The champagne toast at midnight is one of New Year’s Eve’s great traditions. No matter whether you’re opting for a cheap bottle or a glass of some of the oldest and finest bubbly, London has plenty of champagne bars to help you ring in 2018. There’s quite a number of lists for which ones in the city are the best, so we’ve narrowed down some of the ones that appear on most of them to help you decide where to be at midnight if you find yourself in London.
Searcys St. Pancras Grand
Possibly the longest champagne bar in Europe, Searcys in St. Pancras has a great architecture and quite a selection of champagne. The bar has a 1930s atmosphere to it if you want to get fancy for New Year’s, though you might want to bundle up as the large entrances and the open-air nature of the railway station can make it a little colder than most other London champagne bars. They also have a £10 per glass selection if you’re on a budget, and you can grab a glass before you board a train to your New Year’s destination.
Bob Bob Ricard
If you want immediate gratification, Bob Bob Ricard is the one champagne bar in the city that has a “Press Here for Champagne” button. BBR also has a similar feel to Searcys St. Pancras in that it’s got a railway aesthetic to it, with the booth similar to train compartments. It’s also got a great Art Deco look to it, covered in blue and gold. Between the button at the booth and a starting price of £13.45 for champagne, it’s no wonder this place is known for pouring the most champagne in London.
Texture
This Michelin-starred restaurant is a unique combination of British and Scandinavian food, but they have quite a good champagne selection as well. As for that selection, there are five champagnes you can order by the glass and another 110 available in the bottle. You can hang out in the bar area and sample some while you wait for your reservation in the dining room. The food is certainly the main attraction here, but the bar definitely has some of the greatest numbers of champagnes that you can order, so you can also continue to enjoy the bottles of bubbly once you sit down.
Champagne & Fromage
Aside from Searcys, Champagne & Fromage is one of the city’s champagne bars with the most locations, offering bars in Covent Garden, Brixton, and Greenwich, so there is plenty of conveniences. As the name might suggest, the bars let you combine your bubbly with a great selection of cheeses and other food options. C&F also ensures that its champagnes are sourced from award-winning growers in France, so you can be certain that you’re drinking some of the best the Champagne region has to offer. The staff can also help you make a selection based on the French cuisine you’ve ordered for a perfect pairing.
Bubbledogs
Have you ever wanted to be high class and slum it at the same time? Bubbledogs offers the best of both worlds with some great champagne and a food menu that includes over ten different varieties of hot dogs. There’s plenty of selection here too whether you want your bubbly by the glass or in the bottle. What’s more, if you can go to Bubbledogs, they can come to you thanks to their catering service. The staff can also help you determine which grower champagne they offer will go best with your gourmet dog.
Author: John Rabon
John is a regular writer for Anglotopia and its sister websites. He is currently engaged in finding a way to move books slightly to the left without the embarrassment of being walked in on by Eddie Izzard. For any comments, questions, or complaints, please contact the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson's haircut.