Comfy bar with plenty of space, draught beer and cocktails. They do food but didn’t eat this time. Nice place but nothing dramatic to recommend it.
Verdict: Ok
Location: 10 Victoria Grove
Category: Bar
Dead Wax Social
Popped in here during Pride and it is HUGE! Really relaxed vibe for a pint or a pizza – didn’t have the latter but they looked and smelled amazing so will be back for one for sure. Great music and funky interior, spinning all vinyl, all the time.
Verdict: Awesome
Location: 18A Bond Street
The Grand
Old-school grandeur hotel. This review is for the hotel bar, and it’s great. Big and vaulted but cosy in its way, easy to get service even on a Saturday night. You pay a bit for that, but great place for a very relaxed drink.
Verdict: Awesome
Location: 97-99 King’s Road
The Funkyfish Club
Highly random bar and club that feels like a cheap hotel bar. Went down to Throwback Fridays and had a good dance, and it got surprisingly lively once 11pm hit. So not bad really; points also off for absence of 80s music on a retro night!
Verdict: Ok
Location: 19-23 Marine Parade
Speakeasy at the Wick
The Speakeasy above The Wick is a perfectly nice cocktail bar with a decent amount of space and pretty ok cocktails, but it’s sure as hell not a speakeasy, so massive points off.
Verdict: Ok
Location: 63 Western Road
The Bee’s Mouth
Another on the Time Out list, and it’s pretty crazy. It’s a small bar when you walk in, with a thick smell of incense, but basically it’s just super quirky. Cool carved booths, a pulpit in the back and a little cushioned hideaway too. Really tasty cocktail had here; insane quantity of craft beers also.
Verdict: Awesome
Location: 10 Western Road
Neighbourhood
Bar-ish place, best feature being massive garden out back with tables and padded chairs. Had rather nice burgers here, although limited beer selection stops it from smashing it. Awesome gin fizz-type cocktail had, one of the best ever.
Verdict: Ok
Location: 101 St James’s Street
Can’t find a website
East Street Tap
Funky little bar with loads of craft beer on tap; check upstairs which has loads of space which wasn’t being used on the Friday we were there. Menu looks great but we just had beer and cocktails.
Verdict: Awesome
Location: 74 East Street
The Cocktail Shack
Squirrelled away behind an unassuming frontage, the Cocktail Shack is surprisingly roomy and has a bit of a Java type theme. Most importantly its staff are great (table service!) and the cocktails are wonderful and mental and delicious – we’re talking Cast a-Wray (wray rum) done up like a grass mug with a toffee bon bon Wilson. Also tasty snacks from the cafe-type place attached.
Verdict: Awesome
Location: 34 Regency Square
Bar Valentino
Above El Mexicano, which I have yet to try, is a cocktail lounge rated highly by Time Out. Hit and miss for me. Bartenders are good, nice, and flair around the place, cocktail menu is imaginative and we enjoyed ours (correction, I enjoyed my spiced mint julep and everyone else thought it was gross), and you can stand outside on the balcony overlooking New Road. The inside space though is pretty small and very loud; I like my cocktails in a chilled environment.
Verdict: Ok
Location: 7 New Road
www.elmexicano.co.uk/bar-valentino-cocktail-bar