World's 50 Best Bars, in its own directory entry: "There's nothing superfluous about this compact Dalston bar, from its minimalist decor to the succinct collection of cocktail ingredients on a shelf behind the bar... Arguably the best-known item on the menu is the carbonated take on the French 75." ref
• Top 50 Cocktail Bars, on how the list works: "the drinks are seasonal, making it a surprise whenever you visit", split across three sections called One Sheet, Two Sheets and Three Sheets, with bottled cocktails to take away. ref

Good to know

• Where: 510b Kingsland Road, Dalston E8 4AE. One directory prints E8 4AB; the register says otherwise.
• Which one: this is the original. Three Sheets Soho opened at 13 Manette Street in March 2024, is roughly twice the size, and is the one that took 41st on Europe's 50 Best Bars in 2026. Different room, different list, different drinks in places.
• Timing: Tuesday to Sunday per the venue's own page. The 50 Best listing still says seven days, so trust the venue.
• Booking: no policy is published anywhere. It is a small room, so expect to take your chances.
• Price: around USD 17 a cocktail by 50 Best's own figure. Beers, ciders and wines are on too, and you can take bottled cocktails away.
• Hygiene: Food Standards Agency rating 4, inspected 30 December 2024, Hackney, FHRSID 1418325. Component scores hygiene 10, structural 0, confidence in management 10, where lower is better. A 4 is "Good" rather than the top band, and the inspection is 19 months old. ref
• Who runs it: brothers Max and Noel Venning, with no outside investors in either site. The wider group runs Top Cuvée, Shop Cuvée, Little Mercies and Dead Good Coffee.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: none. His saved-places export carries an empty note for this row, so the master CSV's "World's 50 Best regular; the original Dalston site" is enrichment text rather than his, and nothing here is attributed to him.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Worth the detour, and go to this one rather than the sequel if you want the room the reputation was built in. Max Venning got the keys on a Wednesday in the summer of 2016 and was pouring by Friday, in a barely-refurbished coffee shop with tealights on the tables and five drinks written down. The first customer asked what it was called and he did not know yet. Within two years black cabs were coming out from central London and the bar had entered The World's 50 Best Bars, where CLASS records it made three editions, and it took Bar of the Year at the Class Bar Awards in early 2019. The drink is the carbonated French 75: the verjus and gin are used to split the lemon juice, the mix goes through a coffee filter, then it is carbonated three times below four degrees with twenty-minute rests and bottled. The White Russian runs on a miso syrup with a splash of Caol Ila. New drinks arrive off a weekly development shift and go on only when everyone agrees they are finished, and the brothers describe the Dalston list as evolving rather than changing, which is the right kind of movement in a bar this small. Bea Bradsell of DrinkUp.London named this branch by its street: 'Their cocktails always blow my mind.' It sits at should-visit rather than must-visit for two honest reasons. The current recognition has moved to the bigger Soho room, which took 41st on Europe's 50 Best Bars in 2026 while this one did not appear. And the last inspection here, in December 2024, returned a 4 rather than a 5. Neither changes what is in the glass.