If you are looking for the best bottomless brunch compilation, then look no further because you have found it. Tailored to your needs from dietary requirements, the type of cuisine, to your budget, you are sure to find a place to satisfy your brunch itch. Our analytics team have done all the hard work for you and analysed the top bottomless brunch deals in London, so you can find the perfect one.
Read on to find out what we have discovered this time around compared to our previous blog 3 years ago or scroll straight down to the juicy part (our interactive map), to find the best Bottomless Brunch spots near you. Who said bottomless brunches are only good in the summer?!
With even more restaurants in London jumping on the bandwagon of offering bottomless brunch how do you narrow down your options and find the right spot for the right occasion? That’s where the bottomless brunch map comes in use. With more filter options than the last map, the options vary depending on the number of dishes provided, the duration of the bottomless brunch or if you fancy a particular drink that day. Whatever filter you choose, what’s for sure is that you can find a place that will offer a good time, no matter the occasion and without breaking the bank. So put an end to the endless Googling, and group chat arguments and make sure you have the interactive map handy for when you next dine out for brunch.
Methodology
The first step was to scrape lists from TripAdvisor, Stylist, Timeout, The Londonist, Designmynight to name just a few. Compared to the last blog we also used social media content platforms such as TikTok which blew up during the lockdown. A source such as TikTok gives more of a voice for people to share the best bottomless brunch places from experience with the addition of a video to get a feel of the restaurant/bar, instead of just taking recommendations from a list made by one person or a group of editors, which includes one picture of one dish/part of the décor the venue offers. It’s also a great platform to find “Hidden Gems” that wouldn’t usually appear within Top Brunch Spots lists due to time lags or a lack of advertisement. From these lists we identified 90 of the best Bottomless Brunch locations in London, looking at certain criteria that make a good brunch spot such as reviews, drink/food options, décor, and accessibility. We then analysed the deals at all these locations and created the ultimate bottomless brunching guide.
Source: ‘Bottomless Brunch’ web search trends from England over the last 6 years from Google Trends
Interest over time: Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given time period. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means that there was not enough data for this term.
Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, the term “Bottomless Brunch” takes many ups and downs in terms of interest over time, within the UK. Judging from the last 6 years it seems December is always the lowest point in terms of popularity for the term, however, it always picks up after that in January and on average has its peak popularity during the Summer and Autumn.
We can see that despite the term being popular back in 2019 when our first blog came out, the term became four times as popular at its peak in June 2021 when compared to March 2019. June 2021 was towards the end of the lockdown restrictions being relaxed, the majority of the UK population had been vaccinated, and people were able to go to pubs, clubs, and restaurants again. We see a fall by the end of 2021 however this has since picked up and looks like it’s on an upward trend once again in 2022.
Consequently, the drops in interest due to COVID-19 restrictions and the most recent surge in energy/ cost of living prices have meant that many of the Brunch spots from our previous blog 3 years ago either no longer offer bottomless brunch, permanently closed down (city of London has lost 14% of its restaurants since 2020 – Financial Times), or have passed on the higher costs to the customer in the form of higher prices, with the price of eating out predicted to soar as much as 40% according to The Evening Standard. Nevertheless, if you are familiar with our previous blog, you will recognise many “familiar faces” but with a good number of new additions.
Another major addition to our previous blog is diet and lifestyle changes for ethical, religious, or health reasons. In the UK, 2020 compared with 2019 saw a 163% increase in Deliveroo’s vegan orders – The Guardian. The trend continued to follow with Deliveroo seeing a more than 2x increase in demand for vegan food over the last twelve months and with 15,000 vegan-friendly restaurants and grocers now available through the service – Charged Retail. As the UK, specifically London, becomes more diverse and inclusive of these changes, more and more restaurants have started offering vegan and vegetarian separate menus and changing their meat suppliers in order to provide halal meat to their customers.
The Overview
So how long do these ‘bottomless’ drinks last?
You’ll most likely be settling in for 90 minutes, but this is closely followed by the second most popular time limit offered of 2 hours.
Comparing results from 3 years ago to now there has been a shift from the most popular duration, the generous 120 minutes, to a more conservative 90 minutes which is offered by over half of all the brunch spots. Despite that, a very respectable 36% of the brunch spots do offer 120 minutes.
Typically, restaurants/bars will have KPIs of cost per table and spend per table that they may optimise towards in order to maximise their ROI. With a set bottomless brunch menu and time limit, which usually requires a pre-booking with clarity on the size of the group attending, this allows restaurants to do these calculations beforehand. This can be done through bookings, which in turn improves the table turnover rate and maximises the returns it receives.
This will then give an indication of whether the business can afford to offer bottomless brunches, but also if it will be profitable for the business. This includes considering food/drink costs, labour, operating licenses, and rent. These calculations also need tight rules in order to make it worthwhile to the business. The recent increase in costs has inevitably meant that businesses have had to change their strategy to make the popular bottomless brunch still accessible to customers but also profitable. This has meant tweaking certain factors that determine profitability which is in the control of the restaurant, one being the time limit it offers.
As the time limit has been sacrificed, this comes in exchange for more variety and choice to the customer, in terms of the drink options it offers, whilst encouraging responsible drinking and ensuring you are getting value for your money. This will ultimately maintain a positive user experience and mean your favourite bottomless brunch spot can continue to offer that sweet deal you crave!
