Trailer Happiness has been winning many happy fans ever since it opened its doors in Portobello Road. You can see easily see why. To start with the staff and owners are so friendly and laid back you feel you’ve stepped into a support group rather than a bar. Albeit one with its own unique decor, vibe and supply of rum based beverages.

Because this is a Tiki bar, a perfectly formed example of a phenomena that somehow originated in the post prohibition California of the 1930s. Apparently, as an ever helpful waitress explained, some bars of the time began adopting a Polynesian vibe with bamboo furniture, exotic masks, kitsch pictures, loud shirts and rum based cocktails featuring the flavours of a variety of exotic fruits. Perhaps it was an attempt to brighten the gloom that the recent ban on alcohol had laid over the whole nation. More likely it was intrepid travellers bringing back and integrating the styles and tastes they had discovered during their sojourns in the South Pacific.

Trailer Happiness has resurrected the Tiki bar and taken it to a new level of tasty trendiness that leaves behind your Trader Vic’s of this world (although we can’t help but have a soft spot for Trader’s based solely on a childhood visit to the Hilton Hotel outpost on Park Lane that was so unbelievably different from 70s London it was like being on another planet)

You descend into its subterranean home to find low lighting and low comfortable seating ideal for a little slouching and supping of strong drinks. Trailer happiness, as a good Tiki bar, should, devotes itself to the finest in Rum based cocktails. The kindly barman, wearing a very fetching Hawaiian shirt that belied the cold wet weather, outside recommended a trailer Colada – literally smoking rum concoction, created with the help of a blow torch and served up in hollowed out coconut husk, adorned with a smouldering incense stick. This went down very well with my companion.

After a hard evening’s toil the previous night reviewing bar after bar in Borough I was feeling a little fragile and was kindly pointed in the direction of a Hemingway Daiquiri, which eschewed the traditional cocktail sweetness and replaced it with a little saltiness – apparently the perfect way to counteract the effects of a hangover. I think it worked. After a couple I certainly felt a lot better.

We arrived early and could have stayed very late. As the bar began to fill up we felt more and more at home, unfortunately duty called and more bars beckoned. But to paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger, another fan of loud Hawaiian shirts: “We’ll be back”

177 Portobello Rd
London
W11 2DY

www.trailerhappiness.com

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It’s worth the trip to Putney to visit this outpost of outrageously juvenile fun, one of the best cool bars London.

Dedicated to a more carefree age – and we’re talking ages 5-15 not the 1960’s, The Toy Shop is an homage to happy childhood days, with a party atmosphere that even extends to party hats on Sunday lunchtimes!

Blindingly bright and brash, your senses will be assailed with turquoise and cream booths, brilliantly yellow chairs, and geometric wall patterns reminiscent of 80s video games.

Your senses will come under further attack, in a really, really, good way, by the terrific choice of themed cocktails that should bring back some happy memories – especially the massive sharer cocktails like Ralph’s Rocket and King of the Castle.

The food is pretty good too, with an emphasis on sharing. Check out The Toy Shop BBQ or Kung Fu Chicken.

There’s even a small private room for your very own party! Remember, don’t get too tired and emotional, throw any tantrums, or your toys out the pram in The Toy Shop. You don’t want to get barred from one of the best cool bars in London do you?

The Toy Shop – Best Cool Bars London
32 Putney High Street,
London
SW15 1SQ

www.thetoyshopbar.com

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As bars go, we often equate quirky with cool. But sometimes cool is just cool. Take Steve McQueen for example. There was just something about the guy that was effortlessly admirable. And a bar named and themed after him has just got to be cool too – even if it only by a process of Osmosis. In fact its so good McQueen makes it as one of the best cool bars London.

Thankfully in the case of McQueen, the bar, it’s not just cool by association. It’s cool by design. Not in a quirky, kitsch or eccentric way – but in a traditional masculine, laid back, slightly macho way. It’s all exposed brickwork again, dark wood, heavy leather chesterfield sofas and serious chandeliers.

The clientele is stylish and dressed for the occasion – whether they’re just supping carefully crafted cocktails in the lounge bar, eating in the highly acclaimed American cuisine restaurant or dancing in the boutique club with its emphasis on top quality DJs and sounds.

McQueen –  it makes you feel good just walking through the door.

McQueen Bar – Best Cool Bars London

55-61 Tabernacle Street,
Shoreditch,
EC2A 4AA

www.mcqueen-shoreditch.co.uk

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We couldn’t say it better than they say it themselves… “Café by day, bar by night, fun things to do.”

It’s a simple recipe, but hey, it works so well. And in gorgeously kitsch retro surroundings. So, hats off to Kristie Bishop and Coralie Sleap who first opened Drink, Shop Do as a pop-up shop in a beautiful Kings Cross bath house in 2009.

One of the coolest, most compelling and downright tempting aspects of this great meeting and social spot is that everything you see is for sale from the art on the walls to the furniture to the products dotted around and on the shelves.

There’s always something going on, by day a café meeting pace perfect for afternoon tea and crumpets, by night a cool bar, with delicious, freshly made cocktails and dancing ‘til late on Friday and Saturday nights..

And, if that’s not enough and you want to get creative every night upstairs at Drink, Shop Do you’ll find fun things to ‘DO’ – with events ranging from Lego Robots to Play with Clay.

So much more than a bar… so engaging… so cute…. so get yourself down there and enjoy the experience. Drink Shop Do – best cool bars London winner.

Drink Shop Do
9 Caledonian Road,

Kings Cross,

London,

N1 9DX

www.drinkshopdo.com

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“And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’

He chortled in his joy”

Callooh Callay, named after a phrase from Lewis Carrol’s nonsense poem The Jabberwocky, has been making perfect sense since it opened back in 2008. So much so that it makes it on our list as one of the best cool bars in London.

Perhaps it’s because, while other bars rise and fall with the fickle tide of fashion, Callooh Callay still ploughs its own furrow. Perhaps it’s because quality never goes out of style – and a dedication to doing things right seems to be the first thing on the menu at Calloh Callay.

So, make your way to Shoreditch, find the innocuous entrance on a non-descript sidestreet and enter a world of cocktail make believe.

There are three bars to choose from, one reserved just for groups, one hidden behind a Narnia like wardrobe for a more intimate vibe and the main bar itself. But whichever you find yourself in, you’ll love the innovative, imaginative and inspired cocktails they produce (such as Chai Hard and Pea Ter Rabbit) and enjoy downing them in the superbly surreal surroundings.

A truly frabjous experience awaits you all at Calloo Callay..

Calloo Callay Bar 
65 Rivington Street
London
EC2A 3AY

www.calloohcallaybar.com

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