Nightlife
Originally published on Tuesday, 16th December 2008
Top 5 Bars 2008
It's been a pretty good year for the bar scene here in the Big Smoke. Members' joints have been blossoming city-wide; cocktails have been flowing freer than ever before; bars have been changing hands and snapping up facelifts faster than a Mafia informant. But as the last grains of 2008 slip through our fingers, we figure this is a perfect time to take a longing look back at our favourite new drinking holes from the past 12 months.
Bureau
Standing on the long-cold ashes of the infamous drinking hole that was Tatty Bogle, Bureau is a well-hidden members’ bar (perhaps a little too well-hidden, some might argue) of sleek, kitsch-tinged, late night cocktail elegance, featuring a sexy personalized menu system and some of the city’s finest cocktailians at the alcoholic helm.
Bureau, 13 Kingly Court, W1B 5PW
Callooh Callay
Whilst it might be the titular Jabberwockie reference that first wooed us, it is the lounge tucked behind the wardrobe that keeps us coming back. That and the top-notch drinks, the mono-bartendered mezzanine for hire, and of course the flock wallpaper. Co-founded by top barkeep Richard Wynne, Callooh is our tipped successor to the ever-fickle Shoreditch crown.
Callooh Callay, 65 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY
The East Room
Jonathan (Match/Milk & Honey) Downey’s first eastwards expansion (rumour has it, his second will be a forthcoming mini members’ bar on Brick Lane), The East Room is an oenophilic wet dream. Opening earlier this year, its swipe-card oenomatic wine dispensers, stunning Armagnac collection, sterling food menu and gorgeous dining terrace have made this an instant UJ City favourite.
The East Room, 2a Tabernacle Street, EC2A 4LU
Paramount
Far above the New Oxford Street junction, this thoroughly exclusive, impeccably designed, literally multi-faceted bar and restaurant in Centre Point is hardly a haven for the vertiginously inclined. But when you’re reclining in your Tom Dixon chair, cocktail in hand, soaking up the incredible views of the city from the 31st-33rd floors, let’s see you try complaining about anything.
Paramount, Centre Point, 101-103 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DD
Slim Jim’s
Perfect for when you fancy a break from all that fancy cocktailery, Slim Jim’s is like a no-frills slice of neon-lit Lower East Side dive bar heaven, right on Upper Street. Some nights it’s filled with open-collared suits, some nights with a younger asymmetrically-cropped crowd – but with a booth full of friends, a few brews, bourbons, and a glass full of peanuts, you could be sharing it with the devil himself and you wouldn’t care.
Slim Jim’s, 112 Upper Street, N1 1QN