The Cocktail Hours
| THE CINNAMON CLUB Great Smith Street, SW1 (020-7222 2555) Library bar: Mon-Fri 9am-midnight, Sat 6pm-midnight; Basement bar: Mon-Sat 6pm-midnight. When Iqbal Wahhab completed this majestic transformation of the former Westminster Library, he opened a seriously upmarket Indian restaurant in the main room and a bar in the library’s reference room. It has the air of an old-fashioned gentlemen’s club, with a small dispense bar in the corner from where staff prepare nice and fruity cocktails. Parliamentarians, lobbyists and journalists use this place when taking a break from official duties at the Palace of Westminster, so you can expect to find a distinguished atmosphere with plenty of whispered tones. The Library bar isn’t the place for a raucous time with a large gang of mates. The basement bar (open in the evenings only) is a much funkier affair with rubber floors, leather-covered walls and Rajasthani seesham wooden tables, and projectors transmit Bollywood movies onto a large glass wall – a terrific space for private parties and much more fun than the Library bar. |
SMOKE BAR DINER 14 Trinity Road, SW17 (020-8767 3902). Mon-Fri 5.30pm-11pm, Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-10.30pm. At the Tooting Bec end of Trinity Road, Smoke has been at the epicentre of South London’s nightlife since it opened just over a year ago. This two-roomed bar has a buzzing cocktail lounge at the front, and a relaxed eating area at the back where you can tuck into substantial, excellent bar meals. |
| MINT LEAF Suffolk Place, SW1 (020-7930 9020). Mon-Sat noon-midnight. Obliquely opposite the Sports Café on Haymarket, Mint Leaf is one of the most glamourous, upmarket bars you’re likely to come across. The restaurant serves excellent Indian food and tasting platters are available in the bar, where you can’t fail to be tempted by an excellent cocktail list. |
ZANDER Bank Restaurant, 45 Buckingham Gate, SW1 (020-7379 9797). Mon-Tue noon-11pm, Wed-Fri noon-1am, Sat 5pm-1am. The Evening Standard Bar of the Year in 2000 and still going strong as a purveyor of some of the best cocktails in London. Take a bar stool at one of the longest bars in Europe, or sit down low in one of the comfy booths. It can get very busy, particularly at weekends, so my advice is to pitch up early and bag your place. |
| THE TOWNHOUSE 31 Beauchamp Place, SW3 (020-7589 5080). Mon-Fri & Sun 4pm-midnight, Sat noon-midnight. Sister bar to the famous Lab bar on Old Compton Street, Soho, the Townhouse is an upmarket cocktail bar for mature Knightsbridge folk. Set over three floors, the main action is to be found the long, narrow ground-floor bar. A room in the basement is bookable for private parties. |
WAX BAR 4 Winsley Street, W1 (020-7436 4650). Mon-Sat noon-3am. If it’s an office Christmas party, stag or hen night, or just a small gathering of friends who want to party late into the night, where can you go? The Urbium group, who own and operate 20 late-night, party-focused bars across London, can provide the solution to even the most complicated social arrangement. Venues such as Wax Bar, Tiger Tiger, Sway, Sugar Reef in the West End, and Digress, Agenda and Context in the City, all operate 3am licenses and welcome large groups. Most offer flexible private party facilities, from small cordoned-off areas to booths, private rooms and total venue hire (Wax caters for parties of 10-500 people). Early evening happy hours, with heavily discounted food and drink offerings, are very popular and, although they operate a relatively relaxed door policy, you might find queues outside many of their venues during the peak, after-office hours when they operate a one-out, one-in policy. To save queuing, get your name on the guest list or reserve a table or area by visiting their website at www.latenightlondon.co.uk |
