Champagne Bar Review: Dom Perignon Never Said It
Champagne Bar Review: Dom Perignon Never Said It | Come quickly, I am tasting the stars. He did not say it. And he spent his career trying to get rid of the bubbles.
Tag: Notting Hill bar
SLB Bar Review: An Enigmatic Initialled Name in Notting Hill
SLB Bar Review: An Enigmatic Initialled Name in Notting Hill | A 4.2 bar from 31 reviews named SLB, an enigmatic initialled name of the kind modern bars favour
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
Old Speckled Hen Review: It Is Named After a Car
Old Speckled Hen Review: It Is Named After a Car | Not a chicken. A 1929 MG covered in paint flecks, which the factory workers at Abingdon called the owld speckled ‘un
Portobello Star Review: There Is a Copper Still Above the Pub
Portobello Star Review: There Is a Copper Still Above the Pub | A working gin distillery sits on the first floor of a 19th-century Notting Hill boozer, and it is named Copernicus II
Bar Arriba Review: The Toast Is a Set of Instructions
Bar Arriba Review: The Toast Is a Set of Instructions | Arriba, abajo, al centro, adentro. Up, down, to the centre, and in. It is the most efficient toast in any language.
Henderson Review: Another Surname, and We Have Stopped Being Surprised
Henderson Review: Another Surname, and We Have Stopped Being Surprised | Thirty-nine reviews, and the last of the possessive names in a survey that has been collecting them for three hundred articles
1871 Bar Review: A Date-Named Bar and the Year It May Recall
1871 Bar Review: A Date-Named Bar and the Year It May Recall | A 4.6 bar from 29 reviews named 1871, a date-name evoking a specific year of Victorian history
The Globe Review: 3.2 Stars, Which Takes Some Doing
The Globe Review: 3.2 Stars, Which Takes Some Doing | The lowest-rated venue in the Notting Hill file, and a hundred and fifty people who all arrived at roughly the same conclusion
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.
Jin Bar Review: A Name of Gold, Spirit, and the Far East
Jin Bar Review: A Name of Gold, Spirit, and the Far East | A 4.6 bar from 30 reviews named Jin, a short name rich with meaning across gin, gold, and the languages of the East
Bush Tavern Review: Good Wine Needs No Bush
Bush Tavern Review: Good Wine Needs No Bush | Taverns hung an ivy bush outside to show that wine was sold. It is the oldest advertising in Europe and it is why so many pubs are called the Bush.
Naked and Famous Review: The Bar Is Named After the Drink
Naked and Famous Review: The Bar Is Named After the Drink | A cocktail of four equal parts, invented in New York in 2011, has had a bar named after it – which is the wrong way round
Mind Palace Review: The Memory Trick Is Two Thousand Years Old
Mind Palace Review: The Memory Trick Is Two Thousand Years Old | Sherlock made it famous. A Greek poet invented it after a roof fell on a dinner party and crushed everyone beyond recognition.
Smith’s Bar Review: The Commonest Name in Britain, and It Is a Job
Smith’s Bar Review: The Commonest Name in Britain, and It Is a Job | One in every hundred people in this country is a Smith, and every one of them is descended from somebody who worked metal
S L B Bar Review: Initials, and Nobody Will Say What They Stand For
S L B Bar Review: Initials, and Nobody Will Say What They Stand For | Thirty-one reviews and three letters with spaces between them, which is a deliberate act
Paradise by way of Kensal Green Review: The Line Is From a Poem
Paradise by way of Kensal Green Review: The Line Is From a Poem | Chesterton wrote about drunks lurching home past a cemetery. Somebody turned the last line into a bar with a 4.3.
Avenue Bar Review: 3.3 From Twenty-Six People, and Nothing Else
Avenue Bar Review: 3.3 From Twenty-Six People, and Nothing Else | The lowest-rated venue in the Notting Hill file, on a sample too small to convict and too large to ignore
1871 Bar Review: The Year of the Bank Holiday
1871 Bar Review: The Year of the Bank Holiday | Twenty-nine reviews and a year for a name – and 1871 is the year Parliament decided the British were allowed a day off
Bar 182.52 Review: There Is a Decimal Point in the Name
Bar 182.52 Review: There Is a Decimal Point in the Name | Eleven people have reviewed a bar named after a number with two decimal places, and the Prat has questions
Whiteley’s Bar Review: A Perfect Score, and the Story It Tells
Whiteley’s Bar Review: A Perfect Score, and the Story It Tells | A 5.0 bar from 44 reviews named Whiteley’s, likely for the grand old department store, and a lesson in the perfect rating
Arbour Bar Review: An Arbour Is a Place to Hide in a Garden
Arbour Bar Review: An Arbour Is a Place to Hide in a Garden | A shaded walk, grown deliberately, so that people could be unobserved outdoors – which was harder than it sounds
Ricco Review: 4.8 From 144, and the Formula Holds Again
Ricco Review: 4.8 From 144, and the Formula Holds Again | A small room, a short list, and somebody who knows – for the fortieth time in two surveys
Flock Restaurant and Bar Review: A Warm Name of Gathering and Community
Flock Restaurant and Bar Review: A Warm Name of Gathering and Community | A 4.8 restaurant and bar from 10 reviews named Flock, evoking the gathering flock and the coming-together of people
La Bodega Review: The Spanish Cellar Bar in West London
La Bodega Review: The Spanish Cellar Bar in West London | A 4.1 Spanish bar from 833 reviews named La Bodega, evoking the Spanish wine-cellar and tapas bar
Bar 182.52 Review: An Oddly Precise Number Over a Bayswater Bar
Bar 182.52 Review: An Oddly Precise Number Over a Bayswater Bar | A 5.0 bar from 11 reviews named Bar 182.52, an oddly precise numerical name, and a perfect score on a tiny sample
Craven Gardens Review: Craven Means Cowardly, and It Should Not
Craven Gardens Review: Craven Means Cowardly, and It Should Not | The Craven family gave their name to a street where Benjamin Franklin lived for sixteen years – and to an insult they never earned
FiveSixEight Review: A Bar Named by the Numbers
FiveSixEight Review: A Bar Named by the Numbers | A 3.9 bar from 121 reviews named FiveSixEight, a distinctive numerical name, with an honest verdict from its crowd
Melody Whisky Bar Review: The Angels Take Two Per Cent a Year
Melody Whisky Bar Review: The Angels Take Two Per Cent a Year | Every year, a portion of every cask of maturing whisky evaporates and is gone. The trade calls it the angels’ share and simply accepts it.
Stables Bar Review: 4.9 From 851 People Should Not Be Possible
Stables Bar Review: 4.9 From 851 People Should Not Be Possible | The highest genuine rating in this entire survey, on a sample large enough that we cannot explain it away