Belushi’s Review: Named After a Man Who Died at Thirty-Three
Belushi’s Review: Named After a Man Who Died at Thirty-Three | A backpacker sports bar chain named after John Belushi, whose entire public persona was consumption, and who was killed by it
Tag: bar review London
Fire Bar Review: Everything in This Survey Started With Fire
Fire Bar Review: Everything in This Survey Started With Fire | Distilling, smoking, brewing, grilling, roasting – and the Great Fire, and the Second Great Fire, and a pump that had nothing to do with any of it
Flock Review: 4.8 From Ten People, and We Cannot Use It
Flock Review: 4.8 From Ten People, and We Cannot Use It | The hundredth Notting Hill article, and a rating we have spent three hundred articles refusing to believe
Libertine Review: A Libertine Was Originally a Freed Slave
Libertine Review: A Libertine Was Originally a Freed Slave | The Latin means freedman, it became a religious dissenter, then a rake, and the drift is one of the strangest in English
Old Tom’s Bar Review: Old Tom Was a Goose and He Lay in State
Old Tom’s Bar Review: Old Tom Was a Goose and He Lay in State | He escaped the block at Leadenhall, was adopted by the traders who had meant to kill him, lived to thirty-eight, and was buried in the market
100 Club Review: The Basement That Has Been There for Eighty Years
100 Club Review: The Basement That Has Been There for Eighty Years | Jazz, then punk, then everything – and it nearly closed, and it was saved by a shoe company
Gourmet Review: A Gourmet Was a Wine Servant, and a Gourmand Just Ate a Lot
Gourmet Review: A Gourmet Was a Wine Servant, and a Gourmand Just Ate a Lot | The two words are constantly confused, one means discernment and one means appetite, and they came from opposite places
My Place Review: The Fifth Bar Selling You a Home
My Place Review: The Fifth Bar Selling You a Home | It is not your place and it is not theirs, and this is now a genuine category with a genuine explanation
Brunch and Grapes Review: Brunch Was a Joke in 1895
Brunch and Grapes Review: Brunch Was a Joke in 1895 | A word invented in a humorous magazine for Saturday-night people who could not face breakfast
Sun Tavern Review: Poteen Was Illegal for Two Hundred and Fifty Years
Sun Tavern Review: Poteen Was Illegal for Two Hundred and Fifty Years | An Irish spirit distilled in secret, criminalised in 1661, and legalised again in 1997
Regent’s Review: The Regent Was Ruling for a Mad King
Regent’s Review: The Regent Was Ruling for a Mad King | George III lost his mind, his son ruled in his place, and the whole of Regency London is named after the arrangement
Do Not Disturb Review: The Sign Is the Last Piece of Real Privacy
Do Not Disturb Review: The Sign Is the Last Piece of Real Privacy | A piece of card on a handle that legally and practically stops a stranger entering a room you do not own
Cafe Koko Review: The Building Was a Theatre and Then Burned
Cafe Koko Review: The Building Was a Theatre and Then Burned | No rating at all – and the venue it is attached to has been a theatre, a cinema, a BBC studio and a nightclub
Amano Rooftop Review: The Sixth Rooftop, and the Sixth 4.1
Amano Rooftop Review: The Sixth Rooftop, and the Sixth 4.1 | Every elevated venue in both surveys has landed in the same narrow band, and it has nothing to do with the bars
Cocktail Club Mansion House Review: The Better Number Is the Smaller Sample
Cocktail Club Mansion House Review: The Better Number Is the Smaller Sample | 4.7 against 4.5, and the only difference between the two branches is how many people have walked through the door
The Brig Review: A Brig Is a Ship and Also a Prison
The Brig Review: A Brig Is a Ship and Also a Prison | Two masts, square-rigged, fast – and the name transferred to the cell below decks, and only the cell survives
cato Review: Lowercase, and a Roman Who Would Have Hated It
cato Review: Lowercase, and a Roman Who Would Have Hated It | Cato the Younger drank heavily, hated luxury, and killed himself rather than accept a pardon from Caesar
Theatre Royal Review: Joan Littlewood Ran This Theatre and Changed British Drama
Theatre Royal Review: Joan Littlewood Ran This Theatre and Changed British Drama | A woman with no money, a company in a derelict building in Stratford, and Oh What a Lovely War
Urban Pubs and Bars Review: This Is a Company, Not a Pub
Urban Pubs and Bars Review: This Is a Company, Not a Pub | Thirteen reviews, a 3.8, and a listing that has been filed under the name of the group that owns it
Tabac Review: Nicotiana Is Named After a Diplomat
Tabac Review: Nicotiana Is Named After a Diplomat | Jean Nicot sent tobacco to the French court as a medicine, and the plant, the drug and the addiction carry his name
Auberge Review: A 3.8, and the Word Means a Place With Beds
Auberge Review: A 3.8, and the Word Means a Place With Beds | An auberge is an inn, which meant lodging, and it is the same legal category we found in four other districts
Trailer Happiness Review: A Tiki Bar Is a Lie and That Is Fine
Trailer Happiness Review: A Tiki Bar Is a Lie and That Is Fine | Tiki was invented in California in the 1930s by a man from Texas. It has no more to do with Polynesia than Portobello Road does.
Archduke Review: The Wrong Turn Started the First World War
Archduke Review: The Wrong Turn Started the First World War | The driver did not know the route had changed, he reversed, and the car stopped in front of the man with the gun
Roxy Review: A 3.8, and the Late Penalty Is the Harshest Force in This Survey
Roxy Review: A 3.8, and the Late Penalty Is the Harshest Force in This Survey | Eleven hundred people, and the venue is being marked down for being open when everything else is shut
Chilled Eskimo Review: The Name Has Not Aged Well
Chilled Eskimo Review: The Name Has Not Aged Well | Thirty-nine reviews, a 4.2, and a word that most of the people it refers to would rather you did not use
Honker Review: The Goose Really Did Save Rome
Honker Review: The Goose Really Did Save Rome | The Gauls climbed the Capitol at night, the dogs slept through it, and the geese did not
MNM Review: Three Letters, and Nobody Is Explaining
MNM Review: Three Letters, and Nobody Is Explaining | The second initialism in this survey, and the unsolved list is now nine entries long
Bloomsbury Club Review: Trading on the Most Famous Set in Britain
Bloomsbury Club Review: Trading on the Most Famous Set in Britain | A 4.6 bar and garden borrowing the name of a group of writers and artists who would have found the whole thing rather vulgar
Great Exhibition Bar Review: They Built a Palace Out of Glass
Great Exhibition Bar Review: They Built a Palace Out of Glass | In 1851 Britain put up a cast-iron and glass building the size of a cathedral in nine months, filled it with the world, and then took it down again
Mahogany Review: Wilton’s Is the Oldest Music Hall in the World
Mahogany Review: Wilton’s Is the Oldest Music Hall in the World | A pub with a hall built behind it, saved from demolition repeatedly, and they left the walls exactly as they found them