Heatwave ready! 9 best rooftop bars in Soho and Covent Garden
The London heatwave is here and it’s time to get outside. Following our recent round-up of the best London rooftop bars in the Square Mile, we’ve collected our favourite rooftop bars in Soho and Covent Garden.
Here are the very best, with one suited to you – no matter your vibe.
If you’re looking for a new opening, try Gordon Ramsay’s new rooftop bar and restaurant Bread Street Kitchen, which launched earlier this month at the top of a City skyscraper.
Here’s to the long weekend of sun!
The best London rooftop bars in Soho and Covent Garden
Best for a cool crowd – Broadwick Soho
Broadwick Soho brings a bold, Maximalist energy to Soho. The fairly new hotel and rooftop bar and restaurant attracts the A-List, and a media crowd. Live DJs play at weekends on their panorama bar Flute, which serves excellent cocktails and shareable platters from ceviche to steak and chips. Rather provocatively, their “champagne and a bump” service offers a glass of fizz with a mini serving of caviar. Furniture, in mismatched shades of oranges and reds, hums with louche late night potential. Indoors it’s leopard print detailing and mirrored ceilings. For more information go to broadwicksoho.com
Best British grub – The Devonshire
Granted, when you picture The Devonshire — London’s most in-demand gastro pub – you hardly picture the great outdoors. Separate to their dining room though is a rooftop terrace, and if two of life’s great things are superfluous British pub food and rooftop bars, The Devonshire might have just hit on something rather good. The best thing about the rooftop is that it is entirely reserved for walk-ins, and given the waitlist for a table indoors on a Friday night can span months, this really is the ticket. Go to devonshiresoho.co.uk
Best for music – Amano rooftop
A stone’s throw from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the heart centre of Covent Garden, the Amano hotel and rooftop bar opened a couple of years ago to quiet fanfare, although it deserves more attention. The hotel features bathtubs in windows with Drury Lane views, but the real treat is on the rooftop, where a terrace offers expansive Soho views. Better, though, is the line-up of international DJs who play the indoors bar (also on the rooftop). Too many of these spots have bad sound and are designed for the ‘gram, but Amano’s is decked out perfectly, and has the sort of loose, hedonistic vibe that’s very hard to find in central London these days. It’s a real treat. Go to amanogroup.com
Best for Mediterannean vibes – Ham Yard Soho
Find seating between olive bushes and lemon trees on the rooftop of Ham Yard Soho, which brings fragrances, colour and a dialled-down atmosphere thirty metres above the chaotic streets, adjacent to the Windmill burlesque bar. There is serious prestige here: last year, a pop up with Chateau Le Coste, the Provençal vineyard boasting artwork from Tracey Emin and Bob Dylan, commanded attention. Part of the Firmdale Hotels group, which operates the Haymarket, Soho and Charlotte Street hotels, the latter also has a delightful terrace, which, set opposite the red brick townhouses of the titular street, is a whimsical – and quintessentially London – place for an evening meal. Go to firmdalehotels.com
Best for views – Radio rooftop
So the vibe here is more mainstream (the bridge-and-tunnel Essex brigade found out about Radio but don’t they deserve rooftops too?) but it’s worth it for the views. Unlike most West End bars, which have obstructed sightlines due to the high rises surrounding them, the Radio Rooftop has a surprisingly amazing panorama of the river and towards the west and east. This is definitely the best view from a rooftop bar in central London. There is the usual range of cocktails and shareable food plus live DJs at weekends and on popular summer nights. It’s best to book to guarantee a decent space. Go to melia.com.
Best for Middle Eastern food – Yasmin
Counter to the British and Mediterranean vibe that seems to be everywhere, Yasmin specialises in Middle Eastern cooking from its wrap-around central Soho terrace. Although this is the rooftop of the 1 Warwick private members’ club, the rooftop terrace is open to non-members. Executive chef Tom Cenci has designed dishes including flatbread with sheep’s cheese and hot honey and Turkish manti dumplings with guindilla peppers. Enter via the Nessa restaurant on Warwick Street.Go to yasminsoho.com
Best for brunch – Kitty Hawk
Page8 hotel on the northerly fringe of Trafalagar Square where it meets St Martin’s Lane is an underrated spot for a rooftop cocktail. From the outside the hotel is fairly easy to miss – a grey building with a small, understated doorway – but the rooftop bar and restaurant boasts decent food, booze and views. After opening, hotel management seemed to linger over what to do with their prize sky-high possession, but Kitty Hawk, the British restaurant and bar, won their attention. Expect salads, spritzes, soaring views and some rather excellent Yorkshire puddings. The hotel is lauded too. Go to etmcollection.co.uk/venue/kitty-hawk
Best for shopping – 1864 Rooftop Bar & Kitchen, Oxford Street
This is an easy up-and-out escape route away from the Oxford Circus hoardes. 1864 Rooftop Bar & Kitchen brings country garden-style serenity to the capital’s most chaotic quarter. Think small plates – lobster rolls, padron peppers – and cocktails infused with herbs grown in the garden. On top of the John Lewis department store, there are panoramic views, although don’t get too excited: some of the sightlines are obstructed by neighbouring buildings. Go to 1864rooftopbar.co.uk
Read more: Visit a rooftop bar: London’s best sky-high drinking spots for summer