Nightjar

Nightjar is one of the most decorated cocktail bars in the world, and it also happens to have a live band every night. Down a discreet stair on City Road, on the fringe of Shoreditch, it recreates the hush and theatre of a 1920s speakeasy: low light, close tables, an encyclopaedic drinks list, and jazz, swing and blues from the era it evokes, played live from around 9pm. It is a genuinely superb evening out. But on a ranking of live-music venues, the honest question is where the band sits in the billing, and here the answer is that the cocktails share the top line. That is exactly why we place it at No. 20.

Since opening in 2010, Nightjar has appeared repeatedly on The World's 50 Best Bars list, ranking as high as third in 2012 and second in 2013, a level of recognition that cements its place among the defining bars of the modern cocktail renaissance. The live music has run nightly for well over a decade, three sets an evening in a room built for listening as much as drinking. Both halves of that identity are real and world class. Our job is simply to weigh them honestly on a list about live music, and to be clear about what makes Nightjar different from the pure listening rooms higher up our 25 best live music bars ranking.

Why we rank it No. 20

Our live-music ranking is ordered by one question above all others: how central is the band to the room? At the top of the list sit venues where the music is the entire reason the doors are open, rooms that sell no food, or no alcohol at all, and exist purely to put musicians in front of listeners. Nightjar is a different kind of place. Here the era-spanning cocktail programme is the headline, and the live jazz, superb as it is, is the atmosphere that surrounds it. Most guests come first for the drinks, and the band is a glorious bonus.

That is no criticism. The music genuinely matters at Nightjar, the standard is high, the sets are frequent, and the room is designed so that you actually hear the band rather than talk over it. But a ranking of live-music venues has to reward musical primacy over fame, and by that measure a world-famous cocktail bar with a nightly band belongs below the dedicated clubs, however celebrated it is. It sits one notch above Melbourne's Beneath Driver Lane (No. 21), a fellow drinking den with a serious live programme, and just below Rio's stripped-back samba shrine Bip Bip (No. 19), where the music is quite literally the only thing on offer.

History: a speakeasy reborn

Nightjar opened in 2010, at a moment when London's cocktail scene was rediscovering craft, provenance and showmanship, and it quickly became one of the movement's flagships. Named for the nocturnal bird, it took the idea of the Prohibition-era speakeasy and rebuilt it with obsessive care: a bar hidden below street level, a period aesthetic, and a devotion to forgotten spirits and vintage techniques. Rather than a themed pastiche, it treated the 1920s as a serious source of craft, and that seriousness is what set it apart.

The recognition followed fast. Nightjar landed on The World's 50 Best Bars list and climbed it, reaching third in 2012 and second in 2013, and it has remained a fixture of the global conversation about great bars ever since. Over the years the group behind it has expanded, adding a second London site in Carnaby, but the original City Road basement remains the one that made the name. It is, by any measure, one of the most influential cocktail bars of its generation.

The room

The Shoreditch original is a basement, and it feels like one in the best possible way: dim, intimate and enveloping, with close-set tables, banquettes and a long bar, all pitched to evoke a between-the-wars supper club. The lighting is low, the mood is unhurried, and the design rewards settling in for the evening rather than dropping by for one. There is a small performance area for the band, and the layout is arranged so that the music reaches the whole room without ever overwhelming conversation at the table.

It is not a large space, which is part of the appeal and also the reason booking ahead is wise. The intimacy that makes Nightjar special, the sense of being tucked into a secret, candlelit world, depends on the room staying small. On a good night, with a full house and the band in swing, it delivers one of the most atmospheric interiors in London, a genuine sense of stepping out of the present and into the jazz age.

The music

Live music runs at Nightjar every night, with the band playing jazz, swing and blues rooted in the 1920s through the 1950s, the same era the bar's whole aesthetic evokes. Sets typically begin around 9pm, with further sets through the evening and a later show at weekends, so the music becomes the pulse of the room as the night deepens. The performers are drawn from London's deep pool of jazz and swing talent, and the standard is consistently high, this is not background muzak but real players working a real set.

What distinguishes Nightjar's approach is coherence: the music, the drinks and the design all point at the same period, so the band does not feel bolted on but woven into the concept. For a guest, that means the live jazz enhances the cocktails and vice versa, each amplifying the other. It is a different proposition from the listening rooms at the top of our list, where you sit in reverent silence facing a stage, but on its own terms, as live music inside a great bar, it is about as good as the format gets. Explore more of the city in our Live Music Bars in London guide.

The drinks

The cocktails are the reason Nightjar is world famous, and they earn it. The menu is theatrical and era-spanning, organised around historical periods and built with rare and vintage spirits, house ingredients and elaborate, often startling presentation, drinks arriving in unexpected vessels with garnishes closer to sculpture than decoration. The bar is known for one of the most serious spirit collections in the country, including a celebrated absinthe range and vintage bottlings, and the craft behind each drink is exacting.

This is where Nightjar's $$$ rating comes from: these are ambitious, labour-intensive cocktails at London prices, and an evening here is a considered treat rather than a casual round. Alongside the drinks the bar serves snacks and small bites to accompany the sets, but food is a supporting act, not a kitchen-forward dining experience. You come for the liquid theatre, and the band, and the two together are the whole point.

Getting in

Nightjar takes bookings, and for the City Road basement, reserving a table is strongly advised, especially if the live music is a priority for your evening. The room is small and popular, and while walk-ins are sometimes possible, the surest way to guarantee a seat with a good view of the band is to book ahead. If the music is the main draw, it is worth checking the current performance schedule when you reserve, since set times and the night's line-up can vary.

Plan the evening as an evening, not a quick stop. The experience is built around sinking into the room, ordering thoughtfully from a long menu, and letting the sets carry the night forward. Arrive in good time for the first set at 9pm if you want to catch the full arc of the music, and settle in, this is a place that rewards lingering, not rushing.

Who it's for

Nightjar is ideal for anyone who wants world-class cocktails and a live band in the same booth: a special date, a memorable night out, a cocktail lover's pilgrimage, or a visitor after a quintessentially London evening with real atmosphere. Its dual identity is its strength, you get one of the planet's most decorated bars and a nightly jazz set in one basement, and for the right occasion there are few better addresses in the city.

It is less suited to the purist who wants to sit in silence and focus solely on a band, or to anyone after a cheap, casual pint. For pure listening, the dedicated clubs higher on our ranking are the better call. But for the specific pleasure of era-perfect cocktails with live jazz threaded through the night, Nightjar is close to unbeatable, and its influence on the modern cocktail bar is enormous. The wider city is covered in our London Bar Guide.

The verdict

Nightjar is a great bar first and a great music room second, and it is entirely honest about being both. The cocktails are the headline, world famous, meticulously made and theatrically served, and the nightly jazz is the atmosphere that makes the whole thing sing. That balance is precisely why it lands at No. 20 on a list about live music rather than near the top: the band shares the billing here rather than owning it. But for anyone who wants the two pleasures at once, in one of London's most atmospheric rooms, it is a near-perfect night out.

What to order

• 01

  A cocktail from the current era menu

  Theatrical, spirit-forward and built with rare bottlings; the reason the bar is world famous.

• 02

  A booth for the 9pm set

  Reserve ahead and settle in for the first live jazz, swing or blues of the night.

• 03

  Something from the vintage spirits list

  The bar's serious back-bar, including its celebrated absinthe range, rewards the curious.