42 Cocktail Lounge

42 opened above Gymkhana in November 2023 and takes its name from the address the two share on Albemarle Street. The way in is a separate door beside the restaurant, marked only by a brass plaque, then a staircase to a room that commits fully to maximalism: patterned tapestries on the walls, crystal chandeliers, porcelain big cats standing at the fireplace, and a mahogany bar set against a painted peacock screen. The reference is the captain's quarters of the Gymkhana clubs of India, and the drinks follow it. House cocktails are built on Indian ingredients, alongside Old & Rare whisky and Champagne lists.

The lounge is hired privately seven days a week, for up to fifty standing or sixteen seated. It has its own entrance and its own bar, so a party arrives and leaves without crossing the restaurant. Food comes up from the two-Michelin-star kitchen below as cocktail chakna and canapés, and private dining runs to sixteen guests on a tasting menu of Gymkhana signatures.

On Friday and Saturday nights the room hands over to a resident DJ from 10pm until 2am, which is the part worth knowing for a music-led evening. A late licence runs to 2am. The lounge was reworked in spring 2025, when the cocktail list was rewritten and the private dining offer added.