It was the briefest remark in a New York newspaper this month, but it had bartenders agog across Britain. According to the top US mixologist Audrey Saunders, who runs the fashionable Pegu Club, off Broadway, New York is no longer the best cocktail city in the world — London is.

She’s got a point: the capital’s best bars are on a shake, rattle and roll, as drinkers imbibe novelties and classics. Yet right across Britain, too, cocktail anoraks are injecting pure liquid verve into city neighbourhoods. Here’s our pick of the top haunts — and since they really do mean boozeness, we’ve included a handy overnight crash pad.

EDINBURGH

Well-heeled weekenders in Scotland’s capital habitually make for George Street and some top shops: futuristic face creams at Space NK, bath treats at Jo Malone. Now, they’ve got couture cocktails, too, at Tigerlily (0131 225 5005, www.tigerlilyedinburgh.co.uk), a new boutique hotel on the parade. The head mixer, Jamie Macdonald, has shaken for his supper in California and Oz, and it shows here, in trends such as the “Polynesian” revival (OTT garnishes — redcurrants, pawpaw). Put on your sheepskin and strike a Del Boy pose with something tropical at the bar — you’ve arrived. Although we can’t guarantee they’ll valet-park your Reliant Robin.

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Make mine: a Chilean Chica (£6.95) — Pisco, Grand Marnier, rhubarb-and-orange preserve, passion-fruit purée and lime.

Sleep it off: here, at Tigerlily (doubles from £175, room-only), a paean to flock and mosaics in a Grade Alisted town house.

LEEDS

Three cellars knocked into one form Jake’s Bar & Grill (0113 243 1110, www.jakes-bar.co.uk), a slick subterranean retreat in the Exchange Quarter, hub of the independent bar scene. They’ve kept the white porcelain Victorian tiles across vaulted ceilings, and introduced an ethereal yellow marble bar that glows waxily. Spirits fans sit surveying a wonderwall of twinkly world liquors and vintage bitters as they sip. Most guests are into £6 Mojitos right now, says the main man, Jake Burger, but Manhattans are also popular, and the truly dedicated may try a 1905-bottled Gibson’s rye whisky — £220 a shot.

Make mine: a Maximillian Martini (£8.50) — Smirnoff Penka, acacia honey, black pepper, Blue Curacao, silver-leaf flakes.

Sleep it off: at 42 The Calls (0113 244 0099, www.42thecalls.co.uk; doubles £150, room-only), a chic old riverside corn mill with epic breakfasts.

MANCHESTER

With its oxblood brickwork and zigzag flashes of fire escape, the Northern Quarter is edgily Manhattan in mood. The tiny Socio Rehab (0161 832 4529, www.sociorehab.com) defines the district’s indie spirit, throbbing through slatted blinds like a legal speakeasy. You squeeze in among strapping lasses wearing the skimpiest garb despite the chilly night. And soon you’re stuck into a cocktail list both hard-core and big on flavours of the girly new school: passion fruit, peach and strawberries, stored in a giant, Barbie-pink fridge.

Make mine: a Sandra Chesterton (£6) — vodka, white-chocolate liqueur, strawberry-cheesecake ice cream, cream, vanilla and strawberry. Who’s Sandra Chesterton? “A busty, posh, blonde figment of the owner’s imagination,” says the barman.

Sleep it off: at The Lowry (0161 827 4000, www.roccofortehotels.com; doubles £185, B&B), a mod-glass monolith with huge bedrooms overlooking the Trinity Bridge.

OXFORD

The ultimate barfly movie, Casablanca, was based on a play called Everybody Goes to Rick’s. If Oxford were a movie, it would be based on Everybody Goes to Raoul’s (01865 553732, www.raoulsbar.com), since every Bogart-class drinker does. Last January, the nocturnal trouper reemerged, refurbed Blake’s 7-style: lozenge-shaped lighting and sausagey seating in grey and black. It has set a new benchmark for the eclectic Jericho quarter, with 100%-agave tequilas, and Mojitos you’d be hard pressed to beat in Havana.

Make mine: a Sangrita — tomato juice, Tabasco, Worcester sauce and grenadine. It’s free, and de rigueur right now, with a class-A tequila (£5).

Sleep it off: at Malmaison Oxford (01865 268400, www.malmaison.com; doubles £150, room-only), city-slick comfort in the cells of the former prison.

LONDON

That you can have rum jam for tea and Bloody Mary breakfast muffins tells you all you need to know about the Langham Hotel: she’s a haughty dame with a naughty streak. She’s also being renovated, and part of the all-round spruce-up is the opening of her new bar, the Artesian (020 7636 1000, www.langhamhotels.com). The look is Paris shot through with Shanghai, anchored by giant Chinese lanterns redolent of Puccini’s Turandot. The floor is fake rattlesnake skin. There are raised enamel butterfly motifs across tables and walls. And the honey-soft light invites you to just one more, before a tall wall of glinting rums.

Make mine: an Artesian Punch (£14) — Pyrat Pistol rum, calvados, Poire William eau-de-vie, maraschino liqueur, pineapple and citrus juices, dark-rum float.

Sleep it off: here, at the Langham Hotel (doubles £350, room-only) — it’s a West End landmark, all sash windows and swooning palms, hard by Regent Street.

WINCHESTER

There’s a near-religious fervour to the mixing at Mix (01962 860900, www.mix-bar.com), the best-looking bar in one of Britain’s prettiest cathedral cities. “We’re not into dry old drinks lists,” says the owner, Tristan Ransley, whose novel Cathedral Punch turns ladies who liquid-lunch weak at the knees. Decorwise, it’s a racy departure from Winchester’s Hardyesque aspect: a coquettish liaison of gilt mirrors, French regency chairs and lashings of lilac, with a soundtrack of Balearic club divas. It’s clearly bent on cocktail-world stardom, as the meticulously made flamed-orange garnish on your Cosmopolitan makes clear.

Make mine: a Cathedral Punch (£7.50) — Grey Goose l’Orange, Chambord, crãme de mûre, lemon juice, simple syrup, champagne, red-berry marinade.

Sleep it off: at Hotel du Vin (01962 841414, www.hotelduvin.com; doubles £130, room-only), 24 period-chic rooms in a venerable (1715) Queen Anne edifice.

BRIGHTON

Pintxos are snacks you get with drinks in Spain’s Basque region, and they’re drawing epicurean pilgrims to Pintxo People (01273 732323, www.pintxopeople.co.uk), a sexy bar-restaurant set one road back from the seafront. The cocktails, like the red-leather banquettes, are trad-transatlantic. Martinis come in small (50ml) glasses, a homage to preProhibition fashions. And the Ibizan bartender, Tobias Blazquez-Garcia, knows just how to hit the bittersweet note of a great Manhattan. The countertop is a pewter beauty: custom-made, corniced and etched by the only specialist in Britain.

Make mine: a Vodka Txoice (£6.50) — house voddy, grapes, blueberries and Chartreuse, muddled with elderflower and cava.

Sleep it off: at Blanch House (01273 603504, www.blanchhouse.co.uk; doubles £100, B&B), a smart Georgian conversion with renowned cocktail bar.

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