Tucked beneath Hide restaurant in Mayfair, The Bar Below is a subterranean escape where guests can explore rare spirits, finely tuned cocktails, and a staggeringly large wine selection. Part of a multi-floor venue inspired by the natural world, The Bar Below represents the ‘roots’ of the space – where a stunning copper and acacia wood bar winds through the room, leading to a curved back bar stocked with some of the world’s most sought-after bottles.

The space itself is designed for warmth and intimacy. Just ten seats line the bar, with a handful of surrounding tables and three private rooms, each offering a more secluded drinking experience. Even then, guests at the bar will notice lines of sight have been considered so they have privacy and their own sense of place. Soft, warm lighting from LED-lit back bar shelving highlights the bottle collection, while reclaimed whisky cask staves separate the drinking area from the private rooms. Large-format bottles are stored in a glass-fronted wine cellar, visible from the bar and open for guided tours—an opportunity guests are encouraged to take advantage of.

As the bar arm of the renowned Hedonism Wines, the spirit and wine collection here is unrivalled. For the curious, bespoke whisky flights showcase the familiar, the rare, the near-impossible-to-find and the obscure. With over 6,000 bottles of wine available and 70 options by the glass, the bar boasts one of London’s most comprehensive wine collections.

The cocktail menu stands up against these impressive stats however, and is a constantly evolving showcase of seasonality. Rather than rigid overhauls, the team swaps in a few new drinks every 4–6 weeks, ensuring the freshest ingredients are used at their peak. Each cocktail is designed around a single star ingredient—be it a spirit, fruit, or vegetable—that is enhanced with a balance of supporting elements and presented in the bar’s minimal style. Garnishes, if used, serve a functional purpose and are all made in-house, often created from byproducts of the bar’s prep work.

The Bar Below employs a collaborative effort for menu development, allowing the entire bar team to contribute ideas while working within a structured framework that keeps the menu diverse. A spritz replaces a spritz, a stirred cocktail replaces a stirred and so forth, ensuring a balance of profiles. Drinks here lean heavily on modern techniques to balance, extract, and refine the flavours, as such the bar is equipped with an impressive array of tools, from centrifuges and sous vide to vacuum-sealing machines and Thermomixes.

Visiting guests will notice both the skill of the staff through the array of in-house ingredients in their drinks but also the attentiveness and hospitality here. Indeed, staff training is in depth and covers many bases, with all team members offered WSET courses as well as weekly training on an array of subjects, from spirits, to tea, to excel. The bar also places importance on being an equal opportunities employer, with management given training on unconscious bias and nurturing diverse talent. They are passionate about destigmatising neurodiversity in the workplace and are proud to ensure they make any necessary adjustments.

The atmosphere in the bar is added to with a music playlist that follows the rhythm of the evening, shifting from rock and pop through the decades to softer tones towards closing, ensuring a gentle transition for those departing. Every aspect of The Bar Below is finely tuned – not just in the drinks, but in the service, the setting, and the details that make an evening here feel both refined and effortless.