This unpretentious Caribbean bar is a stress- and attitude-free way to hit the Hoxton  scene. Neither fashionable nor unhip, the crowd's mixed—by age, race, and style—and more friendly than at your average snotty place-to-be-seen. The look is the typical neighborhood warehouse with exposed brick and vent tubes, loungey couches, and less-typical fairy lights and wooden window shutters. Thursdays through Sundays there are not-deafening DJs and the occasional live band playing reggae, calypso, or Latin. Other draws are its Caribbean menu, a short but good cocktail list, and of course, beer.

Closed Sundays.

Less is more? Not at this kitsch-tastic cocktail bar (pronounced "Annex 'trois'") with gold banquettes, mismatched strips of floral wallpaper, retro tables and chairs, and fantastical chandeliers. To top it off, there's a three-foot carousel in the center of the room. The clientele is as eclectic as the decor, thanks to the West End location: too-cool-for-school kids rubbing elbows with bankers in pinstripes. This is a campy offering from Michel Lasserre, Stefan Karlson, and Hassan Abdullah, three antiques dealers turned nightlife impresarios—and owners of Les Trois Garçons restaurant (1 Club Row, Tower Hamlets, E1; 44-207-613-1924; www.loungelover.co.uk) and the Loungelover bar. There's also a restaurant at Annex 3, but the bar—and its good selection of seasonal cocktails (the Limelight, an herbal passion-fruit mojito, is everyone's current favorite) and bottled beer—is a better reason to go.

Closed Sundays.

Named for the 360-foot-deep well beneath the floor, this glam bar opened in January 2007. Interiors star David Collins (who perfected his art on the Blue Bar and Claridge's) transformed the very blah bar of this former, very blah, Hilton into a 21st-century mini-Versailles with textured leather, mirrors, stately chandeliers, and enormous windows. The cocktails are based on what must surely be the best rum library in the land. Nondrinkers can play too: The bar is open all day for morning coffee, afternoon tea, and any in-between meal you can invent.

The Dorchester's frumpy old bar is unrecognizable in its fabulous new plumage—all lacquered mahogany and mirrors, with purple velvet banquettes backed by insane six-foot-tall red glass spikes. The giant drinks list is cocktail nirvana, from the Fancy Drinks (concoctions spiked with a little something extra) to the three-drink Flights (different styles of classic cocktails to compare and contrast). Beware, though: Some of the wackiest glassware in town could give a nervous drinker stage fright. A frozen martini for instance, may arrive in a classic martini glass…classic, that is, apart from its two-foot-long stem; a mulito (a mojito made with the Colombian fruit lulo) in an Argentinean maté cup made from a gourd, with a silver straw. For well-to-do types dressed up for a night on the town, it's a great stage; though for the young crowd, not so much.

Owned by Tom Conran, son of Terence, the Cow is actually a gastropub with a dining room upstairs, but you can have a good night here on alcohol alone. The Cow serves a very good Guinness (accompanied, if you're peckish, with a half-dozen oysters or a pint glass of prawns). With its retro posters and eclectic furniture of a traditional bent, it's a chill place to grab a daytime drink, but the evening brings some serious crowds of Notting Hill trendsters that spill out onto the street (at least in the warmer months). Be prepared to push and plead to get near the bar. Equally enjoyable, the Westbourne is just across the road if you fancy a pub crawl (101 Westbourne Park Villas; 44-207-221-1332; www.thewestbourne.com).

Mon–Fri 7–11 p.m., Sat 12–3 p.m. and 7–11 p.m., Sun 12–3 p.m. and 7–10:30 p.m.

For a taste of members-only Soho House plus the Notting Hill scene simultaneously, come to SH owner Nick Jones's slightly less impenetrable westerly outpost for a glass of wine or three, snacks, and maybe even a movie, too. This was a much-loved old cinema (England's oldest, actually), a 60s subculture center, and a music venue. Now the movie house is flash with leather armchairs, footstools, cocktail tables and a bar that's open until five minutes before the main feature—art-house flicks mostly. The brasserie-bar provides food, drink, and buzz from 8 a.m. onward, and gets very busy at night. Unfortunately, the quieter upstairs scene is members-only.

