Cocktail Bar Near Me in Soho: Swift's Irish Coffee and Whisky Basement

Swift is two bars stacked on top of each other at 12 Old Compton Street, Soho W1D 4TQ. The ground floor is mainly for walk-ins and pours the £12 Irish Coffee that made its name, while the basement is reservations only, with more than 300 whiskies and a piano. Doors open at 3pm daily, which makes it an easy answer to cocktail bar near me between Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road.

The two floors work as different venues. Upstairs is a bright, art deco standing bar that holds about fifty people, built for a quick aperitivo before a show or dinner. You do not book; you walk in, find a spot along the counter or the window ledge, and order. The bar describes the room as light-filled and buzzy, and The Nudge points out that Bar Termini sits just across the street, so this is a place for one or two drinks rather than a long sit-down.

Downstairs is lower, darker and seated, with plush leather, art deco touches and a vintage piano for around forty guests. Bookings start from 5pm, or from 3pm in November and December, and the online system currently offers ninety-minute slots, although the bar's own page describes two hours. The maximum party size is six, which keeps the basement from turning into an office party.

Whichever floor you choose, order the Irish Coffee first. It is £12 on both menus and arrives in a stemmed glass with a cold, thick collar of cream sitting on hot whiskey-laced coffee, which you are meant to drink through rather than stir. Order it early in your visit, while you still have room for a stronger whisky drink from the basement list afterwards.

The upstairs menu leans Italian and light. A Sgroppino, the Venetian mix of sorbet and prosecco, costs £9, while the Bogart is £14 at full price and only £7 from Monday to Thursday before 6pm, the best deal on the list. A Bloody Mary is £12, and two longer signatures, the Chiffon and the Woodstock, are both £16. The menus currently linked from the website date from November 2025.

Downstairs the list turns darker. The Old Compton, named after the street, is £15; the Hummingbird is £16; Destination Tokyo is £15; and a Praline Flip, rich with whole egg, is £13. Alcohol-free cocktails cost £9, and the standard spirit pour is 50ml, generous by London standards, which matters when you start working through the 68-page whisky list.

Swift does not run a full kitchen in Soho. Time Out notes that this site sticks to bar snacks, and the food list confirms it: Nocellara olives for £5, a cheese or meat board for £16, or both together for £25. Eat properly beforehand. A glass of Moët Brut costs £15, and a two-thirds pint of König Pilsener is £5.50 if someone in your group does not drink cocktails.

Live music is free downstairs. A solo pianist plays on Tuesdays from 6pm to 8pm, and on Sundays a piano-led duo performs from 6pm to 9pm, which makes Sunday the most relaxed evening to book a basement table. Upstairs, arriving between 3pm and 6pm from Monday to Thursday catches the happy hour, when some cocktails start at £7.

If upstairs is packed and you have no booking, do not wait inside the doorway. Bar Termini, a small Italian coffee and cocktail bar, sits almost opposite at 7 Old Compton Street, and Bar Italia on Frith Street, open daily from 7am until 4am, is a two-minute walk for an espresso. Swift does not take calls about reservations or late arrivals, so email soho@barswift.com if your plans change.

Bobby Hiddleston and Mia Johansson opened Swift in December 2016 on the former site of the LAB Bar, in partnership with Edmund Weil and Róisín Stimpson of Nightjar. Time Out reports that the pair met while working at Milk and Honey, and Hot Dinners noted that their combined experience also includes The Dead Rabbit, Callooh Callay and High Water.

The awards came quickly: Time Out London named it New Bar of the Year in 2017, and Tales of the Cocktail chose it as the Best New International Cocktail Bar the same year. It climbed as high as thirtieth on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2022, but it has not featured since 2023, so treat it as a much-loved neighbourhood favourite rather than a current ranking chaser.

Old Compton Street is the spine of Soho's evening life, and Swift sits near its eastern end, close to Charing Cross Road. Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square stations are each roughly a five-to-seven-minute walk on a map estimate, with Piccadilly Circus a little further. That puts the bar within easy reach of the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue for a pre-show drink upstairs.

After a basement session, Frith Street is the natural next stop. Bar Italia at 22 Frith Street is open daily from 7am until 4am, which makes it one of the few places in the area serving an espresso long after Swift closes at midnight. Leicester Square and the theatres of Shaftesbury Avenue are a few minutes south, and the Elizabeth line at Tottenham Court Road is the fastest way out of Soho late at night.

Swift opens Monday to Saturday from 3pm until midnight and Sunday from 3pm until 11pm. It is card only, with no cash accepted, and an optional 12.5% service charge, all of which goes to staff, is added to the bill. Guests must be 21 or over, sports shirts and kit are not allowed, and the bar does not host stag or hen parties.

Only guide and assistance dogs are admitted. Skip the Moët and the cheese board if you are on a budget; the cocktails are better value, and the Bogart at £7 before 6pm is the cheapest cocktail on the upstairs list. The best plan is to book a basement table for 5pm, start with an Irish Coffee, and move upstairs afterwards if you want a livelier room before dinner.