Happiness Forgets

Happiness Forgets is a basement with about forty seats and no interest whatsoever in being noticed. It sits under Hoxton Square, opens at five every day, and has spent well over a decade on and around The World’s 50 Best Bars list without ever appearing to try.

The room is low-ceilinged, dimly lit and deliberately plain, and the bar runs on the principle that a small menu executed exactly beats a long one executed adequately. The drinks are classics and near-classics, priced well below what a bar with this reputation could charge in Mayfair, which is a large part of why the industry likes it so much.

It takes bookings and you should use them. The room is small enough that walking in on a Friday is optimistic, and the best time to go is early in the week when you can talk to the bartenders.

The name comes from a line about how happiness forgets, misery remembers, which suits a bar that is warm rather than glamorous.

Our verdict: the best value serious cocktail bar in London. No theatre, no attitude, drinks as good as anywhere charging twice as much.

Go if: you want excellent drinks in a low-lit basement with no fuss. Skip if: you need a big table or daylight.

Book ahead. Opens 5pm. Hoxton Square, N1.