Our selection of Angel bars for any occasion

There’s something you need to know about the Alpaca, the pub, bar and restaurant opened its doors in March 2020 and it’s still open today. There will be several reasons why it survived its unfortunate opening but the most important one for us is that it’s a bar worth travelling to North London for.

In a world of chains and what feels like a homogenous bar landscape, it’s bars like the Alpaca that stand out for their character, for their offerings, because they draw in regulars who are on a first-name basis with the bartenders.

The drinks are sound. The food is delicious and the Sunday Roasts are even better. Pop in for one or stay for several hours. Go with mates or on your own and strike up a conversation with another patron. While you’re at it, toast to independent bars that just want to offer people a place to while away the hours.

If you don’t know it already you really should. 69 Colebrook Row is one of the finest Angel bars. It’s a little cocktail bar with little tables dishing up little drinks – we’re kidding, of course, but the signature cocktail menu here is seasonal and bespoke and served alongside classics that are perfectly made.

You want to not like the Bar with No Name because it sounds like it’s going to be pretentious with overpriced, mediocre cocktails. However, it has a pretty relaxed ambience and cocktails we can’t complain about.

It also feels exactly like the kind of place where you want to listen to Jazz or Blues whilst sipping on a sweet Manhattan and you’d be in luck because that’s the kind of music 69 Colebrook Row offers.

It sounds like a turn-of-the-century detective duo who started an agency but e voila, it is a 21st-century cocktail lounge and restaurant evoking early 20th-century Art Deco. Located on Upper Street, Hoxley & Porter is a cocktail lounge and restaurant keeping the spirit of Art Deco alive.

It’s swanky and has a signature cocktail menu you should take full advantage of during the generous Happy Hour cocktails – by ‘hour’ we mean four hours Monday to Friday and on Sunday, between 4pm and 8pm. This is a bar for pre-theatre drinks and post-theatre drinks as one of Angel’s late-night bars.

You can’t miss the Junction, it’s across the road from the Angel Station and therefore it is a great – obligatory – spot for a drink upon arrival in Angel and before departing. We like it for the selection of live sport and the fact that there’s something for everyone – wines, craft beers, cocktails, brunch and Sunday Roasts, it’s exactly as promised on the label.

You know you’re in good hands at the Junction, it belongs to the Urban Pubs & Bars family, other members include the Well & Bucket, Commercial Tavern and the Black Horse to name but a few of a very big family. If you’re looking for a solid Angel bar, head to the Junction.

Stay with us for this one. Homeboy is an Irish pub but it’s a cocktail bar but it also has DJ sets and live music nights of the hip-hop and R&B flavour. By all means, you’ll get your Guinness and your whisky here but you’ll get more too.

It’s a pretty laid-back place and picks up into the night. We have no qualms with this evolved Irish bar, we like that we can stay in the same place and order Guinness and a whisky chaser and then a cocktail in succession and not have to change locations.