Beaufort Bar

Set within The Savoy on the Strand, the Beaufort Bar occupies what was once the hotel's cabaret stage, where George Gershwin and Carol Gibbons played. The 2007 to 2010 restoration turned that stage into the hotel's most dramatic room: jet-black lacquer, black velvet and some £40,000 of gold leaf across the walls, kept low-lit beneath a raised platform that still nods to the space's entertainment past.

The bar holds one of London's deeper champagne lists, poured by the glass and the bottle down to rare vintages, alongside a cocktail menu built around tableside theatre. It has drawn the luxury press since it opened with The Savoy in October 2010 and remains a fixture on the city's best-bar lists.

For events the whole room is offered on an exclusive-hire basis: around 105 square metres on the ground floor, a reception for up to 120 or a seated dinner dance for 60, with the raised stage taking a DJ or a live act. The Savoy's events team handles catering, bespoke menus and production, which makes it a natural setting for a launch, a milestone celebration or a late private reception.