The Tooting Social Club gets full marks for decoration I can tell you that. The location is another story though. On the one hand it’s in such a far-flung and how do I say diplomatically, ‘vibrant’ area (translation hellhole) that it can’t help but have a “we’re not joining the Shoreditch bandwagon” vibe about it, [...]

Nightjar is the kind of subterranean speakeasy people love to tell their friends about, probably (unfortunately) because places like this are few and far between. Sandwiched between two awful sandwich shops next to Old Street Roundabout, the entrance to Nightjar is little more than a heavy wooden door with a small gold plate with an [...]

There is one thing that London seriously seems to lack and that’s dive bars. New York has countless dive bars, that’s the only thing I would say New York had over London, dive bars. We have plenty of nice pubs just not enough dive bars. Dalston Superstore is not a dive bar as such but [...]

Casita is a (I want to say Mexican themed) tiny little bar where they serve delicious (if somewhat pricey) cocktails but it’s the tequila shot I would recommend. It’s made from a special brand of Tequila, mint and lime I think but it’s thick and just a little bit sweet, I can’t remember what it’s [...]

There is nothing I love more than taking a Third World theme and throwing a shit load of money at it thereby creating the ideal place for posh kids to hold their birthday parties all the while discussing their current holier-than-thou missions with the red cross, UN or whatever. The theme is in the title [...]

It may be way down south, miles from anywhere but the Balham Bowling Club is a great pub. It’s pouring with rain and I had to cut an epic breakfast at Little Georgia on Broadway Market with N.I.C.N.M* short as the night before I had the stupid idea that Sunday lunch at the B.B.C was [...]

I don’t go out to bars all that much, I usually only get as far as dinner then decide I’m done socialising and head home. Trailer Happiness isn’t somewhere I come often but if I was to recommend a good bar (which I am) then this would be it. Think South Pacific tiki hut mixed [...]

The way things are going these days, no trendy bar or café will be complete without the odd piece of taxidermy it seems. The venue is large and quite pretentious which attracts Shoreditch locals*. A bit like an old fashioned English pub but with 70′s-style hippie-chic wallpaper. “ ….it’s popular with an uber trendy twenty [...]

The Commercial Tavern is kitsch kitsch kitsch but works all the same as they’ve gone all the way with it, there is nothing parsimonious about the theme here and there is no shortage of chandeliers, flocked wallpaper or faux antique furniture painted gold either. It’s a cross between a pub and a bar or rather [...]

The first time I came here was to see ‘tranny lip-synching’. The MC was this tall lanky transvestite wearing nothing but a black spandex catsuit and an epic silver Helmut Lang belt. It had a profound effect on me. Bistrotheque is a bar, a club and a restaurant with a very Paris-meets-Shoreditch style. It’s up [...]