Even our stop-start summer fosters hopes of rooftop dining, which many of London’s bars and restaurants are only too happy to oblige. And if the weather is less helpful, many of the venues below have covered (and heated) areas, from which you can enjoy the views in comfort.
Aqua Shard
Located 31 floors up London's iconic Shard building, the Aqua restaurant has dazzling views and an accessible feel, says the Daily Telegraph. The menu is refreshingly simple and puddings are the highlight. Brunch is a star feature of Aqua Shard's weekend offering with the lobster benedict taking the plaudits. But it's the view that's the real winner, with every table offering a peerless panorama of the London skyline.
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Home to the highest rooftop gardens in London, the immediate surrounds at this City spot are just as picturesque as its 360-degree view across the capital. After touring the greenery, designed by award-winning architecture practice Gillespies, take advantage of the multiple dining and drinking opportunities available; the best place to while away an afternoon is the City Garden Rooftop Bar, which offers light snacks and healthy refreshments, while as dusk arrives the Sky Pod Bar comes into its own. Located on the 35th floor, from Wednesday to Saturday it hosts a changing line-up of live bands and DJs.
A sprawling bar and hangout space atop a former multi-storey car park in Shadwell, Skylight is a real playground for adults, with croquet and petanque pitches through the summer and a skating rink in winter.
For more grown-up entertainment, the rooftop is bookended by bars serving up classic cocktails and house specials including the Raspberry Rum Margarita - a perfect sundowner as you gaze over the Docklands towards London’s iconic skyline.
And if a rum blanket isn’t sufficient, booths and benches are scattered with colourful cushions and blankets to protect against any evening chill after the sun goes down.
Skylight’s covered lower level is home to another bar, a dancefloor (DJs Friday and Saturday nights) and street food courtesy of Greek pop-up Yiro and burger joint Flip Side.
Away from the high-rise core of the City and the riverside conversions, rooftop venues are thinner on the ground (or in the sky). But the brand new Skylark Roof Garden in Paddington offers a different perspective on the city, with tenth-floor views of leafly Notting Hill and Little Venice. The menu includes a range of summery starters, including gin-cured salmon gravlax and Cornish crab salad with avocado and chilli. Seafood is prominent among the main courses, too, with sautéed mussels, clams and tiger prawns an alluring highlight. Live Djs provide a soundtrack to the sunset.
10th Floor, 4 Kingdom Street, London W2 6BD
Chiringuito
Hollowed out of a long derelict outbuilding next to Bethnal Green tube station, Chiringuito’s roof terrace helps this coffee-by-day, cocktails-by-night tapas bar make the most of its size. Sure, a roof terrace on a single-storey building doesn’t offer spectacular views, but it does make for excellent people-watching - which, after all, is far more important.
While you’re up there, start the night off with a cocktail - the Il Capitano is a particular highlight of a menu which hoists its hispanic flag high with creations featuring mezcal, tequila, pisco and sherry (although thankfully not all at once) - before moving on to the tapas. Standouts include a ludicrously generous serving of toothsome chorizo cooked in wine, and a plate of the most delectably tender octopus you’re likely to find this side of Galicia.
Though not on a roof, this terrace has lovely views over the Thames, St Pauls and the skyline of the City, so it qualifies on a technicality. It also provides some shelter, a particular necessity given this summer’s weather.
Occupying the area outside Sea Containers restaurant on the South Bank, the Laurent-Perrier Terrace, a collaboration with the champagne house, is open until September. A summery menu includes generously proportioned plates of grilled meat and seafood, alongside enticing topped flatbreads and salads. And of course there’s champagne on tap, by the glass or bottle, or as part of an indulgent cocktail.
East London's renaissance continues and Stratford remains at the heart of it. Another innovative re-imagining of a multi-storey car park sees "sky-high cocktails and RockaDollar Dogs along with 360° views of the London skyline including the knockout Olympic Park," says LondonTheInside. Post-dinner, revellers can enjoy a round of mini-golf alongside the usual smattering of djs and dancing. Food and drinks menus will change week by week and there's even a rooftop cinema club showcasing current and classic cinematic treasures.
Occupying the 12th floor of the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, near Tower Hill, Savage Garden provides an unusual perspective on the London skyline. Unlike many of the recent rooftop openings, which soar above the city, this one puts you on a level with the rooftops - an interesting place to be on this stretch of the Thames, with its views of the Shard, Tower Bridge and the Walkie Talkie (home to Sky Garden, see below).
After a refit last summer, the interior is slick and seductive - amped up by the presence of a live DJ. The bar, which faces the river, is adorned with purple stone and stained glass, while around to the west, with the best sunset views, is a strip of red velvet-upholstered booths and black marble tables.
The cocktails pack as much of a punch as the decor: the negroni, made with Panarea gin from Sicily, is a bittersweet delight, while the bloody mary is a meal in itself. Just make sure you leave room for the coconut short rib - a plateful and a half of prime slow-cooked beef - and the injectable donuts, served with syringes full of raspberry compote and caramel.
With stunning views over the Thames towards St Paul’s Cathedral, 12th Knot, part of Sea Containers London, is likely to become one of London’s favourite rooftop bars over the next few years, so be sure to get in early before the crowds arrive.
Serving up a range of British-American and champagne cocktails put together by expert mixologists, this is a stylish, contemporary hiding place way above the river with an extravagant interior to match. The perfect date night.
And on Tuesday evenings during July the bar is teaming up with Ugly Dumpling to present a range of sweet and savoury handmade dumplings. Strawberry cheesecake and Nutella will be among the more surprising fillings, alongside aromatic duck, satay chicken and other classics.
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