12th Knot

12th Knot is the rooftop bar on the twelfth floor of Sea Containers London, the riverside hotel Tom Dixon's Design Research Studio dressed on the South Bank. Floor-to-ceiling glass wraps the room and opens onto an open-air terrace, holding a clear line across the Thames to St Paul's and the City skyline. Inside, velvet lounge seating, a curved bar and clusters of spherical pendant lights give the room its colour and warmth; the terrace, all decking and low cushioned seating, is where the view does the work.

The bar runs a champagne-led list alongside its cocktails, and music is part of the room rather than a background to it: resident DJs play on Saturday evenings, and private events can build in DJ or live-band sets. Service runs late into the evening, with the terrace winding down at 10pm under its licence and the bar carrying on inside.

For private events the whole rooftop takes receptions of up to 300, with the indoor lounge and the terrace hireable together or as distinct areas, and a dedicated events team on hand. It sits within Sea Containers London and shares the building with Lyaness and the Sea Containers restaurant, but it is booked in its own right, by name. A late reception with a river view and a DJ is exactly what the room was built for. Enquiries are handled through the house.