The 6 best bars in Accra right now

This is a tiny but ever-throbbing space that tumbles out on to the street when things really kick off late on a Friday or Saturday. Album covers and black-and-white photos of music stars adorn the walls as Ghana’s best music blasts out (often jaw-dropping highlife music acts live on the terrace – highlife legend Ebo Taylor has even played here). The cocktails use high-quality ingredients not found anywhere else: the Republica is a caipirinha made from traditional palm wine. On a sunny day, try one of their ‘Wild Beers’: the Beer Sap has tangy bissap concentrate added to it. 

Firefly sure has confidence – the industrial chic of its whitewashed brickwork, dim lighting and edgy beats attracts a preened international clientele. A back-lit bar glows with premium blends, and cocktail aficionados, spirit lovers and wine drinkers alike pull up stools to confer with chatty staff sporting black shirts, braces and the odd jauntily angled hat.

Designed like a regular local boozer, the Honeysuckle in Osu is a cosy spot for homesick Brits who want a dose of Premiership football and some recognisable food. It’s decked out in kitsch red velvet chairs and striped wallpaper with framed pictures of old British pubs and football teams next to scarves and the inevitable ‘dogs playing snooker’ prints. The central bar serves a good selection of international spirits, plus local brews on draft. There’s also a decent lunch menu; the honey chicken wings are always popular.

Hidden in the back roads of Osu, near Koala, is the always buzzing Shisha Lounge. Consisting of an elegant outdoor eating area, an indoor bar (almost always with a DJ spinning some discs) and a delightfully rustic ‘tree house’, it has carved a niche for itself on the Ghanaian nightlife scene. Munch on brick-oven pizza and smoke a shisha on the second floor of the tree house. There’s no better way to end a long week and begin an even longer weekend.

Sai Wine & Champagne Café was a wonderful addition to Accra’s bar scene. As you might have guessed, there’s nothing but wine and champagne on the menu here, while punters are offered complimentary foods such as cheese and cold meat platters, oysters, clams, pâté, salmon and lumpfish roe. A great place for group meet-ups, dates or just a quiet drink.

Champs has long been one of Accra’s best sports bars – largely thanks to the fact that it has the right formula spot-on. After a brief flirt with being called The Lexington, the bar has got its old name back and now offers an international menu featuring things like chicken wings and fish and chips, wide coverage of all major sporting events on eight large screens, and a wide selection of regular events including live music, quizzes, karaoke and film nights.