Five of the World's 50 Best Bars can be found in London

The 2023 selection of the prestigious World's 50 Best Bars awards includes five of London's stylish drinking dens. That's the same number as last year and there's a newcomer on the list, but overall, the rankings have slipped somewhat.

The World's 50 Best Bars list is a highly coveted honour awarded by a voting academy of nearly 680 bar industry experts from around the world. Following on from the reveal of the extended 51–100 list last week, the top spots were unveiled at a ceremony in Singapore on 17 October. These five London bars made the cut:

• Connaught Bar at #5 (#8 in 2022)
• Tayēr + Elementary at #8 (#2 in 2022)
• Satan's Whiskers at #28 (#23 in 2022)
• 🔶🟥🔵 A Bar with Shapes for a Name at #35 (#37 in 2022)
• Scarfes Bar at #41 (new entry)

As you can see, though London has kept the same total number of bars on the list, most of them have slipped a few places. The biggest blow comes at the top, where the former second-best bar in the world Tayēr + Elementary dropped down to eighth place. Connaught Bar, which claimed the top spot in 2021, is again the leading London bar, but only in fifth place. Meanwhile, Swift, ranked at #30 last year, dropped off the list (it comes in at #76 on the extended list) and was replaced by newcomer Scarfes Bar at #41.

Regardless of the somewhat downward shift, the results are still a marvellous accomplishment and prove there's no shortage of quality places for a quality drink in London.

Oh, and the top spot on the list? That went to Barcelona for the second year in a row, but to a different bar – last year it was Paradiso, this year it's Sips. You can find the full list here.

Congratulations to all the winners!