Be it listening bars, drinks omakase, cocktail laboratories, natural wine or Martinis, April’s selection of new bars has almost all the recent trends covered.
In London, there’s a new ‘wine and vinyl’ bar in Notting Hill and, south of the Thames, a restaurant in Peckham has opened an adjoining cocktail bar with a soundtrack also provided in hi-fi. A creative cocktail bar with its own laboratory has also opened in the capital, at the same time as venues in New York and Sydney focus on providing a cocktail omakase and the best Martini in town respectively. Our last pick for the month is in Madrid, where a basement bar is serving cocktails and New York-inspired dishes as a turntable spins.
Read on to discover the most exciting new bars to visit this month.
The best new bars to visit in April 2026
Sova
London, UK
Billed as a ‘wine and vinyl bar’, Sova, just off Portobello Road in Notting Hill, is focused on low-intervention and skin-contact wines from Eastern and Central Europe, so its list offers pet-nats, orange varietals, chilled reds and more from countries such as Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovenia and Bosnia. The listening bar element includes appearances from guest DJs and vinyl played from a collection curated with the help of Rough Trade. Sharing plates created by Moldovan chef Denis Calmis will accompany the wines and the bar also has a street-facing terrace that will be available as we head into London’s sunnier months.
Open now, sova.london
Bar Bridge
Sydney, Australia
The Martini continues to seduce drinkers the world over and Sydney’s Bar Bridge is the latest venue to celebrate the iconic cocktail. The menu kicks off with three variants: the Bridge Martini contains London dry gin, vodka, Champagne vermouth, lemon and olives; the Citron Martini, made of citron vodka, yuzu gin and Lillet Blanc; and the Kimchi Martini, incorporating oyster shell gin, seaweed vodka, kimchi and ume. Other classic cocktails are available but judging by the encouraging level of condensation on the glasses, this is a Martini bar where trying the main event is a must.
Open now, muchogroup.com.au/barbridge
Hausu
London, UK
The owners of Hausu, the popular restaurant that inhabits the old ticket office at Peckham Rye station, have revamped their upstairs dining room and turned it into an intimate cocktail bar. The drinks list will diverge significantly from the one in the restaurant downstairs, and from launch includes a salted tomato Martini and a blood orange Sidecar with fig foam. A concise selection of cold snacks will be served; think oysters with homemade hot sauce.
Open now, hausulondon.co.uk
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Cocktail Omakase
New York, US
The Lower East Side of Manhattan welcomes another cocktail bar in the form of a 12-seat omakase counter from the group behind existing New York bars Superbueno and Katana Kitten. Over an hour, guests are served a set menu of four mini-cocktails, along with Japanese snacks to complement the drinks, and there is a choice of alcohol-free, low-ABV or full-strength flights. Every menu will change one a fortnight. For those wanting something more conventional, Bar 7, a seven-seat walk-in venue accessible through Cocktail Omakase, serves full-size drinks to order.
Open now, cocktailomakase.com
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Gabo’s
Madrid, Spain
A dimly lit vaulted cellar is home to Gabo’s, a listening bar serving cocktails and New York-inspired food a few streets away from El Retiro park in the Spanish capital. To accompany wine and classic cocktails, such as Martinis, Palomas, Margaritas and Negronis, there’s pizza by the slice, fried chicken with caviar, lobster roll, burgers, grilled prawns and steak.
Open now, gabosny.com
FlipDog
London, UK
FlipDog (no relation to BrewDog) is an inventive cocktail bar across two floors inside Imperial Hall in Shoreditch. The 20-seat ground-floor space has been earmarked for pop-ups and changing concepts but permanently hosts a ‘laboratory’ and cocktails made with more complex techniques. The 80-seat room beneath has a menu featuring ten cocktails ‘inspired by moments’, plus signature serves grouped by method. The bar is overseen by head bartender Igor Brovko, who has previously worked at Tayēr + Elementary, and has Ukrainian industry visionaries Artem Skapenko and Alex Kostenyuk as its founders. The bar boasts distinctive design touches and is shaping up to become one of the capital’s premier mixology destinations.
Open now, flipdog.uk
