Shrub and Shutter Any bar that has ‘and’ in the middle of its name is always going to have connotations of a big traditional boozer, or one of its modern, trendier incarnations. Rose and Crown, Slug and Lettuce… you get my drift. So, it was a surprise to find the Shrub and Shutter is none […]
Refuel Bar Soho Hotel
Refuel Bar at the Soho Hotel – – Soho, always seems to be buzzing… its streets packed every night of the week with revellers, ravers and roustabouts. The endless bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants run the whole gamut of styles, cuisine and salubriousness. Some of them get crowded, some get wild, some get seedy. Some […]
Powder Keg Diplomacy
Powder Keg Diplomacy – They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But they didn’t take into account the poor souls who haven’t managed to drag themselves up in time for it. And that’s quite a lot of us come the weekend. So, step forward brunch, the most important meal of the […]
The Lucky Pig
The Lucky Pig What do I think of cocktails that are served in Jam Jars? Well, I think they’re worth preserving. Boom, boom, thank you, I’ll be here all night… Actually, I could be here all night, because this is just the kind of bar that ticks all the boxes for me as one of […]
Gilbert Scott
The Gilbert Scott at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel Gilbert Scott sounds like a Victorian expletive in the fine tradition of ‘Gordon Bennett’ and ‘What the Dickens’. Which is particularly apt – because it would be perfectly natural to utter a powerful exclamation of wonder once you enter this stunning bar and restaurant through the heavy […]
House of Peroni
House of Peroni In typical fashion the start of London Cocktail Week saw the end of a balmy Indian summer and the onset of wet and windy conditions more befitting a British autumn. So, what better place to head off to after collecting my snazzy London Cocktail Week wristband than the House of Peroni in […]
Gordons wine bar
Gordons Wine Bar It seems this could be the last night of our Indian summer. So, before wending my weary way home, what better place to stop off at than a small, crowded, candlelit, subterranean wine bar just a stone’s throw from Embankment Tube and Charing Cross Station? The word institution is bandied around a […]
Carriage 34
Carriage 34 The romance of train travel is usually lost when you’re squeezed onto the packed 6.42 to Norbiton on an unseasonably warm autumn evening. But why suffer the squeeze when you can idle away a few hours enjoying the happy hour and train-themed ambience of great bar? A bar like Carriage 34 in fact. […]
London Cocktail Week
London Cocktail Week… 1 week and counting It’s one week to the start of London Cocktail Week. That leaves two options for your preparation… The first is to have a week off, maybe detox a little, drinks lots of water, get a few early nights in and book a few recovery days off. The second […]
The Wolseley
Waking up at the Wolseley A stunningly sunny autumn morning deserves equally stunning surroundings when you’re after a spot of breakfast. And the Wolseley is just such a place. Enter through the heavy, imposing door and you’re transported into a bustling, baroque interior that instantly takes you back to an earlier era of grandeur. The […]