Cocktail Bar Near Me at Old Street: Nightjar's Basement Jazz and Era Menu

Nightjar sits one floor below 129 City Road, a two-minute walk from Old Street station, behind a door marked only by a small bird symbol. It has been pouring cocktails in that room since 2010, a band starts at 9pm every night, and the current menu prices a Singapore Sling at £15. If you typed cocktail bar near me somewhere between Shoreditch and Islington, this is the basement worth booking first.

Leave Old Street Underground by the exit for City Road and walk north-west past the roundabout; the bar's own directions put it at two minutes on foot. Shoreditch High Street Overground is under ten minutes away if you are coming from the east. The entrance is easy to miss, so look for the Nightjar emblem on the door rather than a lit sign, then take the staircase down into the single basement room.

Downstairs the light comes mostly from candles. Time Out described olive-green leather, dark panelling and flickering flames, and The Nudge mentions rose-tinted mirrors and art deco cabinets lined with old spirits. The room is small, every guest is seated, and Time Out notes that staff do not let anyone stand around the bar, which keeps the music audible from every booth.

The October 2026 menu is called 16 Years, and its foreword from founders Edmund Weil and Róisín Stimpson describes the same little room under Old Street. Drinks are grouped into chapters by period: The Old School covering 1899 to 1933, Mid-Century Mixology from 1934 to 1980, Modern Classics from 1981 to 2015, and a final section of Nightjar Signatures created between 2010 and 2025.

From the oldest chapter, the Singapore Sling at £15 is built on Fords gin and Mount Gay rum with a splash of Fen Chiew baijiu, a nod to the drink's Asian origins that most versions skip. The Highland Daisy costs £16, while the El Presidente, a Cuban rum classic from the Prohibition exile years, comes in at £17. These three make a sensible first round because they show how the team treats familiar recipes.

The priciest line is a Penicillin made with Johnnie Walker Blue Label for £22. It is a treat rather than a necessity; the house Signatures are more personal and cost less. Name of the Samurai, created by bartender Marian Beke in 2011 and built on Suntory Hibiki Harmony, is £16, and Beyond the Sea at £16 arrives in an actual seashell. Alcohol-free cocktails are listed at £12, and the back bar holds one of the largest absinthe selections in the UK.

Music is the reason many regulars choose Nightjar over quieter bars nearby. Bands play jazz, swing, blues and funk every night, with sets from 9pm to 9:45pm and again from 10:15pm to 11pm. On Thursdays a late set runs from 11:30pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays the late show starts at midnight. The October calendar names a different act most nights, including The Fallen Heroes on the 16th.

A music cover goes straight to the performers: £6 per person from Sunday to Thursday and £10 on Friday and Saturday. The Thursday late set carries no extra charge, and the weekend late show costs £6, reduced to £5 if you are staying on from earlier. Add a discretionary 12.5% service charge to every bill and a minimum spend of £15 per person per hour, and a two-drink evening for two lands well above the menu prices.

Nightjar takes reservations and keeps a handful of tables for walk-ins. The detail that catches people out is that it does not book arrivals between 9:15pm and 11pm, the window when the main sets are underway. If you want a guaranteed seat for the first set, book an earlier slot and arrive on time, because a late booking is only held for fifteen minutes before the table goes to someone at the door.

A card is authorised when you book but charged only for no-shows or for cancellations made less than six hours ahead. Groups of nine to twenty can book from Sunday to Thursday with a pre-order and a minimum spend. If the door team turns you away on a Saturday, Callooh Callay at 65 Rivington Street, open as a cocktail bar since 2008, is a short walk south and is worth trying instead of waiting on the pavement.

Early on weeknights the booths fill with people who arrived for happy hour, which offers £9 cocktails between 6pm and 8pm from Sunday to Thursday, and stayed on for the band. Later the room belongs to couples and to cocktail obsessives who know Nightjar from its World's 50 Best rankings: third in the world in 2012 and second in 2013. Time Out advises booking ahead and warns that the snack menu is limited.

The house rules are short and specific. Guests must be 21 or over, and the team does not host 18th or 21st birthday parties. The dress code is smart casual, and the FAQ adds one line in its own voice: please leave your Arsenal shirt at home. Nobody enforces a jacket, but trainers and a football top together will feel out of place in a candlelit room.

For a drink before your booking, Happiness Forgets occupies a basement at 8-9 Hoxton Square, a short walk from Old Street, and opens from 5pm every day. World's 50 Best lists it among Nightjar's neighbours, and its smaller room makes it an aperitif stop rather than a full evening. Callooh Callay on Rivington Street is the better choice afterwards if you still want cocktails once the late set ends.

If you are heading home late, Shoreditch High Street Overground is the alternative to the Northern line at Old Street, and the bar puts it under ten minutes away on foot, which spreads the crowd when the late show finishes.

The address is 129 City Road, London EC1V 1JB; email shoreditch@barnightjar.com for group enquiries. The sister bar on Carnaby Street served its last drinks in September 2025 and will not reopen, so ignore older guides that send you to Soho. Shoreditch is now the only Nightjar.

Access is the main limitation: the room is reached by stairs and there is no lift, although an accessible toilet is available downstairs. Snacks are limited, so eat beforehand. Skip the Blue Label Penicillin unless you are celebrating; the £16 house creations are where the bar's personality shows. Arrive near 7pm on a weeknight with a booking and you will hear both sets without paying weekend cover.