American Bar at The Savoy

The American Bar is where London cocktail culture actually begins. It dates to 1889 and is the oldest surviving cocktail bar in the city, which means almost every bar in this guide is downstream of it in one way or another.

Two names explain why it matters. Ada Coleman ran the bar in the early years and invented the Hanky Panky, which is still on the menu and still worth ordering. Harry Craddock took over as head bartender in 1925 and, in 1930, published The Savoy Cocktail Book, a collection of 750 recipes that has never been out of print and remains the single most influential cocktail book written in English.

The room is Art Deco, formal without being forbidding, and there is a pianist most evenings. It is one of the few bars in London where the history is not marketing: the drinks you order have documented provenance in the building you are sitting in.

It is not cheap and it is not trying to be the most inventive bar in town. What it offers instead is the definitive version of the classics, made by people who take the lineage seriously.

Our verdict: the most historically important bar in London, and the only place to drink a Hanky Panky. Order a classic rather than something clever.

Go if: you want cocktail history done properly, with a pianist. Skip if: you are chasing whatever is newest.

Dress for it. The Savoy, Strand.