UJ Best New Bars of 2009

Welcome ladies and gentle-junkies to the first instalment of our annual UJ Awards. Celebrating and high-fiving our favourite new London venues and ventures of the last 12 months, first up this year (perhaps for obvious reasons) are our pick of the best new bars of 2009…

As far as drink trends go, this year was a bit of a rollercoaster: countless pubs closed, launches got delayed (more than usual), and there were those worrying few months in the middle where nothing of any notable quality seemed to be opening… and yet, somehow, more than a few gleaming alco-gems managed to emerge.

A notable spike on the scene was the expansion of eat/drink mini-chains: the Old Queen's Head crew opened their Blues Kitchen in Camden, The Diner expanded their reach into Islington, and The Breakfast Club similarly into Hoxton Square. Whilst none of these made it into our hallowed top 5, they all deserve notable mention. As do London's grandest empires, the Soho House and Match Groups, for not resting on their laurels and pushing on to give us both Pizza East (also great for a queue-free beer and a snack) and the Chalet-style Clubhouse atop the East Rooms, complete with faux snow, a real apres-ski vibe and, well a helicopter. A well-deserved nod must also go to the recent Proud Cabaret in the City, Mahiki's new sister tiki-joint Kanaloa halfway towards Holborn, and the Sloane-ish speakeasy Barts (if only because we're overjoyed to finally be able to get a proper drink in these neighbourhoods…).

The other major trend was for booze-led events, many of which took a huge step up in both scale and quality. So that events like the mind-boggling Alcoholic Architecture and the various White Blackbird shindigs more than outweighed all the tiresome flashmobs – thank the gods.

So without further ado or analysis, from easy-going to experimental, cocktails to cold beers, high-brow to booty-shaking, here is the Urban Junkies Top 5 Best New Bars of 2009:

69 Colebrooke Row

Address: 69 Colebrooke Row, N1 8AA
Website: www.69colebrookerow.com

Possibly my all-time favourite cocktail bar in London right now, Tony Conigliaro's 69 Colebrooke Row (aka The Bar With No Name) is a perfect marriage of the alcoholic old-school (black-and-white tiled flooring, butler sinks, bow-ties) and futurism (you should see some of the lab equipment upstairs that they use to shape the small-but-perfectly-formed classic-inspired drinks menu). Perfect for long nights of fabulous cocktails with friends or indeed dates, seating at 69 (oo-er) is on the intimate side so it's best to call ahead.

Mark's Bar (@ Hix Soho)

Address: 66-70, Brewer Street, London, W1F 9UP
Website: www.hixsoho.co.uk

Perhaps the most recent opening on the list, once you're done filling yourself with all of Mark Hix 's gorgeous grub upstairs (or even beforehand), descend into the bar below and it's a whole different kettle of (forgive me) fish. With Twiglets for bar snacks, a worryingly top-notch wine list (worrying only for the sake of my beleaguered wallet), and a sumptuous cocktail list from the mad professor of booze himself, Nick "Hawksmoor " Strangeway, ably assisted by our favourite surly Frenchman, former Londsdale and Quo Vadis cocktailian Charles Vexenat.
 

The Bathhouse

Address: 8 Bishopsgate Churchyard, EC2M 3TJ
Website: www.thebathhousevenue.com

Captained by the delightful Tava O'Halloran, The Bathhouse has exploded (and rightly so) from being a beautifully-decorated curiosity with enormous bags of charm and potential to being one of the leading go-to venues in East London. Bridging the gap perfectly between deepest Wh*reditch and the terrifying City, The Bathhouse has something for everyone – from easy lunchtime fare to late night debauchery, hi-jinx retro-club to an unrelenting early-morning affair – all served in its unparalleled old Turkish bathhouse décor. That's assuming you don't get lost in the spooky graveyard en route…
 

Dalston Superstore

Address: 117 Kingsland High Street, E8 2PB
Website: www.dalstonsuperstore.com

Meanwhile, in real East London, Dan "Disco Bloodbath" Beaumont has summoned the party beast to end all party beasts. It may be a little low key on the production side, but Dalston Superstore continues to house some of London's most cracking nights out there. With regular nights like the seemingly immortal Trailer Trash, Hot Mess and Best Before plus hosts including Hannah Holland, Scottee and Warboy, if you can dance to it then the chances are it'll be here. Just be warned: things can (and generally do) get very, very messy. In a very, very right way.

Bompas & Parr

Address: wherever you least expect them
Website: www.jellymongers.co.uk

Combine this year's fiscal armageddon with short attention spans, and the unrelenting march of the pop-ups is unsurprising. What is a pleasant shock, however, is quite how spectacular some of them have been. Remove the need for long-term overheads and Messrs Bompas and Parr – those originally jelly-based connoisseurs of the gastrobizarre – have pushed the envelope for the alcocentric event into a whole new realm. Highlights this year have included the Hendrick's Carriage of Curiosities , the Scratch 'n' Sniff cinema, the breathable G&T Alcoholic Architecture, and one of the largest punches in recent history, the recent Courvoisier Architectural Punchbowl. They've breathed it, sniffed it, bounced on it, and now swum in it. What on Earth is next?
 

by AC

Comments:

Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.