Happiness Forgets

The Basement That Shifted London's Bar Conversation

Before the mid-2010s wave of technically ambitious, low-theatrics bars consolidated into a recognisable London style, Hoxton Square already had a working template. Happiness Forgets sits below street level at 8-9 Hoxton Square, and its format — tight space, low lighting, considered drinks program, no dress-code performance — anticipated what would become a broadly adopted approach across the capital. Regulars who found it early tend to describe the experience in the same terms: you go down the stairs, the room shrinks the outside world to a manageable size, and the drinks ask you to pay attention. That combination proved durable.

A Ranking Arc That Tells Its Own Story

The World's 50 Best Bars listing history for Happiness Forgets is more instructive than any single placement. The bar entered the list at number 12 in 2012, climbed to number six in 2013, held the top-12 bracket through 2014, then spent the second half of the decade fluctuating before its 2019 listing at number 40. By 2025 it sits at number 310 on the Top 500 Bars ranking. That trajectory is not a decline narrative so much as a measure of how much the competitive field expanded and professionalised around it. London's cocktail bar count at the serious end of the market grew substantially through the late 2010s; bars like 69 Colebrooke Row and newer entrants such as A Bar with Shapes For a Name and Academy have since added to the pool from which global lists draw. The bars that defined the early phase of that shift remain reference points regardless of where any given year's ranking lands them.

For context on how London compares to equivalent bars internationally, Bramble in Edinburgh followed a similar model of below-street-level intimacy with a focused drinks list, while Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu represents the same high-craft, low-ego approach operating in a very different market. The format travels because the underlying logic is sound.

What Keeps the Regulars Returning

The bar opens daily from 17:00 and runs to 23:00, which positions it as an early evening destination as much as a late one. Regulars at Happiness Forgets describe a particular rhythm to the room at different hours: the first two hours after opening carry a quieter, more conversational atmosphere, while the space fills and contracts around the bar as the evening progresses. For a basement venue of limited dimensions, the distinction matters. Those who know the bar tend to time their visits accordingly.

The 4.6 rating across 996 Google reviews is notable less for the headline number than for what it represents at this review volume. A bar of this scale accumulating nearly a thousand reviews without slipping below that threshold suggests consistent execution over an extended period, which is a different signal from a newer bar with fewer data points. The regulars' loyalty tends to be quiet rather than evangelical , the kind that shows up in revisit frequency rather than social media volume.

What the unwritten menu looks like at a bar in this tier involves an understanding that the drinks list changes and that engaging with the bartender about what's current produces better results than defaulting to a fixed order. The format rewards the kind of patron who treats a cocktail bar as a conversation rather than a transaction. That sensibility has been consistent at Happiness Forgets since its early-ranking years and is part of what the returning clientele came to rely on.

Hoxton Square in the Broader East London Bar Map

Hoxton Square's position in London's bar geography places Happiness Forgets at a remove from the more concentrated bar clusters of Soho and Covent Garden, while keeping it accessible from the City and the broader east London circuit. The square itself has housed a range of hospitality operations over the years, but the basement bar format here belongs to a different tradition than the above-ground venue that dominates the area's visible hospitality. East London's cocktail bar development over the past decade has moved in multiple directions: some venues pushed toward elaborate multi-room experiences, others toward bottle-service club formats. The low-capacity, drinks-first model that Happiness Forgets represents held its ground against both tendencies.

For broader London bar context, Amaro offers a different angle on the city's current scene, and our full London bars guide maps the full range of formats and neighbourhoods. Those planning a wider London trip can also consult our London restaurants guide, London hotels guide, London wineries guide, and London experiences guide.

For a comparable bar operating in a different American city context, Bar Kismet in Halifax shows how the same emphasis on quality over spectacle plays in a smaller market.

Planning Your Visit

Happiness Forgets is at 8-9 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU, open Monday through Sunday from 17:00 to 23:00. The basement format means capacity is finite, and the bar draws from both the local east London crowd and visitors specifically seeking it out based on its listing history. Arriving in the first hour after opening provides the most reliable access to a seat and the quietest conditions for the kind of drink-focused visit the bar suits leading. There is no phone number or online booking channel listed, which aligns with the walk-in culture that bars of this format typically maintain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Happiness Forgets known for?

Happiness Forgets in London is known for establishing and sustaining the low-theatrics, high-craft cocktail bar model in east London through the 2010s. It spent seven consecutive years inside the World's 50 Best Bars ranking, peaking at number six in 2013 and reaching as high as number eight in 2015. Its Hoxton Square basement location, serious drinks program, and no-frills format made it a reference point against which London's subsequent wave of technically ambitious bars was measured. The 4.6 Google rating across nearly 1,000 reviews reflects consistent execution over a sustained period.

What's the leading thing to order at Happiness Forgets?

Because Happiness Forgets has held World's 50 Best Bars recognition across multiple years, the drinks program operates at a level where engaging with the bartender directly about the current list is the approach that returning visitors consistently recommend. The menu evolves, and a bar that has maintained this level of sustained awards recognition , including a top-ten World's 50 Best placement , is one where the bartender's current recommendations are more reliable than any fixed order sourced externally. The bar's format is specifically designed for that kind of exchange.