Our favourite Bloomsbury bars

The Bloomsbury Club takes its name from the famed group of artists, writers, and other creatives based in the area at the turn of the century, the likes of Virginia Woolf and Lady Ottoline Morrell among its notable members.

This Bloomsbury bar delivers playful menus, bright rooms painted in patterns, and the feel of an evening salon. The cocktail diviner is a menu of 14 signature cocktails crafted for whatever mood you may be in, accompanied by artwork inspired by the classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck.

Dark wood, original artwork, low lighting, and live music sessions. We love this bar for keeping the mystical and intellectual spirit of Bloomsbury alive. This is a threshold bar – a place for those with one foot in the present and one foot in the past.

The Lady Ottoline is named after turn-of-the-century society hostess and literary patroness, Lady Ottoline Morrell, famed for her patronage of the Bloomsbury Group – a collective of writers, artists, and other creatives. It’s fitting that Bloomsbury’s most influential lady should still hold a presence in the neighbourhood today in the form of an elegant gastropub.

The red brick building of The Lady Ottoline is accented by a forest green wooden facade and well-preserved, elegant, and minimal interior design. The pub offers the Dining Room – a lovely spot for special occasions that can accommodate up to 60 people, and the Lady Ottoline offers a modern seasonal British menu, over 40 artisan gins, craft beers, real ales, and an exceptional wine list, making it one of favourite Bloomsbury bars.

The name Amelie conjures up images of the whimsical cult French film of the same name. The sunny-yellow interior of Amelie’s Wine House feels like someplace the titular character would come to enjoy wine, cheese, and charcuterie.

This Bloomsbury bar is located around the corner from Goodge Street tube station, and its cosy interior, and two outdoor tables, can accommodate up to 50 people for private parties, but Amelie’s is best for a date night, or a post-work bottle of wine and a catch up with friends.

Amelie occupies the frequently rainy streets of London, but when we’re just tipsy enough, we can lean into the whimsical notion we’re somewhere in the south of France.

The Lamb is a small Victorian pub with the expected old-fashioned interior and traditional British menu. Located between Holborn and Russell Square stations, the Lamb focuses on cask and craft beers, and full-bodied wines from around the world, all complementing the best in seasonal British dishes.

Fixed over two floors, the Lamb offers a back garden for those wanting to drink and dine alfresco as well as private hire options with party menus in the Snug, the Lower Lamb, and the Empire Room. The pub is popular with the post-work crowd but less touristy than some other Bloomsbury bars, located as it is on the relatively quiet Guilford Place off Coram’s Fields.

The Museum Tavern sits across from the British Museum but is, in fact, older than its neighbour as it dates back to 1723. The pub changed its name in 1759 when the British Museum first opened its doors. It draws in a crowd of tourists, to be sure, but it would be a shame not to visit the Museum Tavern for a round when in Bloomsbury.

With a Prussian blue and golden gilded exterior, this Bloomsbury bar retains many of its original features, including Victorian bar fittings, gas lanterns, mirrors, and windows. It has always been popular with tourists and academics alike, situated as it is opposite the gates of one of the world’s most renowned museums, and its beer garden is also a crowd-pleaser.

The Coral Room is a stylish wine and cocktail bar within the Bloomsbury Hotel just off Great Russell Street near Tottenham Court Road station. The villa-style bar has a modern interior with high ceilings, coral walls, and dramatic chandeliers.

By day, the Coral Room serves guests is popular for dining and afternoon tea, and as you would expect from a cocktail bar in a hotel, it is a little on the spacious side, and though we like our cocktail bars cosy and snug, it does still evoke an old-school cocktail bar vibe by night.

We appreciate the Coral Room for several reasons – its cocktails, yes, but also its late-night music sessions every Thursday and Friday. Expect genres like ‘70s Soul and Disco from a revolving lineup of DJ sets.

The Marquis Cornwallis is just a few moments’ walk from Russell Square tube station, perched on a street corner surrounded by peaceful garden squares and near both the British Museum and the British Library.

Dating back to the 1800s, this Bloomsbury bar showcases period features with contemporary touches. It’s a popular spot with the post-work crowd, focuses on craft beers and cocktails, and offers an upstairs dining room, the Drawing Room, for private hire.

The Marquis Cornwallis feels like the quintessential old-school pub you’d find in central London.

Fitz's Russell Square is a glamorous cocktail bar located in the Grade II listed hotel, Kimpton Fitzroy London. Inside, the decor evokes the 1920s Jazz Age, a style of decor that somehow complements the 18th-century design of the building.

This Bloomsbury bar offers two decadent drinking spaces. The Mural Room is chic with plush decor, ideal for indulging in an aperitif, glass of wine, or late-night tipple.

The Mirrorball Room is a reservations-only bar featuring a top-notch menu of conceptual cocktails that celebrate and explore the ideas of Colour Theory – because if there’s anything Bloomsbury loves, it’s a bar that conceptualises and intellectualises the consumption of alcohol.

The Bloomsbury Tavern is a gorgeous pub that dates back to 1856, complete with the arched stained glass windows that so defined the Victorian Gothic era. The pub is rumoured to be haunted, and we have to admit that this gothic Bloomsbury bar seems the sort to acquire a spectral tenant or two.

Sitting at the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and New Oxford Street, the Bloomsbury Tavern is a great post-work old-school boozer, and it’s also ideal for a pre-theatre pint and post-theatre nightcap. Its upstairs function room can accommodate up to 25 guests and a couple of ghosts.

The Queens Larder is a small, wood-panelled, 18th-century pub located off the beaten path between Russell Square and Holborn stations. This Bloomsbury bar is located right across the road from Queen Square Gardens where it’s a little more quiet and residential, but still popular with the nearby office workers.

Inside The Queens Larder, it’s traditional as they come, a ruby red and dark wooden interior with old bar stools and tables topped with bottles of Heinz ketchup and HP Brown Sauce. It’s a pub for the locals, for comforting pub grub, and for pints outside on the leafy green Bloomsbury streets.