History, heritage, old-world elegance… these were the words that used to be attached to The Bar at The Dorchester – and the effect was to damn it by fading praise, as other hotel bars (such as The Connaught and the American Bar at The Savoy) made it into the upper echelons of successive World’s 50 Best Bars. The Bar at The Dorchester was seen as outmoded – unfairly, since the then bar manager Giuliano Morandin and his team were always producing creative twists on classics and their own inventions. However, the bar needed at least a facelift. In fact, the ground floor of The Dorchester has had a full bionic overhaul.

The bar is now called Vesper Bar and is run by bar manager Scott Gavin and head bartender Lucia Montanelli, who told Brummell last summer about the part of the redesign she was most excited about – a separate prep kitchen where her team can get up to the alchemy of redistilling, infusing, tincture-making etc, essential to modern-day cocktail creation.

More visible to guests is the glorious design of the room by Martin Brudnizki, best known for his work at The Ivy, Scott’s and other Caprice group venues, as well as Holborn Dining Room and Scarfes Bar. At Vesper Bar, the most striking change is the palladium-leaf-covered ceiling. The choice of this unusual metal, instead of the more obvious gold, creates a changing sense of light and space as the sun dips down across Hyde Park and transitions into evening.

The décor has shades of the 1930s and 1940s – an echo of a time when the bar last had a truly glorious reputation, under the legendary Harry Craddock (poached from The Savoy in 1938). The layout includes seating at the bar (a great spot for drinks nerds to watch the action), tables for two or four, a booth near the DJ for a larger group and a curtained-off private nook ideal for shy celebrities.

There are some dilemmas facing guests… how and when does one enter Vesper? Arrive at its separate entrance on the dot of 5pm and follow the menu’s instruction: ‘Every hour has its cocktail… The martini is how you start an evening.’ Certainly, the bar’s eponymous recipe is not to be missed. Remember Kina Lillet no longer exists (Lillet Blanc is not the same recipe), so every Vesper martini is a twist on Bond’s original recipe. Here, Lucia Montanelli’s recipe is Stolichnaya Elit, The Dorchester’s own Old Tom gin, re-distilled Forbidden Fruit liqueur, and Del Duque 30-year-old amontillado sherry. The garnish is a spray of a secret-recipe citrus scent spritzed not directly over the drink, but in your general vicinity.

The connection between The Dorchester and Bond is that Ian Fleming is one of the illustrious guests who have been regulars at the hotel over the years, many of whom are celebrated in a drink. There’s Cecil Beaton (The Glass of Fashion – a Calvados and Cynar cocktail), whose sketches adorn the walls at the back of the room. One of his photographic subjects Elizabeth Taylor is celebrated in the Bessie Mae (Montgomery Clift’s pet name for her), which has become an instant Instagram hit, thanks to the cloud of bubbles on top. And the tequila-based Busterkeys is a reference to Liberace.

The alternative route to Vesper is equally attractive… enter through the lobby and take a stroll along the Promenade to the Artists’ Bar, before looping back to the interior entrance to Vesper. The walls along the way are a veritable contemporary art gallery of newly commissioned British artworks, with some dramatic pieces including Ann Carrington’s giant postage stamp, featuring an image of Elizabeth II made of mother-of-pearl buttons (a pearly Queen, geddit?) and Ewan David Eason gold-leaf map of Hyde Park and its environs. And the art helps explain the concept of Vesper.

The Artists’ Bar is a luxurious space – with a semi-circular bar clad in Lalique crystal, designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon (the Kulm Hotel, St Moritz; The Peninsula, Shanghai; several Four Seasons worldwide), and Liberace’s mirrored grand piano. The drinks list is focused on champagne (plus excellent champagne cocktails) and oysters. And while it has some richer, non-champagne cocktails based on the art (Stamp Duty is adorned with a rice paper recreation of Carrington’s piece), it works best as an early evening destination. The trouble is, post-theatre hours, a hotel lobby bar – however beautiful a space and exceptional the service – cannot avoid attracting “hotel lobby bar people”. They’re the same whether it’s a Premier Inn or a five-star hotel – they’re just obnoxious and intrusive on different budgets.

The atmosphere in Vesper is different: it has the discreet but buzzy vibe of a hot destination bar, building over the course of an evening. (The particular drunk couple who were spoiling things at the Artists’ Bar on Brummell’s visit poked their heads into Vesper, realised it didn’t suit their need to make a scene and decided to return to pestering the pianist.) Whether you’re taking an apéritif before or digéstif after dining at The Grill, or installing yourself for the evening (the bar food menu is worth exploring too… particularly the tempura shrimp and the lamb Wellingtons), Vesper Bar is the complete bar and it may finally be bothering the World’s 50 Best list soon.