Everyone loves a good cocktail. Girls can pretend they’re in Sex And The City whilst boys feel like James Bond. Third years drink them to get a flavour of the glamorous lives ahead of them (they hope), and freshers love them because you can’t taste the alcohol. So where are the best places in Cambridge for a classy martini or a lethal long island ice tea?

The Vaults (14a Trinity St) has a long list of cocktails to drink in classy surroundings, and a two-for-£6 deal during happy hour, which luckily lasts all night on Tuesdays. At other times the drinks are a little on the pricey side, explaining the lack of students when we visited on a Thursday night. £6.25 bought a small but very alcoholic lime Daiquiri which was like drinking a triple shot of white rum with a splash of lime. There are also imaginative house cocktails with interesting (and sometimes disturbing!) names, ‘The Sexual Predator’ with pomegranate liqueur and Cointreau packing a very tasty punch. Comfortable sofas and attractive lighting add to the bar’s atmosphere, but it’s probably best not to get pennied here considering the price and potency of the drinks.

The Regal (38–39 St Andrews Street) has cocktails on the other end of the spectrum – cheap, sweet and sticky if you spill them. A jug of ‘Woo woo’ (vodka, archers and cranberry) to share is £7.60 and very drinkable, at least more so than the ready bottled ‘mojito’ flavoured alcopops at The Place (22 Sidney Street) which leave you with a bad taste in your mouth and an uncontrollable urge to dance, presumably to match the bar’s slightly questionable music.

If you’re into happy hours but don’t like having to down your drinks before dinner then Brown’s (23 Trumpington St) offers bargain £3.50 cocktails from their signature list all night from Sunday to Wednesday. The selection is good and the drinks are mostly delicious – the apple and lychee martini is refreshing and not too sweet, with subtle fruity notes helping the gin slip down nicely. However, steer clear of the ‘Brown Eyes Blue’ unless you’re after a potent and bitter blue concoction that is not for the faint-hearted. Ta Bouche (10-15 Market Passage) is another swanky silver-bar cocktail joint serving a good choice of expertly-mixed drinks. ‘Sex on the Beach’ is large, thirst-quenching and fruity; their mojito was suitably minty and fresh. If original cocktails are what you’re after, try a drink from their speciality menu: the ‘Apple Pie’ is a tasty creation that is just as the name promises, the cinnamon syrup suiting anyone with a sweet tooth.

Best for cheap prices and drinking in a historical venue, the Cambridge Union Society Bar (9a Bridge St) offers two of the same cocktail for £5 from 6-8 every night. The quality of the drinks, although mixed by students, is high, a particular favourite being the cucumber martini. If you can’t get enough of the drinks at the bar you can try one of the cocktail-making workshops, every other Monday (even numbered weeks this term). You will be taught how to mix the cocktails yourself and you get to drink everything you make – for better or worse.