Our selection of the best Dalston bars

There are three pubs by this name in London, so please ensure it’s the Dalston bar you visit, otherwise you will be sorely disappointed when, upon arrival, you find that you cannot order the best burger in the East End. Yeah, we said it. Fight us.

It isn’t much of a looker on the outside, but inside, The Three Compasses is a traditional East End boozer. Wine-red walls decked out in old Guinness posters, sticky wooden floors, and round wooden tables and stools – if you haven’t already been, all we can say is, trust us. It’s our job to know all the best spots in town.

The craft beers and cocktails, the DJ nights, the Filthy Buns burgers, pub quiz, and drag bingo – it has everything you come to Dalston for minus a dance floor, but the covered terrace and burgers more than make up for it.

In Dalston, a Japanese restaurant is not simply a restaurant. It has to be a cocktail bar and hotspot for DJ sessions on a class audiophile system. It’s the place where eclectic DJ sets aren't played ridiculously loud because they're played on a quality system.

Located on Kingsland Road, this Dalston bar and restaurant is open on the inside yet still manages to feel intimate and chill with dim mood lighting, celestial lanterns overhead, and mid-century minimalist decor complemented by colourful graphic art prints.

The menu offers high-quality Japanese small plates in keeping with an izakaya (Japanese bar) vibe. We have two recommendations for you. First, you absolutely must book. Second, order the Miso Highball. Go for the food and Japanese whisky, and stay for the music.

A list of the best Dalston bars wouldn’t be complete without the Shacklewell Arms. Not much of a looker on the outside – and definitely dive-y on the inside with its many layers of paint and collage of band posters – this old East End boozer is in its live music venue era.

With gigs seven nights a week and late opens on Fridays and Saturdays, the Shacklewell Arms is always packed wall to wall, spilling out into its dingy fairy-lit smoking terrace. Surprisingly, it’s pretty chill during the day if you find yourself in there, but it’s the kind of place you go to for the gigs and stay until they kick you out.

It started as a pop-up bar on a forgotten rooftop. It started as Dalston's best-kept secret. These days, the Dalston Roofpark is something more of an East London institution.

This year-round rooftop bar and event space is known for its views of the London city skyline, sound system, smashing cocktails and craft beers – and rooftop yoga, brunch, Caribbean food, and events.

Dalston Roofpark also offers FH3 (Fitzroy House), an event space with integrated, state-of-the-art audio and visual technologies that can be booked in conjunction with the rooftop bar or on its own. This industrial space is ideal for shoots, brand launches, PR events, pop-ups and activations, and private parties. There's seriously nothing Dalston Roofpark doesn't do.

We hope you appreciate our Zoolander reference. Another favourite on Kingsland Road (conveniently located a couple of doors down from honourary mention Village 512), Three Sheets may just be the tiniest Dalston bar on the list – reservations are a must here.

The space is beyond intimate, with minimalist decor highlighted by a striking green statement wall opposite an exposed brick wall and a dramatic white marble bar.

We like to start our night in Three Sheets, imbibing a couple of cocktails – oiling the gears as it were – before working our up and down Kingsland Road and ending up in a club for a drunken dance.

We’re not sure if Hacha made up the word agaveria – a cocktail bar specialising in agave spirits – we actually like made-up words that make sense, so we’re all for this.

The Kingsland Road bar has a typical East End decor with its geometric lampshades, pops of green from potted plants, and striking graphic art prints on white walls. We also like its blue facade.

There are three serious orders of business to discuss when Hacha is concerned: you must order the Smoked Citrus Negroni, the award-winning Mirror Margarita, and the sea bream ceviche – and Bob’s your uncle, as they say.

All the Dalston bars are on Kingsland Road, but we’re not complaining, it’s actually convenient for crawls. Established in 2019, Red Hand is one of the more recent additions to Dalston’s major artery.

Inside, the industrial chic interior offers warm tones and textures that make it feel more cosy than minimalist, and the square bar is situated in the centre of the space. Although craft beer reigns supreme, they dabble in wines, cocktails, and even Tequila Verdita – if you don’t know what it is, just order it.

But it’s not just the atmosphere that’s earned Red Hand its place on our list. They do what we can only describe as gourmet toasties (you read that correctly), and they are cheesy and bangin’ and delicious. So hire the space out and wow everybody at your next party with the humble toastie – a round of Tequila Verdita first will ensure their appreciation.

Look, it really is the kind of place you end up in for a boogie – it’s the only appropriate word when you think about the music that’s played here. Ridley Road is where you end up when it’s late and you’ve swerved in and out of the bars on Kingsland Road.

Shabby-chic café by day, and kitschy dance bar by night, it has plenty of tropical decor, neon lights, and a black-and-white checkered floor just calling out to be danced on.

This Dalston bar is well-known and well-loved for its vibe, frozen margaritas, and DJ sets of everything from retro Funk, Soul, Jazz, and Dance tunes. If you haven’t been, you’re not doing yourself any favours.

The Victoria resides within an old pub under the care of the Jaguar Shoes Collective. It’s another Dalston bar for emerging bands and live music. The live music room has been a London scene staple since the '80s – before Jaguar Shoes time, but a tradition they’ve kept up.

A 5-minute walk from Dalston Junction, the bar is one of only a couple bars on this list that is quite nice both on the outside and inside, with its brick and black-painted wood facade and traditional interior. It’s also not located on Kingsland Road – all manner of stereotype-breaking.

This genuine relic of Victorian heritage has been a community hub for a century, its 1950s-era bar island stealing the spotlight, offering classic Jaguar Shoes cocktails, local craft brews, a selection of wines and cocktails, and what we can only describe as a penchant for premium rum.

While you can find us somewhere on Kingsland Road dancing until the wee hours of the morning, Prince George is where you’ll likely find us during a day session. We like the leafy green street, the little terrace out front, and the quietness – what every hangover needs during the day.

Inside, the pub is a summer yellow with a traditional wood bar, old wooden floors and tables, and chalkboards advertising all the offers and specials. Round a corner and you are greeted by old cinema posters and a giant map. To top it off, their lovely upstairs section is available for private hire.

There’s real ale, craft beers, Sunday Roasts, and a pool table. It’s relaxed, cosy even, and if we’re being really honest, we’d probably hole up in here for a night as well as an afternoon. And then go out dancing on Kingsland Road.

The Vortex Jazz Club is a volunteer-led community space, event space, and jazz bar. Housed in the very contemporary building that is Dalston Culture House, it’s one of the few bars on this list located somewhere other than Kingsland Road, but still around the corner from Dalston Kingsland Overground.

Hosting nearly 400 performances a year in its intimate space, it's no surprise that it's earned its stripes as one of the world's finest jazz clubs. In an area of London where there are everything from cocktail bars to dive bars to late-night clubs for Funk or Deep House, we’d be remiss to leave out its quality jazz offering in Vortex.