The top three

For retro scavengers

Brunswick House

30 Wandsworth Road, SW8 (020 7720 2926; brunswickhouse.com)

The Vauxhall roundabout isn’t where you’d expect to head for a fabulous pre-dinner cocktail, but this is a great venue. Attached to Lassco, an antiques and salvage restorer, Brunswick House is decorated with weird and wonderful finds, which you can take in while you sip a rhubarb Zucca Rabarbado & soda (£3.50), or an Aperol Spritz (£6.50)

For cocktail geeks

Portobello Star

171 Portobello Road, W11 (020 7229 8016; portobellostarbar.co.uk)

Run by Jake Burger, one of London’s great bartenders, this is a drinking den with an exceptional cocktail list. The Quo Vadis Aperitivo (also available at Quo Vadis), made with Campari, sparkling wine, clementine, lemon and sugar, is particularly good — bitter, refreshing and palate-cleansing (£6)

For wine buffs

Super Tuscan

8A Artillery Passage, E1 (020 7247 8717; supertuscan.co.uk)

This sweet little restaurant down an alley in Spitalfields has a tremendous range of Tuscan reds (Super Tuscan is a style of wine). It also does delicious aperitivos, such as spritzes made with Aperol or Campari and Prosecco, and Americanos — like Negronis but served long — with nibbles of bruschetta and fried chickpeas on the side.

Photographs by Steven Joyce