Velvet by Salvatore Calabrese

Velvet is the cocktail and Champagne bar at Corinthia London, the grand Whitehall hotel set between the Thames and Trafalgar Square. It is the work of Salvatore Calabrese, the Italian bartender the trade calls 'The Maestro' and a former president of the United Kingdom Bartenders' Guild, whose name has been attached to a run of London's most storied bars. His menus treat a drink as something to be performed as much as poured, and the current list, Echoes of Memory, is built around recollection and déjà vu rather than the usual spirit-led sections.

The room reaches for the 1920s and gets there. Deep red drapes fall around curved velvet banquettes, fringed lamps throw low pools of light, and a mirrored back bar holds a long run of rare bottles behind fan-pleated glass. Live music plays from Tuesday to Saturday, and the doors stay open until one in the morning, one of the later last-calls in this quiet stretch of Westminster.

For a private event the whole bar can be taken exclusively: a jewel-box setting for a milestone birthday, a launch or a late-night celebration, with the Corinthia's kitchens and events team behind it. It sits inside the hotel yet is booked by name, a self-contained bar rather than a lounge off the lobby.