LET THE FUN BE GIN

By Kim and Lea

Everyone’s always on the lookout for new bars that have a great atmosphere but, in London, this can make a dent (or crater) in our purses. So this week we went on a hunt for the best and cheapest bars in London!

First on our student-friendly bar list is Simmons

click photo for deal deets and locations

Tea Break’s rating:

Drink Deal  5/5

Atmosphere  4/5

If you don’t already know about Simmons, get to know! It is a classic, student bar with incredible drinks deals and so many locations including, Fulham (the one we went to), Camden, Liverpool Street and Soho. Their Happy Hour deals run every day except for Saturdays (classic London). But still, what a steal!

Lea’s personal favourite - Belushi’s.

Tea Break’s rating:

Drink Deal 3.5/5  

Atmosphere - this completely depends on the location, as we would rate the London Bridge location 5/5 but honestly, Hammersmith (the one we went to) was 2/5 at a push!

Belushi’s is such a fun and lively bar with multiple locations in London and other parts of the UK. It’s a great place to watch one of the many football / rugby matches they have on their screens or to just have a casual drink with friends.

click photo to see other deals and locations

One of our favourite things about this place is that it offers student deals over the already cheap drinks they have available. Just sign up to their Student Club, and collect a cute little guitar pick to get some sick deals! They’ve also got Beer Pong sections, where for around £15 (between 4 people), you get 2 hours including drinks and food!

Can you tell why we absolutely love it here?

The Loop is a bar located in Mayfair, minus the Mayfair prices.

Tea Break’s rating:

Drink Deal  4.5/5

Atmosphere  3/5

click photo for more info on The Loop

With 3 floors to choose from, you can pick the area that you most prefer for the night. Me (Kim) and my friends once managed to get into a private party where we took shots out of an interestingly shaped ice sculpture😉

This time, we got the HUGE (bigger than Lea’s head) Pornstar Martini cocktail, which came with a little bottle of prosecco - only £12!
For their Happy Hour deal, everything is 50% off from 5pm to 8pm Monday to Saturday, which is crazy cheap. You can even extend the happy hour if you book a table in advance.

This bar doesn’t get very busy during the week though, or at least it wasn’t this Tuesday. Although previous Thursdays have been buzzing, so it’s just something to think about if you decide to go.

Be At One is a chain with deals that really stuck out to us. If you like cocktails, this is one’s for you!

Tea Break’s rating:

Drink Deal  3.5/5

Atmosphere  4.5/5

Be At One has a 2 for 1 cocktails deal from 4:30pm - 7/8pm depending on the location in London. They have bars all over the UK, and the happy hours outside of London usually end later (perfect preing location you say?)

We went to the Soho bar, which had a very cocktail bar vibe, and ordered the Bramble (gin-based cocktail) first, which we loved - £9.70 for 2, sooo worth it. We also tried the Paradise Punch (a vodka, whiskey and Disaronno based cocktail), absolutely LETHAL! This drink did need some getting used to though, as the flavour of the Disaronno was a bit overbearing. They were both presented beautifully and we got served reasonably quickly.

Tip: to redeem your extra “Appi Hour” download the app.

Our final Happy Hour location recommendation is McGettigans (Fulham)

Tea Break’s rating:

Drink Deal  3.5/5

Atmosphere  3.5/5

McGettigans is an Irish pub located in the heart of London, which is slightly different from the other places we explored. But still, it does some killer Happy Hour deals, 50% off everything (!!!) from 5-8, and could be your go to if a pub is more your scene (it’s also great to watch football matches). But be aware that the Happy Hour deals don’t run on match days 😥

They also have McGettigans pubs in Dubai which do similar Happy hour deals. If you’re ever there, hit up McGettigans on a Friday, as I can say from experience that it gets very lively!

Another quick tip to prevent that crater in your purse: download an app called Dusk. It offers free drinks in bars around London (and Liverpool and Manchester) and a discount on your next round. Also, check out @saving_with_shrig on IG for some more London saving tips.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed our drunken research! And that it’s given you some ideas for your evening and weekend 😜

Some honourary shout outs - The Roxy, Barrio and UK’s very own Wetherspoons!

Where are your go-tos for a good drink deal? Leave us a comment below or on our Insta post👇