Homeboy Bar

Homeboy opened in 2018 on Islington's Essex Road as the debut bar from Dublin-born Aaron Wall, who had already run award-winning bars in Paris, Dublin and London. Its "Modern Irish Hospitality" concept — presented under Wall's tongue-in-cheek MIH Records banner, with the drinks list laid out as a vinyl "set list" of Disc 01 The Intro, Disc 02 The Crescendo and Disc 03 The Finish — pairs Irish comfort food and a hip-hop and R'n'B soundtrack with a genuinely serious cocktail programme. The room is snug and low-lit, all dark wood, deep leather banquettes and a black-and-white chequered bar, with live Irish music on Thursdays and Sundays and DJs on Fridays and Saturdays. It is a World's 50 Best Discovery bar, a fixture on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list and a Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards regional honoree, with a second Homeboy in Battersea.

The main list is Irish-whiskey-led, drawing on the likes of Busker, Teeling, Redbreast, Roe & Co and Bushmills through house drinks such as the Wogan, the Taoiseach, the Blackthorn No.2 and the Modern Irish Pornstar, alongside a trio of stripped-back "Mineral Martinis" and the frozen Irish coffees the bar is known for. The non-alcoholic drinks are treated with the same care rather than as an afterthought: the menu carries a dedicated Non-Alcoholic Cocktails section built around the British zero-proof spirit Crossip and the bar's own house cordials and infusions.

Two house alcohol-free cocktails anchor that section, both £7.50. The Pure Dove is a floral grapefruit-and-lime long drink of Crossip Fresh, fresh lime and San Pellegrino grapefruit soda; the Floradorable is a zero-proof riff on the classic Floradora, layering Crossip Pure with fresh raspberry, lime, ginger cordial and Franklin & Sons ginger ale. Beyond the printed pair, the bar invites guests to talk to the team and have a bespoke non-alcoholic drink built to taste from the "many non-alc potions, cordials, and infusions we make", and both Pure Dove and Floradorable are also offered as the alcohol-free choice on the bottomless weekend brunch (Saturdays and Sundays, 1pm–5pm).