Silk Stockings: A Cocktail Bar of Vintage Luxury
Silk Stockings: A Cocktail Bar of Vintage Luxury | A Dalston cocktail bar whose name whispers of silk stockings and old-world glamour, luxury and a touch of theatrical decadence
Tag: cocktail bar london
Equal Parts: A Bar Named for Perfect Balance
Equal Parts: A Bar Named for Perfect Balance | A Hackney cocktail bar whose name is drawn from the bartender’s art – the equal-parts cocktail, where balance is everything
The Speakeasy: A Bar That Plays at Prohibition
The Speakeasy: A Bar That Plays at Prohibition | A Dalston bar whose name conjures the hidden, illicit drinking dens of Prohibition-era America – secrecy, glamour and a password at the door
Archive and Myth Review: The Two Ways London Keeps Its Past
Archive and Myth Review: The Two Ways London Keeps Its Past | A 4.8 from a hundred and twenty-four people, and a name that accidentally describes this entire survey
The Arch Bar Review: The Shape That Holds Up the World
The Arch Bar Review: The Shape That Holds Up the World | The arch is one of humanity’s greatest inventions – the shape that let us build big, from Roman aqueducts to railway stations
Kitty Hawk Review: Named After Twelve Seconds
Kitty Hawk Review: Named After Twelve Seconds | The first powered flight lasted twelve seconds and covered 120 feet. There is now a cocktail bar. It costs more than the aeroplane did.
Satan’s Whiskers Review: The Menu Changes Every Day
Satan’s Whiskers Review: The Menu Changes Every Day | One of the best bars in Europe writes a new list daily, does not take bookings, and is named after a Prohibition-era gin drink
Hux Bar Review: Three Letters, and Nothing to Hold On To
Hux Bar Review: Three Letters, and Nothing to Hold On To | Eighty-six reviews, a 4.3, and a name so short that it cannot be wrong about anything
Firebird Review: The Bird Is a Blessing and a Curse
Firebird Review: The Bird Is a Blessing and a Curse | In the Russian tale it is both – and catching it destroys the man who catches it, which is the entire point
Cocktail Trading Co Review: 4.8, and the Jokes Are the Point
Cocktail Trading Co Review: 4.8, and the Jokes Are the Point | Drinks arrive in a matchbox, in a can, in a paint tin – and it should be unbearable, and it is one of the best bars in London
The Gin Palace Review: A Name Borrowed From a Public Health Disaster
The Gin Palace Review: A Name Borrowed From a Public Health Disaster | The original gin palaces helped kill a generation of Londoners. This one has a 4.0 and does a decent Negroni.
Dirty Martini Review: The Dirt Is Olive Brine
Dirty Martini Review: The Dirt Is Olive Brine | It is the most argued-about drink in the world and almost every rule you have been told about it is somebody’s preference
Camden Cocktail Club Review: 4.9, and the Formula Again
Camden Cocktail Club Review: 4.9, and the Formula Again | A hundred and four people, an outstanding number, and it is the same three things it has always been
Happiness Forgets Review: A Basement, and No Theatre At All
Happiness Forgets Review: A Basement, and No Theatre At All | Eight tables, low ceiling, no gimmicks, and one of the best-regarded cocktail bars in Europe for fifteen years
A Bar with Shapes for a Name Review: It Is Bauhaus
A Bar with Shapes for a Name Review: It Is Bauhaus | The circle, square and triangle are a hundred-year-old design theory, and the bar is built on it, and almost nobody notices
Blind Spot Review: Named After the Hole in Your Eye
Blind Spot Review: Named After the Hole in Your Eye | There is a patch of your retina that cannot see. Your brain fills it in with a guess. There is now a cocktail bar.
Simmons Bar Review: The Cheeky Cocktail Bar in the Teapot
Simmons Bar Review: The Cheeky Cocktail Bar in the Teapot | A lively small chain known for playful cocktails served in teapots – and a name that is simply a good, plain surname
3 Henrietta Street Review: A Bar Named After Its Own Address
3 Henrietta Street Review: A Bar Named After Its Own Address | The most literal name in this survey, and after a hundred and eleven articles it comes as an enormous relief
V Bar Review: A Single Letter, and Four Reviews
V Bar Review: A Single Letter, and Four Reviews | V could stand for Victoria, victory, or five – and with four reviews, the letter is doing all the work there is
Equus Review: Thirteen Reviews and a Very Loaded Name
Equus Review: Thirteen Reviews and a Very Loaded Name | Equus is Latin for horse. It is also a famous play about a boy who blinds six of them. The bar has not clarified.
Seed Library Review: A Seed Library Is a Real Thing
Seed Library Review: A Seed Library Is a Real Thing | They lend you seeds, you grow them, and you return the seeds of what you grew – and the whole point is genetic diversity
Montys Review: Montgomery Slept Twelve Hours a Night
Montys Review: Montgomery Slept Twelve Hours a Night | He banned smoking, he did not drink, he went to bed at half past nine, and he beat Rommel
135 Review: The Fourth Numbered Bar, and Still No Explanation
135 Review: The Fourth Numbered Bar, and Still No Explanation | A number on a door tells you nothing, cannot be checked, and cannot be wrong, and that is precisely the appeal
Cabin Bar Review: The Word Means a Small Room You Cannot Leave
Cabin Bar Review: The Word Means a Small Room You Cannot Leave | Cabin fever, ship’s cabin, log cabin – and a bar in Paddington with a 4.6, which is the best of them
SOMA Review: Nobody Knows What the Plant Was
SOMA Review: Nobody Knows What the Plant Was | Soma is a real ritual drink, described in enormous detail in the Rigveda, and the plant it was made from has never been identified
City Arts Bar Review: One Hundred Articles in the Square Mile
City Arts Bar Review: One Hundred Articles in the Square Mile | A coffee house in a shed, a goose who would not die, a telescope disguised as a monument, and five million books
Alchemist Review: They Never Made Gold and They Invented Chemistry Doing It
Alchemist Review: They Never Made Gold and They Invented Chemistry Doing It | Two thousand years of failure, and along the way they found phosphorus, gunpowder, acids, and the laboratory
High Spirit Review: The Word Spirit Comes From Alchemy
High Spirit Review: The Word Spirit Comes From Alchemy | Distillers were chasing the soul of the wine. They called what they caught the spirit, and the name stuck for eight hundred years.
Murder Inc Review: A 4.8, and Murder Inc Was Real and It Was a Business
Murder Inc Review: A 4.8, and Murder Inc Was Real and It Was a Business | A contract killing organisation with a management structure, and it was brought down by one man talking
Archer Street Review: 3.3, and It Is About the Door
Archer Street Review: 3.3, and It Is About the Door | The lowest score in the Soho file on a serious sample, and nine hundred people have told you exactly what went wrong