Rules (Cocktail Bar)

The upstairs cocktail bar at Rules — London's oldest restaurant, established 1798 — all wood-panelled Edwardian glamour, and often overlooked by tourists fixated on the dining room below. Keep the order traditional, as the setting demands: a classic martini or a champagne cocktail. It is ideal pre-theatre for the full Covent Garden experience, and noticeably quieter than the restaurant. A jacket is preferred. To drink here is to drink inside more than two centuries of London history, in a room that has barely needed to change because it got it right the first time.