Once the Marina’s best-known (and busiest) watering hole, the Yacht Club’s upstairs bar still remains a venue dear to many New Dubai dwellers

At the top floor of Grosvenor House Tower One, Bar 44 boasts gasp-inducing views across the marina

There are a string of Palm-facing bars along JBR, but Bice Sky Bar sets itself aside with creative mixed drinks and live piano music

This trendy, if generic Marina nightspot keeps on the radar (to both genders) with a popular non-school night ladies’ night every Thursday

Those unfamiliar with the global Buddha Bar brand need to know it originated in Paris in 1996, before expanding worldwide

A prestigious members club synonymous with class and taste in its London heartland

Taking its name from one half of the celebrity team behind it – jockey Frankie Dettori

Slowly softening its Scottish/industrial theme, Girder’s has become one of the busiest spots on JBR

Now expanded with a new hops garden

Arty hangout is dropped in Marina's Habtoor Grand

This trendy JBR watering hole goes beyond the usual offerings of a hotel pool bar

A sophisticated lounge offering leather armchairs and cigars

Maya isn’t without competition – most notably, it’s in walking distance of its own founder, celeb chef Richard Sandoval’s other, bigger, and perhaps better-known pan-Latino restaurant-bar, Toro Toro

It’s downright baffling to us that Moods isn’t busier – what with the fact it gives drinks away, for free, four nights of the week

This large, cavernous pub in the heart of the Marina has kooky Medieval decor

Clinging on to a vague colonial theme, the Sofitel’s bar and lounge is more like a large conservatory than anything else

A welcome rooftop escape in the heart of JBR, hip 35th floor hangout Pure boasts a chic futuristic vibe and great views out to sea

For an unpretentious midweek drink with pals, we’re not sure there’s anywhere more universally welcoming than Rosso

An all-singing, all-dancing yee-haw screeching American steak house chain

More refined than most sports bars, this a fine place to drag non footie fans

The folk behind Shades got the whole rooftop bar thing right first time

It's a little bit like Rock Bottom - with table service and more cheese