Still one of the biggest, and definitely one of the best, club venues in London, you'll find established resident DJs (Craig Richards, Terry Francis) and world-class guests, including Sasha, John Digweed, and the Chemical Brothers. But there's enough fresh talent to keep this venue at the cutting edge of new sounds. Built on the site of a Victorian meat cellar, and opened in 1999, it retains an underground feel with exposed brickwork and arched ceilings. Three rooms of varying sizes—24,000 square feet in all—offer different vibes; the Bodysonic dance floor in one is directly connected to the bass frequencies, so you feel the reverb through your feet. Small bars are dotted throughout, and there are plenty of nooks and crannies to rest up, including the all-too-comfy bed seats. On Fridays, there's a selection of drum 'n' bass, hip-hop, and breakbeat, while Saturdays concentrate on house. Fabric also hosts the polysexual DTPM every Sunday.

Friday 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m., Saturday 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., Sundays 11 p.m. until the party dies down; closed Monday through Thursday.

The name is no mere handle: This small and crammed pub in prime Soho is Gallic from the fleurs-de-lis on its signage to its refusal to stock pint glasses—or beer. Well, there is some beer (draft Kronenberg, for instance), but it's best to go with the flow and drink (hard) Breton cider, Calvados, or, of course, wine. The place has been packed since WWII, when London-based members of the French Resistance met here. Now it's actors and journalists who lean on wooden walls lined with signed B&W boxing shots and throng the pavement nursing their halfs and sneaking phone calls (cell phones are not allowed inside). You may wonder what the fuss is about, but, with old-fashioned pubs disappearing under a tide of poseur bars and gastro-centers, this beloved institution is all the more charming for its lack of design or evolution. Upstairs, there's a tiny, decent Franglais restaurant where Fergus Henderson (of St. John) got his start in the early 1990s.

Maybe a night in a museum doesn't sound like a wild and wacky evening out, but on the last Friday of the month the Victoria & Albert does more than simply keep its doors open. Every month offers a different theme with performances, guest DJs, and a bar; one highlight is the annual July Village Fête, paying homage to a British tradition—a sort of mini state fair—but updating it, with the hippest designers and artists running the stalls. You might enjoy manicures by a top contemporary painter; eat artist-made cakes; win a "one-off" Tom Dixon chair; or try out a human arcade claw machine. Other themes coincide with the museum's major exhibitions—Cuban for the Che Guevara exhibit in June 2006, or the Surrealist Ball to coincide with a Surrealism and design exhibit in 2007, for instance.

The gay scene is huge in London and getting more varied and sophisticated, it seems, by the year. Pick up a free copy of QX at any bar or club for the latest listings. Trash Palace is a cool preclub option for anyone who is light on cash and wearing Converse. A red-velvet lounge plays laid-back tunes, while the downstairs beats with electropop (Sun–Thurs 5 p.m.–midnight; Fri–Sat 5 p.m.–3 a.m.; 11 Wardour St., Soho, W1; 44-207-734-0522; www.trashpalace.co.uk). Remember to pick up your queue-jump tickets at Trash Palace for Popstarz, held Fridays at Scala, which is a full-on camp experience for a young, fun crowd that parties the night away to R&B, disco-pop, and rock-indie sounds, with frequent live performances and themes (10 p.m.–4 a.m.; 275 Pentonville Rd., King's Cross, N1; 44-207-833-2022; www.scala-london.co.uk). Fiction, held Fridays at the Cross, is an end-of-week institution with a loyal, late-20s fan base. Three dance floors mix house, tribal, and funky sounds, and two outdoor terraces are packed in summer (11 p.m.–6 a.m.; 27–31 The Arches, King's Cross Freight Depot, N1; 44-207-833-3139; www.the-cross.co.uk).

