The CLASS Crawl is your insider’s bar tour around the neighbourhood you want to drink in.

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The route: The Hideout → Dos Dedos → The Dark Horse

Walking time between stops: 5-10 minutes

Best for: Classic cocktails, whisky and agave spirits

1. THE HIDEOUT

Photo: The Hideout

CLASS rating: ★★★★½

Recognition: CLASS Bar Awards: Best Bar in the West 2026; finalist for Best Bar in the West 2024 and 2025

Go for: Seasonal and signature cocktails, a brimming back bar of whisky and a gentle hip-hop soundtrack in a historic space, with courtyard seating

Drink: The Hideout Old Fashioned is a favourite. For something long and refreshing, the Tokyo Drift. Sweet? The Tom & Jerry involves cognac and Coco Pops.

Address: 1 Lilliput Court, Bath BA1 1ND

Price: ££

Reservations: Walk-ins only

Open: Seven days

The why: Hidden in the historic lanes of Bath, The Hideout is just as its name suggests – a small and intimate stone-walled basement bar. It has a friendly, unpretentious atmosphere, and the merriment – weather permitting - spills out into its subterranean courtyard.

If you’re into your whisky, you’ll be happy you descended the steps; there are three hundred bottles lining the shelves and not just the usual fixtures, there are rare, small-batch editions, some of which are exclusive to Hideout. Next door is a tasting room where you can book a guided tasting by one of the bar’s whisky experts.

More of a cocktail drinker? You’re in the right place too. The menu is a mix of the best hits of the bar’s history (it launched back in 2016) and a list of seasonal cocktails too. These drinks are up there with the best in the country, so it’s no wonder the bar is a regular at the annual CLASS Bar Awards. It was named Best Bar in the West at the 2026.

Next stop: 7 minutes walk

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2.DOS DEDOS

Photo: Dos Dedos

CLASS rating: ★★★★☆

Go for: Cantina style decor,  a lively vibe with great agave cocktails

Drink: A Tommy’s Margarita, an agave-twisted classic, a seasonal mix or a flight of tequila

Address: Edgar Mews, Bartlett St, Bath BA1 2QZ

Price: ££

Reservations: Walk-ins only

Open: Seven days

The why: Peeling paint, up-cycled wood and walls lined with tequila, Dos Dedos is a characterful Mexican cantina tucked away on the cobbled streets of central Bath. With 100 mezcals and tequilas, agave spirits-led cocktails and a tiny kitchen that somehow serves up authentic Mexican bites, Does Dedos is the kind of place for unplanned evenings, where a lot goes right.

If Margaritas are your drink, you’re in the right place. There’s the classic, the Tommy’s, a Spicy and even a Dirty variant made with house brine. Perhaps your fancy a classic – a Manhattan or Irish Coffee perhaps. Here you get to test whether they're better with agave spirits (drinks often are). Equally, this is also the place to start – and/or end – with ice-cold bottles of Pacifico lager.

Owned by the group that owns Hideout, Dos Dedos is a change of pace and vibe, but the dedication to its chosen spirits is a constant. If you’re curious, bartenders here will happily guide you through a flight of agave spirits.

Next stop: 5 minutes walk

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3. THE DARK HORSE

Photo: The Dark Horse

CLASS rating: ★★★★☆

Recognition: CLASS Bar Awards: New Bar of the Year finalist, 2017

Go for: An intimate vibe, classical bartending and cocktails featuring seasonal produce

Drink: The Infinite Daiquiri or a classic spun with local ingredients

Address: 7A Kingsmead Square, Bath BA1 2AB

Price: ££

Open: Seven days

The why: Finish the crawl at The Dark Horse, an intimate, classically-leaning cocktail bar in Kingsmead Square where the drinks are rooted in the South West of England. First launched in late 2015 by bar veteran Louis Lewis Smith, with the involvement of a number of fellow cocktail heavyweights, The Dark Horse brought grown-up cocktails and a world-class bar experience to Bath. A warren of low-ceilinged rooms bedecked in period furnishings and soft lighting, it remains one of the finer cocktails bars in the UK.

The menu here leans into local products and ingredients wherever possible, including English wines, liqueurs and spirits, while its beers come from the South West. Fruit and herbs are sourced as close to Bath as possible, with some ingredients foraged from the hills around the city.

It is also home to the Infinite Daiquiri. Simply choose a rum from an extensive list to add to the continuously refreshed ‘infinite rum blend’. Your own Daiquiri is then made from this thousands-strong rum blend – a ticker behind the bar will tell you exactly how many make up the mix - combined with hand pressed lime juice and sugar to create a totally unique Daiquiri.