City Social

A 24th-floor room that earns its place in the City

Jason Atherton's room on the 24th floor of Tower 42 has been holding its position in the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Europe rankings since at least 2023, reaching #507 in 2024 before settling at #648 in 2025. That modest slip is worth noting, but it does not change the fundamental case for booking here: for a £££ modern European dinner with a skyline view and a wine list worth paying attention to, City Social remains one of the more defensible choices in the Square Mile.

The visual argument starts the moment you step out of the lift. The room is dark and considered, with art deco details threading through the design without overwhelming it. City workers fill the bar early; the dining room beyond settles into something quieter. The City skyline through the floor-to-ceiling windows is the kind of view that actually affects how a meal feels; not just a backdrop, but a genuine part of the experience. If you are bringing someone who has not been before, the room alone does a lot of the work.

What to eat and drink

Chef Paul Walsh runs a menu anchored in generous portions and quality sourcing. The Josper grill is central to the kitchen's output: Cumbrian beef, available in multiple cuts including rib-eye and sirloin, is the clearest expression of what the kitchen does well. This is not a menu built around minimalist technique or elaborate tasting-menu theatre. It is confident, well-executed modern European cooking with the kind of portion generosity that suits the City clientele and the £££ price tier.

The wine list is where City Social separates itself from comparable rooms at this altitude. The Michelin Plate recognition the restaurant holds for 2025 acknowledges the overall quality of the kitchen, but the wine list, described as offering an appealing mix of prices and styles, is where a wine-focused diner will find genuine depth. At a room where a business dinner or a significant occasion is the typical driver, having a list that moves across price points without feeling either thin at the affordable end or perfunctory at the leading matters. If you are choosing between City Social and a comparable City restaurant primarily on the basis of wine, the list here earns the visit. The cocktail programme at the bar is also worth arriving early for, the bar buzz is part of what makes the room work before dinner, it is one of the better pre-dinner options in EC2N.

For explorers looking to benchmark City Social against broader UK fine dining, the kitchen sits in a different register from destination restaurants like The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, or Moor Hall in Aughton. City Social is not trying to be that kind of restaurant. It is a high-performing City room with a serious wine list and a skyline that those destination restaurants cannot match. The comparison that actually helps you decide is within London itself, see the section below.

Booking and logistics

City Social sits at a moderate booking difficulty, you do not need to plan months ahead, but leaving it to the week before for a Friday or Saturday evening will narrow your options. The 24th floor of Tower 42 at 25 Old Broad Street is accessible by lift from the ground floor lobby; the building entrance is standard City office-tower security, so factor a few extra minutes if it is your first visit. The restaurant draws heavily from the City professional crowd, which means weekday evenings can be busier than weekends, a useful detail if flexibility allows. There is no confirmed dress code in the venue data, but the room and price point signal smart-casual at minimum; arriving in business attire on a weekday evening is entirely unremarkable here.

For broader London context, our full London restaurants guide covers the city's range across price tiers and neighbourhoods. If you are planning a wider trip and want to map out hotels, bars, experiences, or even wineries alongside your dining, those guides sit alongside this one. Within the City and its immediate surroundings, restaurants like Story and Dysart Petersham offer different but legitimate alternatives depending on what you are after. If the Josper-grill-and-skyline formula appeals but you want to explore what else is available at a similar price point, Row on 5 and Cafe Cecilia are worth putting on your shortlist, as is 104. For those willing to travel beyond London, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood each represent strong regional alternatives at a comparable or lower spend. For international context on what Atherton-adjacent modern European cooking looks like at the highest level, Frantzén in Stockholm and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai set a useful benchmark.

The verdict

Book City Social if: you want a City dinner that earns its price through a combination of serious cooking, a wine list with genuine range, a room that makes an impression. It is not the destination-dining pilgrimage that a two- or three-star London restaurant represents, but it is a more interesting and better-executed meal than most rooms at this altitude in London. For business entertaining, a skyline anniversary dinner, or a wine-forward evening in EC2N, the case for City Social is clear.