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A London bar has beaten off stiff competition to be crowned the best in the world.

Five-star Langham Hotel's The Artesian scooped the Polignac World's Best Bar title for the third year in a row, trumping high-end watering holes around the globe.

Three London bars and three from New York made it into the top 10 of The World's 50 Best Bars - an independent poll, compiled by more than 330 industry experts for Drinks International magazine. 

Artesian bar in The Langham Hotel, London, has been crowned the world's best bar for the third year in a row

'Cocktail captial': London boasted more bars in the top 50 than anywhere else - including Artesian 

Artesian Bar's Digidiva cocktail made with Absolut Elyx, Sherry, Cypress, Aqua di Cedro and botanicals

As well as The Artesian, in Regent Street, London's Nightjar, which came third, and American Bar at the Savoy Hotel, ranked in eighth place, also wowed the judges.

In the US, New York's Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, Attaboy - the Highest Climber for 2014, catapulting from 42nd to fourth place- and Employees Only made it into second, fourth and fifth place respectively.

The top 50 list includes bars from 27 cities in 14 countries including Australia, Singapore, China, Holland, Italy, France and Spain.

Staff at Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog, New York, celebrate coming second in the prestigious list

Fourth place:  New York's Attaboy - the Highest Climber for 2014 - catapulted from 42nd to fourth place

Twenty one of the bars were European, 16 North American, six Australian, four Asian and three Latin American.  

London - crowned 'the cocktail capital of the world' - boasted more bars in the top 50 than any other city with eight bars listed overall.

Artesian head bartender Alex Kratena said of scooping the top spot: 'It's the fear that is the creative engine.

'It's not the pressure of being voted The World's Best Bar - we know one day we will not be - it's the challenge of doing things better every day.'

Nightjar in London scooped third place in the World's 50 Best Bars

Chicago's Aviary was awarded 13th place in the new list

The best bars in the world: Nottingham Forest in Milan made in into 15th place

A luxurious cocktail served at Singapore's Hong Kong Street, which scooped 10th place

Edinburgh's Bramble bar won the Best in Scotland prize, and was the only UK bar outside of London to make the list.

Other European highlights include Milan's Nottingham Forest named as Italy's best bar at 15.

Germany boasted three bars within the top 50 and Holland has two bars in the list with Amsterdam's Tales Spirits joining Door 74.

Both Floreira Atlantico in Buenos Aires  and Tokyo's High Five retained their crown as the best bars in Latin America and Asia, respectively, for the second consecutive year.  

Sydney's The Baxter Inn was also reunited with the crown as the best bar in Australasia for the second year running. Australia has six bars - all based in Melbourne or Sydney - featured in the top 50. 

Speaking at the event, The World's 50 Best Bars editor, Hamish Smith said: 'It's possible that Artesian's hat trick of wins will never be repeated.

'It takes a special kind of bar to win The World's 50 Best Bars poll, win again and then come back for more. 

'Head bartender Alex Kratena says it's the fear that drives him – whatever it is, he and his assistant Simone Caporale are running a bar that has more ticks than there are boxes. 

'Outlandishly imaginative cocktails in a five-star setting with the kind of hospitality that makes every visit memorable - it doesn't get much better than that.

The World's 50 Best Bars is an independent poll compiled by industry experts for Drinks International magazine

This year's top 50 list includes bars from 27 cities in 14 countries, with 14 new entries

'Artesian may be the industry's darling right now, but the list, from 1-50, is packed full of great bars from all around the world. 

'This year three of the top five were from New York but overall, London edged New York, eight bars to seven, making it the cocktail capital for 2014.' 

There were 14 new entries this year. Other than those previously mentioned, Chicago's Aviary (13th), Elephant Bar at The Nomad (14th); London's White Lyan (20th); The Broken Shaker, Miami (22nd); Hemingway Bar, Prague (24th); Three Dots & A Dash, Chicago (27th); Trick Dog in San Francisco (33rd); Star Bar Ginza (40th); Cure in New Orleans (43rd); Amsterdam's Tales & Spirits (44th); Maison Premiere in New York (45th) and Williams & Graham in Denver (50th).