Special Aperitivo in Bocconcino Soho

The offer is straightforward: any cocktail from the aperitivo list is £7, Monday to Friday between 4pm and 7pm, and all day on Sunday. Cicchetti, the Italian bar snacks that go with it, start at £6. There is no restricted shortlist of two or three drinks, which is what separates it from most happy hours in the area.

Among the happy hours in Soho, this one sits inside a working Italian restaurant rather than a bar. The cocktails come from the same bar team that runs the evening list, and the snacks come out of the kitchen that runs the regional Italian menu. A table can stay for one drink after work or roll into dinner without moving.

What aperitivo actually is

In Italy, aperitivo is the hour between finishing work and eating, a drink with something small to go with it, taken standing at a bar or sitting outside. It is a habit rather than a promotion. The London version usually gets translated into a happy hour with discounted drinks and no food, which loses the point of it. At Bocconcino Soho the food side is kept: the cicchetti list runs alongside the £7 cocktails, so the hour works the way it does in Milan or Venice.

The £7 cocktail list

Any cocktail on the aperitivo list is £7. The spritz section carries the classic Aperol Spritz and a Limoncello Spritz made with Luxardo limoncello and prosecco. The Italian section runs a Negroni on Bombay Sapphire, Campari and Martini Rosso, and an Italian Martini with Beluga vodka and Sangue Morlacco cherry liqueur.

The bar team also puts two of its own drinks on the list. Biscotti Harmony is built on almond spirit with clarified lemon. Sicilian Citrus Dream runs Grey Goose with Italicus bergamot and local honey. For guests who want something outside the Italian range, the list carries a Margarita and a Cosmopolitan made with yuzu vodka.

Cicchetti: the food side of the hour

Cicchetti are the Venetian version of bar snacks, small plates eaten standing or shared across a table. The list starts at £6: panzerotti fritti, truffle French fries and fried courgette. At £9 there are mushroom arancini with truffle and fried calamari. Two or three plates across a table of four covers the hour comfortably, and the full à la carte is available if the drinks turn into dinner.

Sunday aperitivo, all day

Sunday is the part worth knowing about. The £7 price runs across the whole day rather than a three-hour window, which is unusual in central London, where most drinks offers stop at the weekend. It makes the restaurant a reasonable landing point for a long Sunday afternoon in Soho.

After-work drinks in Soho

The weekday window from 4pm to 7pm is built for the office crowd around Oxford Circus, Regent Street and Fitzrovia. Great Marlborough Street is three minutes from Oxford Circus and six from Tottenham Court Road, so the restaurant is a short walk from most of the surrounding offices. Groups are welcome and tables can be booked in advance, which is worth doing on Thursdays and Fridays.

For guests who want to continue past 7pm, Sotto Bar in the basement of the same building runs its own drinks list and its own hours. Many tables start upstairs at aperitivo and move down for the rest of the evening.

Happy hour in Soho: where Bocconcino fits

Soho has no shortage of drinks offers between four and seven. Most fall into two groups. The pub and chain deals are cheaper, with a short list of house drinks and no food beyond crisps. The cocktail bars run properly made drinks at full price, with a happy hour that covers two or three of them. The Bocconcino aperitivo sits between the two: the whole list at £7, mixed by the bar team that runs the evening service, with an Italian kitchen behind the snacks. For guests searching for a happy hour in Soho, cheap cocktails in central London, or an Italian aperitivo, that combination is the difference.

Frequently Asked Questions