Standing Bar Near Me on Old Compton Street: Bar Termini Espresso and Negronis

An espresso at Bar Termini costs £3 and is drunk the Italian way, standing at a short counter at 7 Old Compton Street, Soho, London W1D 5JE. That makes it one of the most useful answers to a standing bar near me search in the West End: open from 10am on weekdays, it switches from coffee to negronis without changing the room, and it stays open until 1am on Friday and Saturday.

Bar Termini is a joint venture between two names that London's drinks trade takes seriously. Tony Conigliaro, the bartender behind 69 Colebrooke Row in Islington, designed the cocktails, and Marco Arrigo, founder of the University of Coffee, built the coffee side. When Hot Dinners announced the opening, it described a room designed to pay homage to Italian railway bars, with space for 30 covers plus extra standing room at the bar.

That railway reference explains the format. Italian station bars are places where you order at the counter, drink quickly and carry on, and Termini borrows the same rhythm for Soho. The Nudge, reviewing it in September 2022, called it a tiny 1950s Italianate cocktail bar, and the scale is the first thing you notice: one narrow room, a handful of tables, and a counter that does most of the work.

Before the cocktail crowd arrives, Termini is a coffee bar. The menu is short and fixed: Espresso at £3, Bianco and Caffe Latte at £4, a Bicerin of espresso, chocolate and foamed milk at £4.50, Caffe Shakerato iced coffee at £4.50, and a 70 percent chocolate Cioccolato at £5.50. Ordering at the counter and drinking on your feet is the fastest route, and the short list means decisions take seconds.

Monday to Thursday the doors open at 10am, Friday and Saturday also at 10am, and Sunday at 11am. Morning is the easiest time to get a spot at the counter without a booking, because table reservations only begin later in the day. If you work nearby, a Shakerato standing at the bar at 3pm is the classic Termini move before the evening switch.

In the evening the room turns into an aperitivo bar. The House Negroni comes in four versions, Classico, Superiore, Rosato and Robusto, each at £9.50. When Hot Dinners covered the opening the house negronis were £6.50, a useful marker of how far Soho prices have travelled. Cocktails from the list, such as the Spritz Termini with Beefeater gin, rhubarb cordial, Aperol and Prosecco, or the Marsala Martini, are £15.50.

Honest call: the four-negroni lineup is the reason to come, so skip the longer cocktail list unless you specifically want a Bellini or a Death in Venice. Order a Classico and a Robusto side by side if you are two. The contrast teaches you more about the house style than any single drink. A 0.00% Spritz made with Everleaf is on the menu for anyone not drinking alcohol.

The rest of the £15.50 list shows the Conigliaro lab touch in small details. The Bloody Mary uses horseradish vodka, a pepper distillate and a bay marsala alongside the tomato and Worcester sauce. The Garibaldi pairs freshly squeezed orange juice with bergamot and Campari, and the Death in Venice tops Campari and grapefruit bitters with Prosecco. Staff are also happy to make classic cocktails not printed on the menu, priced from £15.50.

Food is aperitivo-sized rather than dinner. Burrata with olive oil, tomato and pane guttiau is £12, Caponata of aubergine, capers and pine nuts is £10.50, and the Italian cheese plate, the charcuterie of salame or coppa, and the Prosciutto Crudo are each £9.50. A glass of Prosecco Malibran, Soave or Montepulciano is £9.50, a Peroni is £6, and Perrier-Jouet Champagne is £17 a glass.

A discretionary 14.5% service charge is added to the bill, so factor it into a round of negronis. Limoncello at £8 is the standard nightcap. For a proper dinner, eat elsewhere in Soho and come back. The plates here are meant to sit beside a drink at the counter, not replace a meal.

Tables can be reserved online from 4pm Monday to Thursday and from 3pm Friday to Sunday until closing. Each booking lasts one hour, and the maximum party is five people. The bar is blunt about bigger groups: booking several tables to seat more than six is not accepted because space at the bar is so limited. Tables are held for 10 minutes if you are late, and the team asks you to text or call 07860 945018.

Walk-ins still work, especially for one or two people happy to stand. The bar's own location page lists hours of 10am to 11:30pm Monday to Thursday, 10am to 1am on Friday and Saturday, and 11am to 10:30pm on Sunday. The late Friday and Saturday close makes Termini a strong last stop after a show, when most Soho cafes have long since shut.

Number 7 sits at the Charing Cross Road end of Old Compton Street, a minute from Cambridge Circus and the Palace Theatre. Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road Underground stations are both a short walk. Old Compton Street itself runs west through the heart of Soho towards Wardour Street, lined with bars and restaurants, and it makes an easy stroll before or after a negroni.

If every inch of counter is taken, walk three minutes to Bar Italia at 22 Frith Street, W1D 4RF, the Polledri family's espresso bar that has traded since 1949 and opens daily from 7am to 4am. It is the same stand-up Italian coffee tradition at Soho's longest hours, so it covers the hours when Termini has already closed its doors.

Address: Bar Termini Soho, 7 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JE. Phone: 07860 945018. Email: drinks@bar-termini.com. Hours: Monday to Thursday 10am to 11:30pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 1am, Sunday 11am to 10:30pm. Bookings: from 4pm Monday to Thursday and 3pm Friday to Sunday, one hour, up to five people. Discretionary service 14.5%. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a negroni stop near your theatre.