In hindsight, the shorter time limits can be seen as a win-win situation for both the customer and business as it means the business can seat more potential customers who will have a higher propensity to spend more in the next 30 minutes compared to the current customer in the next 30 mins. Lastly, 90 minutes encourages more responsible drinking. Therefore, 1.5 hours gives a good anchor for people to stick to and creates the “new norm” for the time limit in bottomless drinking.
Ok cool, but is it affordable?
Yes, there are options to cater for all budgets but you’re most likely to spend between £30-£40. However, what is clear, is that there is more of a spread of prices that restaurants charge for bottomless brunch. With our previous blog, only 8% of the brunch spots offered the bottomless option for £51+. Now 20% of all the spots charge a price of £51+! Moreover, none of the spots within the new list now offer a bottomless brunch for under £25. It’s clear that the impact of the world events in the last 3 years has had a quick, drastic effect. COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdowns that followed and most recently the increase in the energy/cost of living prices have all meant that all parties in the economy have been affected in one or more ways. As inflation in the UK rises to the highest it has been in 40 years and interest rates most recently hitting the 3% mark, this means that for restaurants/bars menu prices have gone up as they struggle to pay for supplies, retain staff and heat the premises. The transfer of the costs to the consumer means that eating out has risen. However, venue owners have replaced this extra cost to ensure, you, the consumer are still getting your money’s worth. This is in the form of; a greater variety of drinks, and a more personalised experience for each customer, such as respecting any dietary requirements needs.
What should I expect to be drinking?
By the looks of things, prosecco still reigns as king with 84% of the brunch spots offering this type of drink. However, locations on average offered 3 drink options, with cocktails taking the second spot for popularity, which is a massive leap in the rankings compared to 3 years ago when only 13% of the brunch spots offered this type of drink. Beer retains its spot in third place for popularity. Moreover, despite more of the spots offering prosecco compared to cocktails, there are more options of cocktails (110) offered in total by the brunch spots compared to prosecco (76).
So the ‘average’ bottomless brunch entails…
So not only is the average time (minutes) of ‘bottomless’ drinking less than what it used to be but the average price for a bottomless brunch has increased by £6 (17% increase). Despite that, restaurant owners have made up for that with more variety in the drink offerings on average than before, with three now instead of the previous two.
Closing Words
Bottomless brunching is definitely a must-do with either friends, family or just yourself, because who doesn’t love a good deal especially when it involves food and drink? London is packed with bars and restaurants ranging from Italian, Caribbean to Japanese, to just name a few, so take advantage of the plethora of options that cater to any needs or tastes. What are you waiting for? Get booked and start brunching!
Interactive Map Overview
One of the main criteria for selecting a winning bottomless brunch is undoubtedly the location. Firstly, nobody wants to have to traipse the whole way across London just to get to brunch. Secondly, you need to be in the vicinity of a decent après-brunch spot, because let’s face it, once you’re out, you’re staying out. To assist your bottomless brunch discovery, we’ve created a handy map, with all the top locations pinned. We’ve also created some filter criteria (explained below) to ensure the decision-making process is as seamless as possible.
Note: For best usability, we recommend expanding the map to full screen (top right corner). We also recommend applying one filter at a time to avoid duplicating locations.
Filter Criteria
– 2+ hours bottomless drinking – This filter allows you to see all the locations that offer a minimum of 2 hours bottomless drinking for those of you who want to extend the prosecco train. Look out for one of the locations that offer a whopping 2.5 hours bottomless – good luck.
– Best for drink variety – This filter whittles down the brunch locations to those that offer at least 4 different bottomless drink options. Perfect for catering to large groups with different drink preferences. One location offers 9 different drink options, surely enough to keep everyone happy…
– Top 10 overall cheapest – Probably shouldn’t have to explain this one. We’ve sorted out the cheapest options on the list based on the estimated total price. As the cost of food has been averaged, the price may vary slightly depending on what you order, but either way, these locations offer outstanding options and value for those of you that want to get boozy on a budget.
– Big Feeders (3+ Courses Included) – Because it’s not all about the bottomless drinks. Head to one of these locations if you want to make sure your stomach is suitably lined. These are the best picks if you want to enjoy at least 3 courses and achieve a healthy(?) balance of food-to-drink intake. Try to find the location that offers 11 small sharing plates, 1 main plate and 1 dessert platter – Wow, that’s a lot of food, so make sure you arrive on an empty stomach…
– Top Value (Drinks per hour) – These locations are probably our favourites (aptly represented by love hearts). These picks offer a value of drinks per hour ratio of 1 or below, the lower the score the better. Meaning that to make the most of the bottomless offer, you would only need to consume one drink per hour for this to be worth the money. A very achievable drinking rate I think we’ll all agree.
– Drink Type – A mixture of drinks has been offered in this filter to cater for a range of tastes from prosecco to cocktails to beer and alcohol-free drinks. Whether you’re on a city break and are after a prosecco/beer only afternoon or now with the rise of teetotalism, you may be looking for an alcohol-free experience, you will find the right place with this filter by quickly and easily navigating the list if you have a particular drink in mind.
