Tayer + Elementary

Tayēr + Elementary opened on Old Street in 2019 as the bar of Monica Berg and Alex Kratena, two of the most decorated names in the trade: Berg previously ran Oslo's Himkok, while Kratena spent years behind London's Artesian across the run in which it topped The World's 50 Best Bars four years in a row. Their Shoreditch-fringe bar is now a fixture near the top of that same list, ranked No. 5 in the world in 2025. It is really two bars behind one concrete partition. Elementary, at the front, is a bright, floor-to-ceiling-windowed, all-day walk-in room where largely pre-batched drinks are poured in seconds from a draught system; Tayēr, the darker back room, is built around a space-age stainless-steel island counter honeycombed with segments for ice, bottles and tools, and runs a constantly changing, ingredient-led menu where drinks are listed by their components rather than by cocktail names. Brutalist concrete and exposed steel trunking are offset by custom wooden stools and a notably warm welcome.\n\nBerg and Kratena are unusual among top bartenders in treating non-alcoholic and non-cocktail drinks with the same rigour as the spirit-led list — the coffee, beer and wine are chosen with as much care as the cocktails, and the zero-proof drinks are properly built rather than tacked on. The clearest expression of that is an ongoing collaboration with the British non-alcoholic aperitif brand Everleaf: a set of three alcohol-free canned highballs, each built on a different Everleaf expression and served long over ice. The Blood Orange + Timur Pepper Highball uses Everleaf Forest with blood orange and timur pepper for a bittersweet, citrus-and-spice profile; the Jasmine + Lily Highball is built on Everleaf Mountain, floral and fruity with strawberry, cherry-blossom, tuberose and vanilla notes; and the Bergamot, Mint + Lemon Verbena Highball uses Everleaf Marine for something fresh and coastal. All three are poured at Elementary as well as sold by the can.\n\nThe bar remains walk-in only, with no bookings — contact is by email ([email protected]) rather than phone. Following a fire at the Old Street premises in 2026, the team is running a temporary pop-up, Casual by Tayēr, at 17 Mercer Street in Covent Garden (Wednesday to Saturday evenings) while the original site is repaired, carrying over the Everleaf highballs and the same low-fuss, ingredient-first approach. For a genuinely considered alcohol-free drink from one of the world's best bars, it is a rare thing: a zero-proof list built by people who take it as seriously as everything else they pour.