Swift
Swift Soho review: the upstairs cocktail bar on Old Compton Street is the best pre-dinner stop in Soho; the downstairs whisky room is after-dinner territory.
Swift is two bars, one above the other. Upstairs is bright, compact, marble-topped, good for a drink before dinner. Downstairs is dark, leather-heavy, candlelit, good for everything after one.
The room
Upstairs: twelve bar seats, one long marble counter. Downstairs: twenty seats, live music most nights, a whisky library on the back wall.
What to order
The Irish coffee, either upstairs or downstairs, is the most-recommended drink in London and remains unimprovable. Beyond that: upstairs, a Tommy’s margarita; downstairs, a Highland whisky flight.
The drinks list
Upstairs is a cocktail list; downstairs is a whisky list. Both are deep and honest.
What you will pay
Upstairs: two cocktails, £26. Downstairs: a whisky flight, £30.
The verdict
The best pair of bars in Soho. Start upstairs before dinner; finish downstairs after.
Nathaniel Ashford
Senior contributing editor
Nathaniel Ashford writes about bars, cocktails, pubs and the London neighbourhoods that hold them together. A former drinks-trade journalist, he now contributes a weekly cocktail column for Vivi and leads the Vivi Neighbourhoods series.
He knows more about vermouth than is strictly respectable. Based in Fitzrovia; generally found two doors down from wherever he is supposed to be.
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