| ANAM 3 Chapel Market, N1 (020-7278 1001). Mon-Tue 5pm-midnight, Wed-Fri 5pm-2am, Sat 5pm-3am, Sun 5pm-11.30pm. Anan – Celtic for ‘soul’, apparently – is a small, two-floor venue with an attractive ground-floor lounge bar and a seemingly decadentbasement bar where DJs spin a mix of disco, house and electro funk. A late licence will almost certainly ensure Anan’s longevity as a happening destination with Islington’s young-at-heart party people. It’s unusual, yet refreshing to see pints on sale in a bar of such aspirations, and there’s also a good selection of bottled beers. But this is unashamedly a cocktail bar, and there’s a wide range of fruit-infused drinks alongside a list of traditional classics and some bespoke creations such as the Irish Buck (Kilbeggan Irish whiskey with lemon, Drambuie and ginger ale), the Michael Collins (Jameson Irish whiskey with lemon, strawberry and soda) and the 1762 Old Fashioned (Tyrconnell Irish whiskey with sugar and orange bitters). An average of Ј6 per cocktail shows some pricing restraint. The short wine list steers clear of Irish vineyards, which is a shame as I’m sure the Irish would have provided some interesting finds. Irish proprietor Niall Donnelly reckons this place is his realisation of a dream: to open an Irish-style bar in the heart of London. For all this and more information, visit www.anambar.com |
AKBAR 77 Dean Street, W1 (020-7437 2525). Mon-Sat 5pm-1am. It’s cocktails all the way at Amin Ali’s oh-so-smart Indian-style bar in the basement of The Red Fort restaurant. All furnishings and fittings were sourced from the subcontinent to bring a flavour of Indian chic to the heart of the West End. A burly man guards the door at busy times and late at night, but don’t let him put you off – he’s a pussycat. |
| MATCH 45-47 Clerkenwell Road, EC1 (020-7250 4002). Mon-Fri noon-midnight, Sat 4pm-midnight. Winner of the Evening Standard Bar of the Year back in 1999 and still going strong as a contemporary cocktail bar. Its formula of quality cocktails and excellent service standards has been successfully transferred to a second outpost at 37 Margaret Street, W1, near Oxford Circus. |
MEDICINE BAR 89 Great Eastern Street, EC2 (020-7739 5173). Mon-Wed 5pm-11pm, Thur & Sat 5pm-2am, Fri noon-2am, Sun 5pm-midnight. Just when you thought Shoreditch had reached bar saturation point, up pops another. The Islington phenomenon that is The Medicine Bar – the CJ den on Upper Street with its self-styled ‘no suits’ policy – has been replicated in Shoreditch and is a hit with local lofties. Expect the stereotypical Shoreditch bar: an industrial-style interior of exposed brickwork, battered leather sofas, padded walls and red flock wallpaper. There’s a good range of classic and contemporary cocktails available for revellers who want to do their Shoreditch shuffle until the small hours. |
| PLAN B 418 Brixton Road, SW9 (020-7733 0926). Wed 5pm-2am, Thur 5pm-3am, Fri 5pm-4am, Sat 6pm-4am, Sun 6pm-3am. Brixton has no equals among the urban villages of London. Its individuality is such that it should be granted its own city status. Its history is rich and colourful, and Brixton Road is recognised by friend and foe alike as the frontline in the battleground that Brixton once was. It is relatively peaceful these days, but its down-to-earth and dodgy atmosphere will always be its trump card against gentrification. Late-night licences don’t seem to be a problem in Brixton, and there are few later (legitimate) licences than that at Plan B, on the site of a former Wimpy bar. Plan B sports a robust interior of concrete and brick which looks like it’s been designed to be hosed down at the end of each day. This can lead to a slightly chilly environment early in the evening, but it soon warms up once the crowds gather. Yet even though it looks like a place to enjoy a lager-fest, they make some seriously good cocktails here. But DJs are the raison d’être of Plan B, and these are turning the tables every night. If you’re looking for a posh designer place with all the comforts of your living room, your plan A has to be head for Shoreditch. But if it’s just a good time in a low-profile environment, with seriously good cocktails, it has to be Plan B. |
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