NIGHTLIFE
Originally published on Friday, 11 July 2008
Bar Fly: Mini-Match / Mai Tais / Re-re-Launch
Our UJ bar spies are everywhere, selflessly quaffing champagne and martinis by the dozen, as they tirelessly observe every detail of London's legendary nightlife to bring you the gossip. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it.
Mini-Match
A newly-acquired little bar birdie recently confirmed (in the strictest confidence, you understand) the rumour that the Match Group’s Jonathan Downey already has his hands on another premises in East London. As though his oenophilic East Room wasn’t enough, JD is apparently opening an homage to the Manhattan cocktail scene right on Brick Lane. Expect a venue extra-small, typically-discrete, with his usually fantastic standard of cocktails, and on a stretch perhaps best known for a less distinguished brand of carnage.
Mai Tais At Forty Yards
“Adding the rich Barbadian rum 5ml at a time so as not to disturb the aroma of macerated blueberries and flayed waffles…” Cocktail competitions can be such a bore. What a pleasure, then, is ‘It’s a Rematch Beeyatch ’, led by Time Stones and his chaps at Trailer Happiness. With twenty bartenders battling before a roaring, increasingly intoxicated crowd, a £50 competition fee, winner takes all, and points based solely on speed and style, this is like cage fighting for London’s bar gurus. The next Rematch is on Sunday, July 13.
Re-re-launch
Within seven months, we’ve watched the infamously difficult former-proprietor of Hedges & Butler launch his faux film-set street cum nightclub, Lot 55, beneath New Oxford Street; re-launch it as the rather hopefully-monickered Victory; and recently unveil an eternally-empty brasserie on the ground floor (which is already looking a touch fermé). Yet, what’s this: another re-issue? Well, apparently “a new breed of London members club”, Victory, is launching on New Oxford Street next Thursday. Coincidence? Re-branding? Re-re-branding? Flogging an equine corpse?
Your humble Bar Fly leaves the decision to you.
