Reverend J W Simpson Review: A Cocktail Bar in a Former Brothel
Reverend J W Simpson Review: A Cocktail Bar in a Former Brothel | A 4.4 basement bar named after a clergyman, in premises whose past was distinctly less reverent than the name suggests
Tag: cocktail bar review Bloomsbury
The O Bar Review: A Single Letter, and Eight Reviews
The O Bar Review: A Single Letter, and Eight Reviews | A 4.8 bar named after one letter of the alphabet, holding a near-perfect score from a sample far too small to trust
Fiena Review: A 4.8, a Big Crowd, and an Invented Name
Fiena Review: A 4.8, a Big Crowd, and an Invented Name | A high-scoring cafe-bar with a made-up, pleasant-sounding name, in the modern fashion for words that mean nothing and sound like everything
Thirst Bar Review: The Most Basic Human Need as a Name
Thirst Bar Review: The Most Basic Human Need as a Name | A 4.5 Soho cocktail bar named after thirst – the raw biological drive that every bar in history has existed to answer
Claridge’s Bar Review: The Grandest Room in London
Claridge’s Bar Review: The Grandest Room in London | A 4.8 bar inside the hotel of kings and queens, where royalty in exile lived and a prince was born on technically foreign soil
Simmons Bar Holborn Review: The Fourth One, and the Best Score Yet
Simmons Bar Holborn Review: The Fourth One, and the Best Score Yet | A fourth Simmons in this survey, this time with a 4.8, proving once more that the teapot formula scales without breaking
Lucky Pig Review: The Pig as a Symbol of Fortune
Lucky Pig Review: The Pig as a Symbol of Fortune | A 4.3 basement cocktail bar named after the pig, which across much of the world means luck, prosperity, and good fortune
The Cocktail Club Review: The Name That Refuses to Be Clever
The Cocktail Club Review: The Name That Refuses to Be Clever | A 4.5 chain bar that says exactly what it is, twice, in case the first time was too subtle
Cosy Cocktail Bar Review: The Most English Virtue as a Name
Cosy Cocktail Bar Review: The Most English Virtue as a Name | A 4.4 bar named after cosiness – the warm, snug comfort that the English prize above almost every other quality
The Gin Bar Review: England’s Most Notorious Spirit, Redeemed
The Gin Bar Review: England’s Most Notorious Spirit, Redeemed | A 4.6 bar devoted to gin, the spirit that once caused a national catastrophe and is now the height of craft respectability
Albufera Bar Review: A Perfect 5.0, From a Single Review
Albufera Bar Review: A Perfect 5.0, From a Single Review | A bar named after a Spanish lagoon and a Napoleonic battle, holding a flawless five stars from exactly one person
The London Art Bar Review: Where Drinking Meets the Gallery
The London Art Bar Review: Where Drinking Meets the Gallery | A 4.6 bar joining two of the city’s great pleasures – art and alcohol – in the district of the British Museum
Simmons Bar Soho Review: The Fifth One, and the Verdict on the Chain
Simmons Bar Soho Review: The Fifth One, and the Verdict on the Chain | A fifth Simmons in this survey, and the final word on a chain that has quietly proved every point we have made about consistency
Bar Americain Review: Art Deco Glamour Beneath Piccadilly
Bar Americain Review: Art Deco Glamour Beneath Piccadilly | A 4.6 cocktail bar in the grand basement of Brasserie Zedel, a lavish art deco recreation of 1930s Parisian glamour
CellarDoor Review: Cabaret in a Former Victorian Toilet
CellarDoor Review: Cabaret in a Former Victorian Toilet | London’s smallest cabaret bar, in a converted Victorian public toilet once haunted by Oscar Wilde, now serving cocktails, snuff, and nightly drag
Simmons Bar Review: The Chain With 5,734 Reviews and a Teapot
Simmons Bar Review: The Chain With 5,734 Reviews and a Teapot | The flagship of the teapot-cocktail empire, with an enormous sample and a 4.7, proving the kitsch formula genuinely works
Simmons Bar Review: Teapot Cocktails and Studied Kitsch
Simmons Bar Review: Teapot Cocktails and Studied Kitsch | A 4.8 from a chain that serves cocktails in teapots and has made deliberate tackiness into a genuine formula
The Purple Bar Review: The Colour of Emperors and Kings
The Purple Bar Review: The Colour of Emperors and Kings | A 4.4 bar named after purple, the colour that was for millennia so rare and costly that only royalty could wear it
Simmons Bar Tottenham Court Road Review: The Formula Holds Again
Simmons Bar Tottenham Court Road Review: The Formula Holds Again | A third Simmons in this survey, a third strong score, and further proof that the teapot-kitsch system works anywhere you put it
Bar Termini Review: An Italian Railway Station in Soho
Bar Termini Review: An Italian Railway Station in Soho | A tiny, acclaimed aperitivo bar named after Rome’s central station, serving bottle-aged Negronis with no ice and total precision
Long Bar Review: A Name Describing Its Own Furniture
Long Bar Review: A Name Describing Its Own Furniture | A 4.4 hotel cocktail bar named, with total literalism, after the shape of the bar you drink at
Simmons Bar Piccadilly Circus Review: The Sixth and Final Simmons
Simmons Bar Piccadilly Circus Review: The Sixth and Final Simmons | The sixth Simmons of the survey, at the very centre of London, completing the most thorough chain study in the whole project
Botanica Review: Plants, Latin, and the Wellness Aesthetic
Botanica Review: Plants, Latin, and the Wellness Aesthetic | A 4.1 bar named with the Latin for botanical, promising greenery, health, and nature in the middle of central London
Lockes Review: A Name That Locks, or a Philosopher, or a Hairstyle
Lockes Review: A Name That Locks, or a Philosopher, or a Hairstyle | A 4.7 bar whose name could mean a lock, the philosopher John Locke, or a lock of hair – and commits to none of them
Downstairs at Sucre Review: The Basement, Named Honestly at Last
Downstairs at Sucre Review: The Basement, Named Honestly at Last | A 4.5 basement bar beneath a restaurant called Sucre – French for sugar – that names its own location with unusual candour