Beautiful boys come out to play at the Shadow Lounge, a gay members club that will admit you even if you haven't joined up (call or e-mail ahead to get on the guest list or make sure you're a gorgeous fella—or with one). Good for an early-evening drink in plush surroundings, or for a late night that's more intimate and sophisticated than at most superclubs (Thurs–Sat 9 p.m.–3 a.m.; Mon–Wed 10 p.m.–3 a.m.; 5 Brewer St., Soho, W1; 44-207-7287-7988; www.shadow-lounge.co.uk). Hard-core clubbers looking for a consistently high standard of music should head for DTPM, held Sundays at Fabric. It's a superclub with plenty of room to talk and chill out—unlike many London sweatboxes, such as The Cock, held Fridays at the Ghetto, which has lots of dark, intimate corners and an unpretentious, dress-down crowd (10:30 p.m.–4 a.m; 5 Falconberg Court, Soho, W1; 44-207-287-3726; www.ghetto-london.co.uk). To keep the weekend going as long as possible, head to Horse Meat Disco at South Central, where resident DJs (and the occasional fantastic guest) play Italio, electrofunk, and punk funk to a diverse crowd that dances until throwing-out time (Sundays 6 p.m.–2 a.m.; 349 Kennington Lane, Vauxhall, SE11; www.horsemeatdisco.co.uk).

When it comes to decor, the Loungelover has come a long way from its former incarnation as a meatpacking factory. From the same antiques dealers behind disco glam Annex 3, Loungelover takes a different route, with an air of eccentric sophistication that appeals to Shoreditch's art-and-fashion brigade. The interior combines everything from baroque wall hangings to Japanese lanterns and a fair share of taxidermy, with retro chairs, and a long wooden table. The mixologist makes good use of subtle flavors—rose petals, lavender, cardamom, sage—and there's also a tasty selection of hot bar snacks, especially the vegetable and Granny Smith tempura, and the chicken skewers with peanut sauce. Be sure to book a table on weekends, or you might find yourself squashed into a small area around the bar trying in vain to catch the eye of the over-busy waitstaff.

A favorite post-work hangout for the ad and music execs from the surrounding offices and studios, on weekends this bar gets jam-packed with a mixed-bag crowd, due to its location minutes from Oxford Street. Small wonder: Decked out floor to ceiling in honey-colored wood, the feel is that of a laid-back shack—albeit a sophisticated, urban version, with quirky fake candle lighting—where patrons snack, drink and dance. Despite the "We make it up as we go along" sign at the bar (that laid-back shack thing, again), you'll get a mean cocktail here. There's an outdoor terrace used during rare good weather, and downstairs the DJ keeps the music funky and loud.

Beloved by the Notting Hill set as soon as it opened in 2006, this dark and sexy boîte re-creates Rat Pack cool with a serious selection of ritzy cocktails and a layout that makes every banquette feel secluded. Mixology geeks love the long and involved drink explanations—if they can read them by the light of a single candle.

The Coach & Horses won notoriety as the haunt of professional boozer and Spectator columnist Jeffrey Bernard, and was rebuilt as the backdrop for the biographical play Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, by Keith Waterhouse. The last owner, Norman Balon, was the self-proclaimed rudest landlord in London, and prone to grumpy outbursts. Now that he's gone, it's safe to go in—unless you like your bars slick and sophisticated. Face it: It's a dump. But if you're looking to drink and smoke heartily like a legendary local in a legendary local, this place has plenty of character—and plenty of characters.

If you're looking for some history along with your pint, the Trafalgar has plenty of it. Built on the banks of the Thames in South London in 1837—the same year Queen Victoria came to the throne—it was originally called the Old George and was a favorite of such authors as Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, and Wilkie Collins (Dickens actually set part of Our Mutual Friend here). It was also a favored haunt of Liberal MPs who came for the whitebait suppers: tiny deep-fried herring eaten whole. They're still on the menu, as is a good selection of ales. With lots of dark wood and muted colors, its Regency style remains, and the space is divided into lots of smaller rooms, all with great views over the river.