Brighton Bars
You don't have to walk far to find a watering hole near the Metropole in Brighton - turn left out of the hotel and then left again up West Street or Ship Street and you'll find some decent pubs, but below we've also selected some of the best bars in town for something a bit special!
Blanch House
17 Atlingworth Street
Brighton, BN2 1PL
Telephone: 01273 603504
http://www.blanchhouse.co.uk/
Fancy the suggestive hit of a Maiden's Prayer? It's gin, Cointreau, orange and lemon juice. Or how about a glass of an exquisitely fruity Apple Pie? That's Krupnik honey vodka, apple schnapps, apple puree and fresh lemon to you. If none of these take your fancy - you dullard! - well then there's a list of shooters, moderns and classics as long as your arm. All this at Blanch House, a magnificently stylish little hotel and bar on the ground floor of a 5-storey building in Kemp Town, Brighton.
Ebony Room
1B Waterfront Brighton Marina
Brighton,
Telephone: 01273 675007
Hot new spot in the fancy Waterfront development, famed for its champagne selection and er, piano music. Yep, Brighton has changed folks. The spacious interior is all delectable curves, with wavy two-seater booths along the walls, a beautiful blue Roland grand piano on a raised plinth beyond this, and a bar at the back done up in gold leaf and shaped like a trumpet bell. Food is a tasty selection of homely modern British, but it's the champagne, cocktails and music you mostly come for. Ebony Roomers sit at beautiful frosted-glass tables and order from a selection of bubbly - Moet & Chandon and Vintage Belle Epoque are among the most popular - and classic cocktails with twists. You even get ‘Champagne Service' if you hire out the top table for £200, where you order by pressing a hidden button under the table. A resident pianist plays at weekends and CDs spin for most of the week.
Hotel Du Vin
Ship Street
Brighton, BN1 1AD
Telephone: 01273 718588
Part of that fashionable mini hotel chain that's sprung up all over the UK, although not many have bars like this one. Located on Ship Street and the sea front, it's a vast open-plan bare brick space decked out with mahogany tables, bookshelves and backgammon boards - pretty much a library with booze. Two models of sea gulls hang from the ceiling though, so if it is a library bar it's still all-at-sea. Away from the lounge section the snazzy glass and leather bar area specialises in champagnes and cocktails served by magazine cover bar staff: you try ordering their Petal de Rose (gin, cream and lychee) special and keeping you eyes off the bartender's thighs. In a nod to the city's louche Regency era, the upstairs balcony has a Cigar Gallery and billiards table. Now that's what we call a proper hotel bar!
KOBA
135 Western Road
Brighton, BN1 2LA
Telephone: 01273 720 059
http://www.kobauk.com/
Private member's club located at the back of the open-to-all Koba. We know which one you want access to - it's been voted one of the top ten bars in the UK by the Independent. Located above an off-license in an unsung part of swinging Brighton, the seedy location gives it its edge, but there's nothing seedy about the interior. Pay your £155 membership and you have access to a plush space with deep purple walls, dark wood floors and gorgeous brown leather settees. Skilled and attentive bar staff mix up to 90 drinks on the menu and any others you fancy that aren't on there, but you can't go wrong with house specialties like the Kodamba: a tantalising mix of Plymouth gin, lemon juice and Gomme syrup, shaken over ice, and laced with Damson Gin - a liqueur made from damsons, cane sugar and gin.
Red Room
1 Morley Street
Brighton, BN2 9RA
Telephone: 01273 699069
Brighton is bursting with cool and classy gems, and Red Room, the third floor of the Ocean Rooms club complex is one of the finest. Decked out in velvet drapes, plush red sofas and funky antiques, it's part Moulin Rouge part Berlin bordello. The clientele is a mix of arty night owls and hip locals and gets celeb-heavy on weekends, when the local VIPs come in for intimate and relaxed chat. So sophisticated! Fine cocktails include flavoured martinis and exquisite Mojitos and you always have the club downstairs to boogie in when the place shuts down at midnight.
Snafu 23
Church Road
Brighton, BN1 1YP
Telephone: 01273 739399
Not that the good citizens of Hove are all wild-eyed war mongering folk or anything but Snafu is a military acronym for Situation Normal All F***** Up, and wander in here and you soon get the picture. A rare restaurant-cum-club in this sleepy coastal town, it's a hot spot for Brighton celebs and hipsters who come for the powerful cocktails, vodka and tequila shots - too many varieties on offer to mention. Your barmen know how to muddle a mean Mojito, and house DJs pump out loud and happy vibes until late. Seating in summer is on large leather sofas by the open windows but at night the lights go down and the people play inside. Food is everything from Moroccan-themed couscous and chicken tangines, to burgers and special veggie dishes. Oh and the absinthe is a bit of a hit too. A shot of that and you'll soon be sending out the Snafu call sign
The Black and White Bar
Hotel Seattle Brighton Marina
Brighton,
Telephone: 01273 679 799
http://www.aliashotels.com/
As the name suggests, there's has a black and white thing going on here, the interior of Brighton's swanky new Seattle Hotel done in sleek modern two tone lines like a bar of top deck chocolate. Fitted out with various weird looking sculptures, cute bar stools and a tribute to John Lennon and Yoko Ono, there's also a maritime thing going on: what looks like a ship's mast towers behind the bar and there's a great view of the ocean through porthole windows. It's the liquor you come here for though., and resident mixologist Chris will mix up his gorgeous concoctions with such professional certitude you may think he's a mad maritime scientist. Try his martini classics, a mojito called the Lucky 7 and his splendid El Patron Margarita that will have you all hands to the deck doing a fair impression of a drunken sailor in no time.
