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Slideshow
Hot new London bar openings
Brigadiers
The unstoppable Sethi trio, who brought us Gymkhana, Bao and Hoppers, have struck gold again with their latest concept – an Indian gastropub called Brigadiers in the heart of the City.
Inspired by the army mess bars of India, the 140-cover site features a pool table and classic card games. On entering the Art Deco-inspired venue you’re greeted by Brigadiers’ resident shoe shine attendant, and either shown to Blighters restaurant, the Tap Room bar or the Pot Luck Room housing a pool table and whisky vending machine.
Brigadiers boasts a global whisky list split into four styles: ‘Smoky’, ‘Delicate’, ‘Light’ and ‘Rich’. Drams can be bought from the whisky vending machine with a pre-paid top up Brigadiers card.
A monthly changing list of 10 beers on tap showcases a range of styles from around the globe, and the team have collaborated with British breweries on bespoke brews like 4th Rifles – a citrus-led session pale ale made by Thornbridge Brewery.
On tap cocktails include a Nitro Espresso Martini, served like a milky stout, and a Buffalo Trace-laced Old Fashioned.
The Bluecoats
Historic boozer The Bluecoats pub in Tottenham has been given a hipster makeover by the team behind burger joint Lucky Chip and Tom Gibson of Ruby’s in Dalston.
Formerly The Pride of Tottenham, and before that The Blue Coats School for Girls, the 18th century pub has been given a lick of pastel blue paint and a new beer list of 20 drops dispensed from cask, keg and bottle, including local craft brews from Redemption and Beaver Town.
Punters can get their lips around some of the best burgers in town flipped by the team behind Lucky Chip, while Sundays will be all about roasts.
Mr Fogg’s House of Botanicals
Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling, the dynamic duo behind Mr Fogg’s and Cahoots, are to open a flora and fauna filled House of Botanicals in Fitzrovia that puts spirit of the moment – gin – in the spotlight.
Opening on what used to be Dickie Fitz on Newman Street, the latest imaginary residence of Phileas Fogg, the protagonist in Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, will serve cocktails and light bites inspired by weird and wonderful botanicals foraged from across the globe.
The House of Botanicals joins Mr Fogg’s Residence in Mayfair and Mr Fogg’s Tavern in Covent Garden, which boasts a secret gin parlour.
The Duke of Richmond
Former Polpo chef Tom Oldroyd, who struck out three years ago with his own eponymous venture after leaving Russell Norman’s Venetian small plates chain, has taken the reins at Hackney pub The Duke of Richmond and given it a fancy French makeover.
Known formerly as The Richmond, the 18th century pub has been split into two – traditional boozer and a 30-seater fine dining room, both boasting separate menus with a seasonal French thread running through them.
Oldroyd will be indulging in on-trend open fire cooking, so expect the likes of lamb en croute with green beens and wild garlic butter; grilled Orkney scallops, charred purple sprouting broccoli and truffled beurre blanc; lamb sweetbreads and an asparagus vol au vent; and wild nettle, artichoke and broad bean ‘lasagna’. Beers and ciders are from local labels and wines have a European accent.
Laki Kane
With pineapples having been tipped as ‘the new avocado’, the tiki cocktail trend in London is showing no sign of slowing. Hoping to ride that tropical wave is Laki Kane, a chic new tiki bar on Islington’s buzzing Upper Street run by ex-Mahiki manage Georgi Radev.
Rush roofing, rope ladders, palm wallpaper and a wooden bar fashioned into the shape of a galleon add to the venue’s desert island theme. Taking inspiration from Bob Bob Ricard’s beloved ‘Press for Champagne’ button, each table has a button you can buzz when your tumbler is running low.
As you’d expect, rum is the star of the show here, and the bar boasts expressions from all over the world. Laki Kane even makes its own upstairs and offers guests the chance to blend their own spiced rums on site. Cocktails come in quirky vessels adorned with orchids and bamboo shoots.
Bright
The clever crew at quirky wine bar P Franco in Clapton have opened Bright – a wine bar serving small plates of local seasonal fare on the site in Netil House that used to be home to Ellory, which has upped sticks to Shoreditch.
Food is flamed on a charcoal grill and the offering will change every day depending on what Tasmanian chef William Gleave can get his hands on. In keeping with London’s love of carbs, fresh pasta will be in abundance.
In charge of the wine list is P Franco’s Phil Bracey, who has curated a selection that makes use of F Franco’s well-stocked cellar and his Noble Fine Liquor shop in Broadway Market.
With oodles of wines on pour by the glass, Bright’s house rosé was made by Bracey’s fair hands in the northern Spanish region of Catalonia. Stools at the 20-seater bar are left open for walk-ins.
Moonshine Saloon
Putting the ranger into Sloanes, the King’s Road has a new Wild West-themed drinking and debauchery den called the Moonshine Saloon. Taking cues from the BYOC (bring your own cocktails) bars, you have to bring your own hard liquor to the saloon in order to be let in – £40 gets you four cocktails and an hour-and-a-half in the saloon.
Once inside, guests are led down to an “undercover moonshine empire” complete with pistol-toting, Stetson-sporting, poker playing cowboys. The booze you bring is turned into cocktails curated to match your flavour preferences, be they fruity, bitter or sour. Those keen to play the game can don cowboy boots, Stetsons, waistcoats and bandanas, and unleash their inner Billy the Kid.
Mr Wang’s Dive Bar
Everyone’s favourite fried chicken shack, Chick ‘n’ Sours, is to open a dive bar in the basement of the Haggerston original next month. Called Mr Wang’s Dive Bar, little is known of the venture yet other than the fact that it will be serving a selection of seriously good sours.
The bar has a late licence, so records will be turning until the small hours. And if all the frothy cocktails start going to your head, the alcohol can always be mopped up with one of Chick ‘n’ Sours’ ginormous, delectable K-Pop burgers.
Among the sours on pour at its sister site in Covent Garden are the Chick ‘n’ Club, which blends gin, raspberry, sugar, lemon, chilli vinegar and vermouth; and the Diablo Sour, a heady mix of Tequila, cassis, ginger, apple and citrus.