The best cocktail bars in Camden
Camden does not do hushed speakeasies. It does bourbon by the barrel on the High Street, £6 margaritas at lunch on Inverness Street, a rum shack opposite the Roundhouse and caipirinhas at happy hour. Here is where to drink, and when it is cheapest.
By Only Camden Editorial
The best cocktail deal in Camden is at the Blues Kitchen on the High Street: £6 cocktails every Tuesday and Wednesday from 16:00, against £12.50 the rest of the week. Camden is not a town of hushed speakeasies with a password on the door. It is bourbon and a band, margaritas and tacos, rum by the hundred and caipirinhas at happy hour. Here is where to drink, and when it costs least.
The Blues Kitchen, Camden High Street, NW1
A bar, diner and music room built around American roots music, with a bourbon list that Time Out puts at around 50 bottles, some of them used in the cocktails. The current menu has the classics at £12.50 to £13.50: a Negroni, an Espresso Martini, a Paloma, a Burnt Pear Old Fashioned on Buffalo Trace and a six-rum Zombie No.6. Four margaritas sit at £12.50 each, including a plum one with Patrón Reposado and plum wine, and the alcohol free list is £8. For a treat, the rare whiskey list runs from Colonel E.H. Taylor Single Barrel at £14 up to Pappy Van Winkle 23 at £72. Order the Burnt Pear Old Fashioned, and get gumbo or buffalo wings to go with it.
El Cenote, 2 Inverness Street, NW1
A Mexican bar and restaurant at the top of Inverness Street where, as Hot Dinners put it, the bar scene is as important as the restaurant. Chef Daniel Sanchez, from Mexico City and formerly of Ella Canta, runs the kitchen, and the bar has a long margarita section plus tequila, mezcal and Mexican whisky. The trick is lunch: on weekdays from 13:00 to 16:00 margaritas are £6 and tacos are two for £8. Groups of four or more can book a Margarita Masterclass on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for £28 a head, which includes making two cocktails. It is open to 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. Order the birria tacos. A 12.5% service charge goes on the bill.
Cottons, 55 Chalk Farm Road, NW1
Opposite the Roundhouse, and running as a Caribbean restaurant brand since 1985. The rum shelf is the reason to come: Time Out counts 300 different rums, many worked into the house recipes. Try a Rasta Mule or the Cottons Piña Colada. Cottons opens at 17:00 on weekdays and noon at weekends, with a Saturday bottomless brunch of two courses and 90 minutes of rum punch or Prosecco. It is a good pre-gig stop before a show across the road.
Made in Brasil, Camden Town
Caipirinhas in several versions, a sound system and Brazilian meats and stews to soak them up. Happy hour is 16:00 to 19:00 every day and all day on Tuesdays, and on Saturdays from 12:30 there is a bottomless brunch with 60 minutes of caipirinhas or Prosecco. Bottomless barbecue skewers run on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tuesday is the night.
The Lock Tavern roof, 35 Chalk Farm Road, NW1
Not a cocktail bar, but the best outdoor seat for a drink on this end of Camden. The Lock Tavern has an all-weather roof terrace over the Stables Market and a heated garden with a fire pit downstairs. It stays open to 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
The Queen’s, 49 Regent’s Park Road, NW1
For something calmer after a walk on Primrose Hill. The Queen’s is a Victorian Young’s pub from 1854 with an upstairs dining room and terrace over the hill, and it runs a seasonal cocktail list alongside the cask. Food is served from noon to 21:30. Ask at the bar about their takeaway serves if you would rather drink yours on the grass at sunset.
Before a gig
- Roundhouse: Cottons is across Chalk Farm Road, and opens at 17:00 in the week.
- KOKO or the Electric Ballroom: the Blues Kitchen is on the same stretch of the High Street.
- Dublin Castle or the Jazz Cafe: El Cenote on Inverness Street is a two minute walk from Parkway.
The cheap week, day by day
- Monday to Friday lunch: £6 margaritas at El Cenote until 16:00.
- Every day, 16:00 to 19:00: happy hour at Made in Brasil.
- Tuesday: Made in Brasil happy hour all day, and £6 cocktails at the Blues Kitchen from 16:00.
- Wednesday: £6 cocktails at the Blues Kitchen from 16:00.
- Saturday: bottomless brunches at Cottons and Made in Brasil. Book ahead.
What we left out
Several Camden cocktail bars that still turn up in older round-ups have gone quiet: their websites are dead or for sale, and we could not confirm they still trade. We would rather send you to a bar that is open. If you know one we have missed, tell us.
Deals and hours change with the season, so check the bar before you plan a night around one.
