The best bars in Brighton keeps the hedonistic spirit of the Prince Regent alive and well shaken. Friday night starts around Wednesday here with pre-gig pints, post-cinema negronis, semi-interesting gossip spilling over carafes. If you’re not on some low-lit date night, you’re pouring onto the pavement with friends and a glimmer of sun.
There are stats floating around that Brighton has some of the highest concentrations of cafés, bars and pubs per capita in the UK, which has a lot to say for our collective thirst. I’ve spent almost a decade drinking my way around them. And as places swim with memories and suit different moods, it’s really very hard to whittle down our watering holes to the best.
I want to raise a glass to Plateau’s natural wines, Blossoms’ Japanese-inspired cocktails, sultry Bar Valentino gazing over the Pavilion and Bar Medusa a slither from the sea. Also Cut Your Wolf Loose pouring rare whiskies in a recordshop-cum-dive bar; Halisco shaking up mean margs on Preston Street. Restaurants like Burnt Orange and Permit Room pour drinks as delicious as their food, while Brighton’s hotel bars – Cyan at The Grand, the plush Pearly Cow below GuestHouse No. 124, Blake’s at the Artist Residence – have become places we’re more than happy to stay into the small hours.
But if you’re to twist my arm, I’d say the energy right now, much as in Brighton’s best restaurants, is really in the cool-casual bars. Places with low-key vibes and low-intervention pours, where you chase sips of something cloudy with the good olives, as local DJs and gangs of friends turn up.
Visit in September for the Brighton Cocktail Festival (Friday 18th – Sunday 27th), now in its second year and – brace yourselves – officially the biggest of its kind in the country. More than fifty bars will pour upwards of 150 cocktails for £6 a pop (or £4 if you’re skipping the booze), and a slick new app for building your own crawl between them.
These are the best bars in Brighton & Hove to drink in right now.
The best bars in Brighton & Hove
OnAir
Best for: Hi-fi listening with low-intervention tipples
There’s something oh-so Brighton about OnAir: a daytime co-working space for music obsessives that flips into a hi-fi listening bar after dark, run by the team behind underground radio station 1BTN. What a vibe. There’s a custom Audio Gold sound system and live DJs in the booth most nights – check their Instagram for the latest line up, and occasional kitchen takeover. On my last visit, local legends Wildblood and Queenie went down well with a plate of gildas, crisps and Still Room vermouth over ice. It’s cooly low key, high taste and a five-minute walk from Palmito if you’re making a meal of your evening. Great for date night.