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| What Are London's Top Bar Cubs 2009 - An Insiders Review | October 31, 2009, 6:21 am | visits: 0 | wordcount: 695
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By Club Insider
London is suddenly teeming with late night bar clubs offering anything from burlesque to live music as entertainment as the Licencing Act forces councils to allow bars to open later. How though is the casual bar goer to pick the wheat from the chaff? This is where Club Insider comes in providing unbiased reviews of what is hip and happening in London
Soho and the West End remains the place for celebrity driven bars. Although for the casual drinker to find yourself rubbing shoulders with a celebrity you will have to get into the VIP area first. Of the celebrity bars Punk and Kabaret remain the daddies although the real celebrity action is in the clubs like Bijou, Chinawhite's Soho House and Movida. On the drinks front Lab remains the cocktail daddy although comparative newcomers like Milk and Honey, CellarDoor and specialist regional bars like Floridita are nipping at its heels. Club Insider also likes all the Match Bars and the much derided hotel bars like The Lanesborough and Met bar. Overall though Westminster's notoriously tight licensing rules have effectively put the block on new late licenses in Soho stifling the scene especially with the chain bars continuing their onslaught gobbling up independent venues whenever they can. In addition a lot of Soho's bar activity has migrated to the private members clubs like Soho House and Vanilla making it that much harder for the casual drinkers. Club Insider also only recommends Soho weekdays as at weekends its far too touristey as the bridge and tunnel brigade descend.
East London is where the action is on the new bar front with Shoreditch and now Brick Lane as the place where well moneyed hipsters like to open to open new venues. Leaders of the pack have to be Lounge Lover and the humongous (but 100% private) Shoreditch House but the like of Home, Last Days of Decadence and Hoxton Bar and Grill all have their own charm too. In fact along Brick Lane or Shoreditch High Street achingly cool bars are now a dime a dozen. All of which amusingly has created a back lash with many hipsters now declaring their love for their tired old local over the flashy charms of the style bar(s) next door. A honourable mention for Cargo and 93 Feet East too although both are really more music venues than bars. Anything missing? Well possibly a few more live music venues for starters.
For North London read Camden with as many music pub clubs per square mile as there are style bars in Shoreditch and private members clubs in Soho. From the achingly cool Proud to the rather run down but ever popular Monarch Camden is the home of the indie bar (or rather pub) club …… and nothing else. Actually that's not quite true Camden and its environs also house several very good gastropubs (the Enterprise being the best) and a couple of style bars too of which Fifty Five is our favourite.
West London unfortunately suffers from the deadly RBKC (that's the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) disease who in their wisdom have effectively put the kibosh on new late night venue openings. Club Insider however likes the Electric Cinema (part private) Paradise in Kensal Green and Notting Hill Arts Club.
That leaves South London? A combination of laxer licensing laws and cheaper property prices has created a ripe environment for bar entrepreneurs wanting to try something different. Cue Lost Society and Lost Angel with their glitzy 30s themed take on décor and cocktails not to mention The Loft in Clapham. All of these venues have been picking up numerous bar awards from Time Out and other magazines much to the annoyance of their North of The River London rivals . More recently Peacock Bar in Clapham Junction has been making waves with its clever combination of burlesque and cabaret early with retro 80s and 90s Djs later. Having picked up just about every award there is for burlesque and cabaret Club Insider hears they are about to so something big in the West End very shortly. Watch this space.
Watch out for more tips from Club Confidential
Lawrence Merrett is the booker for the award winning Peacock bar. For more information see http://www.the-peacock-bar.co.uk or email bookings@the-peacock-bar.co.uk
Source:www.isnare.com | |
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