Lots of bars are good, some are even great, but of the thousands of bars that have existed a few have crossed over into timeless. Take the Sazerac Bar in New Orleans, La Floridita in Havana or the American Bar in London’s Savoy Hotel – these are examples of venues that have had such an impact on the medium that they have transcended into locations of living history. Will you have the best cocktail experience of your life there? Well maybe, they’re all excellent bars lovingly operated by talented people, but that’s not really the point – you don’t visit Big Ben to find out the time.

The craft cocktail renaissance of the early 21st century brought with it a new type of cocktail bartender and with them, a cocktail bar. Not only did they have history to draw from but also modern innovations, technology, access to travel and instant international communication.

Two decades later, cocktail bars at large have slipped into a social media-influenced homogeneity. The ice is clear and the serves are minimal, there are similar aesthetics, similar menus and even many of the great bars that stand out often don’t stay around for long, fashions move fast and operating a bar is expensive. However, a rare few stick about, maintain their relevancy in the 1% of cocktail culture and become timeless.

In 2025, the Connaught Bar in Mayfair turns 17 years old. Since launching, it has appeared on the World’s 50 Best Bars list every year since 2010 and only three times placed outside of the top 10. In 2018 it was awarded the Legend of the List accolade and then went on to take the top spot in 2020 and 2021. If there’s a modern bar that deserves its place in the cocktail pantheon, it’s probably the Connaught.

“We have always focused on the guest experience, and this also reflects the hotel’s motto: ‘Pleasure to please’,” explains director of mixology Ago Perrone.

“Hospitality is a gesture of generosity and love towards your guests, and this is something that we remind ourselves of on a daily basis. We create, we innovate, we learn and we discover. We test continuously, we seek inspiration and dialogue, and while we do this, we know that we do it for our guests and nobody or nothing else.”

Maintaining principles

Athens bartenders Nikos Bakoulis and Vasilis Kyritsis founded The Clumsies in 2014. At the time the city had a few cocktail bars that were drawing wider attention, but the Greek capital was far from the cocktail centre that it is today. The Clumsies was an instant hit and has gone on to appear in the 50 Best list nine times, receiving the Legend of the List accolade in 2023. For Bakoulis, it’s consistency that creates legacy.

“Even when you’ve been open as long as we have, every day could be someone's first experience of the bar,” he says.

“To keep the bar alive and busy for more than 10 years you have to be consistent as well as a little bit lucky. Of course, the recipes change and people change, but the main principle of what you do has to be the same, so if you visited us 10 years ago or five years ago and came back, the cocktails might be different and the staff might be different but the way of thinking is the same.

“The biggest mistake places make is that, in hard times, if something goes wrong they try to change the concept, they renovate and change lots of things. But what I believe is that to survive over the years, you need to be fundamentally the same bar as you are at the beginning, and then slowly, you will find all these people and guests who love what you bring.”

From the outside, Himkok is an unassuming hole-in-the-wall in central Oslo, but inside the space opens up into a several-storey, multi-bar playground replete with a distillery where the bar produces its own aquavit, gin and vodka. Last month the bar celebrated a decade in operation and, like the previous two bars mentioned, the seven-times 50 Best-recognised bar shows no sign of slowing down or falling out of relevance.

“Himkok stands for honesty and authenticity,” says founder Erk Potur. “We don’t do things the easy way – we produce our own spirits on-site in a country where alcohol laws are strict, and we don’t copy or follow trends from abroad. It’s all about building our own identity and we’re very proud to stay true to our roots while also becoming internationally recognised.

“To stay popular for 10 years, you have to ask the question of what to change and what to protect. I always dream about timeless objects, they amaze me. To me, Himkok is like an old knife and we must keep sharpening the blade. As we’ve grown we’ve tried to bring things in that make Himkok sharper, better, cleaner. We create new menus but the craft stays pure, the feeling and soul have never shifted.

“People walk into the bar and still feel the same heartbeat that they felt 10 years ago. That’s why Himkok isn’t just still alive, it’s stronger than ever. We adapted the details but strongly defended our identity – that’s how real places survive and become timeless.”