I’m going to be in London for a few days next month. If anyone has any rum recommendations (bars or shops) I’d love to hear about them.
Turtle Bay down in Brixton is the real deal for Jamaican food and drinks with rum in them. I enjoyed Fish, Wings and Tings in Brixton Market a lot, too.
The Whisky Exchange has some decent rums on offer, so has Amathus in Soho.
Not too sure about rum bars, but Milroy’s of Soho (and their Speakeasy downstairs) are definetly worth a visit.
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Brixton is defintely worth a visit if you’re interested in the Windrush generation and Caribbean as well as African immigrant culture. (Albeit things have changed a lot there, too. London is becoming a sprawling urban void with no one left who is able to afford living in it - a shame.)
Anyhow, Brixton. Just take one afternoon to walk through the market, stroll around the surroundings, pay a visit to the Black Cultural Archives, and enjoy yourself after (or in between) with food and drinks at the aforementioned locations.
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Thanks for the tips! I’ll try and make it down to Brixton one afternoon.
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Hi, if you go shopping at whisky exchange and have nothing else for costum at your way back home, you can catch the RX18491 for a split 
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Or pick a box of 6 and declare upon arrival, much cheaper 
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O.k. better way, one bottle please 
Hey @Seb888 - London is a true marvel, when it comes to anything drink related imho. You should definitely mark some time in your schedule for exciting bars and shops. 
Here are three places I would highly recommend to visit if you have a chance:
Trailer Happiness // https://trailerh.com/
I don’t need to praise this place for being a famous bar in the first place, I guess
As a well known waterhole for those rum geeks among us, this is highly recommened. Very friendly and knowledgeable staff who are massiv geeks themselves and happy to engage in the nerdiest of talks, if time provides. Drinks are top notch. The rum selection is good but managable I would say. Some pics from my last visit below for reference:
Merchant House // https://merchanthouse.bar/
This is a stunning place, with an extensive collection of spirits. They offer countless bottles of whisky and also very nice drinks. One of their whisky cabinets for reference:
While their focus is on whisky, you will also find a very good selection of rums. This is a good place, if you are looking for the upper end botttlings (i.e. Velier Demeraras / Caronis / etc.)
Staff is also very friendly and knowledgeable, indeed. However, their “You will only buy what you like” policy knocks this place truely out of the park for me personally… before you buy a dram, they will pour you a (very) small sipp for you to get a first impression of the rum. Then you can decide to buy or not to buy a dram (obviously you will buy them, anyway ). This is true for all bottles they have.
Obviously, the exclusive bottles don’t come cheap - they price any (exclusive) dram based on current market value of respective bottles.
Black Parrot // https://blackparrotbar.co.uk/
Last but definitely “first” is Black Parrot Bar. This should be the largest rum selection available in London… that’s it - amazing place if you enjoy rum. Just note: the place is very tiny. You should make a reservation any day of the week, if you want to go - which I highly recommend.
Some general points, which might be helpful:
- it is always worth to check for the rum offering in any bar. Foursquare ECSs for example are very widespread and available at a lot of “good” bars and even restaurants
- places I mentioned above, are all also (and predominantly) cocktail bars. They will be very crowded on the weekends. So your best shot - if you are looking for a good conversation with bar staff and time to enjoy their whole range - should be to visit on workdays
- if you order a dram you will get c. 5cl by default. However, all places do offer half pours as well, which comes down to c. 2.5cl - just ask for those
- it is always a good idea to check pricing before you buy. Ok, this is obvious!
But my point comes down to “market differences”. Some bottles are much more expensive in the UK while others are surprisingly cheap. For example: The Appleton Hearts series is blisteringly expensive, while Foursquare is very accessable for most bottlings. So depending on where you are from, it makes sense to taste some bottles at home rather than in London
Hope this helps! Enjoy your trip and save some time in your schedule to engage in some bar seeing
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a nice rum bar with over 700 bottles is the Black Parrot https://blackparrotbar.co.uk, David, the cool and nerdy owner is a unique person; it’s definitely a “pirates” place where you will find rather Jack Sparrow then Tories (and touris)
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WoW thanks for all the info and pictures!! Trailer Happiness was already on my visiting list, but after reading all this I’ll definitely try and visit The Black Parrot too. They both look like my kind of bar.
Merchant House may be a bit overkill considering I’ll be there with my girlfriend and she’s not really into spirits 
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Thanks for the tip, looks like an amazing bar!
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