A lively Italian bar and restaurant near Tower Bridge flying an energetic, shake-it-up name that promises movement, music and a good night out
Shakedown carries a 4.2 across more than three hundred and forty reviews and trades as a lively Italian bar and restaurant near Tower Bridge. It flies an energetic, shake-it-up sort of name, and the Prat’s naming desk enjoyed its promise of movement and fun.
Near Tower Bridge
Shakedown sits near Tower Bridge, on the south-bank side, serving its Italian fare and cocktails to the district’s crowds. Proper Bermondsey riverside, no disclaimer needed.
The energy of the shake
“Shakedown” is a word full of movement and energy. There is the shake of the cocktail – the bartender working the shaker, the ice rattling, the drink mixed with a flourish – which suits a cocktail bar perfectly. There is the shake of dancing, of music, of a place that moves and grooves; “shake it down” is the cry of the dancefloor. And a “shakedown” in the old sense was a shakedown cruise or trial run – a shaking-out to test something new. Between them, the name promises energy, movement, mixing and fun – a lively, shake-it-up sort of night rather than a quiet and stately one.
The Italian spirit
The Prat notes the happy fit with the Italian offering. Italian dining, at its best, is all warmth, noise, energy and life – the boisterous table, the flowing wine, the good food shared with gusto, the whole convivial exuberance of the Italian way with eating and drinking. A name as lively as “Shakedown” suits that spirit well: it promises not the hushed and formal but the warm and boisterous, the energetic Italian night of good food, good cocktails and good cheer. The Prat, fond of a name that tells you the mood, approves of one so full of movement.
The Tower Bridge setting
The setting adds its own lift. To eat and drink near Tower Bridge is to do so beneath one of the most famous and dramatic landmarks in the world, its great Gothic towers rising over the river. A lively Italian bar in such a spot has the perfect backdrop for its energetic spirit – the drama of the bridge, the bustle of the riverside, the whole theatrical setting of the Thames. The 4.2 across three hundred reviews is a solid score for a lively bar in so fine a spot.
The Prat’s naming desk enjoys, too, the confidence of a name that promises energy above all. Many a bar reaches for names of calm, elegance or heritage; Shakedown reaches instead for movement, noise and fun, planting its flag firmly on the lively end of the evening. There is an honesty in that – the name tells you plainly that this is a place to be boisterous rather than hushed, to shake and mix and enjoy rather than to sit in stately quiet. For those in search of a night with some life in it, a bar that puts “shake” in its very name is telling you exactly, and cheerfully, what it intends to deliver.
Verdict
A 4.2 across three hundred and forty-plus reviews is a solid score, and Shakedown earns it as a lively Italian bar and restaurant with an energetic name. It flies the “shakedown” – the shake of the cocktail, the shake of the dancefloor – promising movement, music and the warm, boisterous exuberance of the Italian night, all beneath Tower Bridge.
Go for the Italian food, the shaken cocktails and the energetic spirit, and shake it down near Tower Bridge. The name promises movement and fun rather than hush and formality – and, in the shadow of the great bridge, it makes good on the promise.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
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