The masthead

Named humans. Every review.

Every bar on barsforKings has been visited and written up by a member of our editorial team. No AI-generated summaries, no rewritten Yelp reviews, no pay-to-play placements. These are the people who put the words on the page.

Co-founder

Fredrik Filipsson

Co-founder & Editor in Chief

Business executive who has lived across Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Thailand, Dubai and Florida. Specialises in high-end sports bars, luxury hotel bars, and the chronic gap between a city's restaurant scene and its bar scene. Has watched live sport in more than 40 cities and writes about what actually matters when you walk into a bar at 19:30 on a Tuesday. Covers Dubai, Miami, Las Vegas, Stockholm, Bangkok, and sports-bar culture globally.

Co-founder

Morten Andersen

Co-founder & Managing Editor

Lives in Spain, having previously been based in Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Ireland, and Las Vegas — a path that covers both the world's best pubs and its most theatrical cocktail rooms. Has an uncompromising eye for service quality and a real affection for champagne bars and rooftop terraces. European coverage is the most personally vetted content on the site: if a bar in Barcelona, London or Dublin makes the guide, Morten has sat there long enough to form a real opinion.

Cocktail Editor

Priya Nair

Senior Cocktail Editor

Senior cocktail editor and former Punch contributor. Reads a bar through its menu first: how the list is sequenced, which spirits get house pours, and whether the signature drink is built to a recipe or a feeling. Covers London, Athens, Lisbon, Singapore, and Tokyo.

EU Correspondent

Sofia Reeves

Travel & Bars Desk, EU Correspondent

Travel and bars correspondent across Europe. Writes the city guide that answers the real question at 7pm in a city you do not know: where to start, and where to end up. Maps the bar neighbourhoods of Lisbon, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen.

Beer & Pubs

James Harlow

Beer & Gastropubs Editor

Beer and gastropubs editor. Judges a beer bar on cellar temperature, line cleaning, tap rotation, and whether the kitchen earns its place. Covers Manchester, London, Dublin, Portland, and the Belgian beer cities.

Asia-Pacific

Marcus Webb

Asia-Pacific Contributor

Asia-Pacific contributor based in Bangkok. Knows the region's rooftop scene better than anyone on the team. His rule: the view should be the second-best thing about a bar. Covers Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Sydney.

Sports & Dives

Tom Callahan

US Midwest & Sports Bars Editor

US Midwest and sports-bar editor in Chicago. Grades a sports bar on sightlines from the bad seats, whether the sound is on the right feed, and how fast the second round arrives at kickoff. Covers Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, Austin, and Kansas City.

History & Culture

Mei-Lin Zhao

Drinks History & Culture Editor

Drinks history and culture editor. Tells you why a drink exists, which bar first served it, and which room still makes it right. Covers New York, Havana, New Orleans, Shanghai, and Vienna.

Middle East

Noa Aviv

Middle East & Mediterranean Contributor

Middle East and Mediterranean contributor in Tel Aviv. Maps a fast-moving region from the natural-wine rooms of Tel Aviv to the rooftops of Beirut and the late bars of Athens. Covers Tel Aviv, Beirut, Athens, Dubai, and Istanbul.

Africa

Daniel Okafor

Africa & Emerging Markets Contributor

Africa and emerging markets contributor in Lagos. Documents one of the most exciting and least-covered bar scenes anywhere, judging each bar on its own terms. Covers Lagos, Cape Town, Nairobi, Accra, and Marrakech.

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