Heist Bank, 28th June

I’m not entirely sure who the audience for Heist Bank will be but whoever it is I think will very much enjoy the place. It’s in a bit of a no man’s land next to the Paddington basin, and is the newest bar from the people behind Coin Laundry, who, it turns out, have several other places in London including Ask for Janice and Graphic bar, both of which I like very much.

The place isn’t aiming for haute cuisine – the mainstay of its menu is pizza. There were four different kinds available to try at the launch I was invited to and I tucked into three out of four – I couldn’t bring myself to try the one loaded with mushroom (mushroom – bleugh). And loaded it really was. Same with the crushed pea, goat cheese and radish. These ones were more like having a load of topping with a little bit of pizza, rather than having a pizza with some toppings. For me, it was too much. Much too much. I had to break down the huge block of goat’s cheese and there was so much crushed pea it was falling off everywhere. Luckily, the meat lovers fare better and have a more balanced slice. The Italian sausage was a juicy number, and the lamb, feta and rocket was not a bad appropriation of a lahmacun.

There were plenty of tasters on the menu to try. Others being passed around included an olive and cheese curd pastry which was utter gooey, chewy deliciousness and some spicy nduja croquettes which were pleasant but I wished they’d had a bit of the actual meat inside rather than it being all creamy.

They had two special cocktails to try – a floral take on a French 75 using their own house-infused gin, and an ‘Off the Wagon’ which was a very summery way to enjoy whisky – blending it with orange.

I felt it was my duty to try out some of the other cocktails on the list too. I can confirm the peach bellini, scofflaw and bramble are all great. I also tried the Delicious Sour which was too sweetly peachy for me. It was even more peachy than the peach bellini!

Wines by the glass are all the same price – a policy I commend, and which means you can get a viognier or a malbec for the same price as the pinot or merlot you normally drink cos it’s cheap!

And they have plenty of different beers on offer.

It seems like a great after-work set up, with plenty of space so a whole team could go down for a few together. There’s even a karaoke space perfect for when you’ve all had one too many…

Wenlock Arms, 8th February

I almost forgot to post this! So here it is, out of order:

I do seem to have a lot of things on my List without any real idea of why they’re there because they’ve been on there for so long. Such is The Wenlock Arms. I have a vague feeling it came from my Time Out 1000 Things to do book but I’m not sure. I know it was threatened with closure at some point but was saved from such a fate and opened by new management.

I went on a Monday night, and it was far from heaving. I cannot imagine it ever gets particularly packed as the amount of passing traffic it would attract would be around nil. You either know it’s there and have it as a destination already, or you would never stumble across it. It’s down a residential road about halfway between angel and Old Street.

It’s very much a ‘proper’ pub but not especially cosy at that. It’s all tables and chairs with very little adorning the walls. It feels like it is made for men, with none of that fancy nonsense. Just chairs, tables and beer. (But luckily also wine). So it is not very atmospheric. They seemed to have quite a few beers on offer and the prices were good. But I am not a beer lover, and good prices are not enough to tempt me back. Ultimately, it felt too stark.

The Sun Tavern, 30th November

The Sun Tavern, formerly the Sun Tavern (a pub of that name has been there since 1851), is the second establishment from the guys behind the Discount Suit Co. and I'm happy to report that it is just as likeable as their first place. 

From the outside it doesn't look open, but have faith and push open those doors. Inside is, indeed, what I would describe as a tavern - cosy and low-lit with blinds covering the windows giving it the darkened look from outside.

I went at about 5pm on a Sunday afternoon for my first visit and there it was populated but there were still a few tables available. I went back again the other night - a Saturday night - and we again managed to get a seat, but only just. 

Discount Suit is an underground cocktail den, whereas this place is more pubby so you won't feel like you're missing the point if you have a wine (as I did on Saturday) or one of the local beers and ciders written on a board at the back of the bar. But, of course, they do still know their cocktails and this makes up the focus of the menu. So on that Sunday evening I had to try a couple in the time I was there.  

First up the Peach Fuzz. Gin, sherry, creme de peche, served in a metal tankard with a pile of ice like a julep. Their menu is divided into Tankard Drinks and Mixed Drinks. So I went for the 12 Mile Limit off the Mixed Drinks to try one of each. White rum, cognac, rye mixed with some grenadine and lime. This was my kind of drink. Strong and punchy and prettily garnished with flowers. And all the cocktails are either £7.50 or £8.00. My kind of prices. Well, sort of. Wine comes in choices of red, white or fizz and a very small glass (125ml) is £4.50. Expensive for unlabelled wine. Better to go for a bottle which is a very reasonable £16.

Bethnal Green is turning into the place to be if it isn't already and The Sun Tavern makes it even more of a worthy destination. 

Mother Kelly's and Dead Dolls Club, 13th June

Bethnal Green used to be a pretty scutty place. But then it seemed that Shoreditch sprang a leak, with cool new bars and restaurants (Sager and Wilde, which I may have mentioned once or twice, Clutch) springing up on Hackney Road, which joins Old Street to Bethnal Green. And this spread further with Satan’s Whiskers opening on Cambridge Heath Road, and that has now been joined by the new home of the Dead Dolls Club, plus the redevelopment of the arches by Bethnal Green station. And so now… well, Bethnal Green is still pretty scutty, but you get the impression that it might not be for long.

Putting aside how I feel about the spread of Shoreditch to the east and what that might mean for rental prices in my area, I’m pretty happy to have so many lovely new places a mere stop away from my flat.

On Friday the plan was to go to the Dead Dolls Club to see Kansas Smitty’s jazz band and maybe stop in on the Craft Cocktail Co on the way. Which is what I thought we were doing as we approached an open arch I hadn’t seen before, stocked full of bottles. On closer inspection they were beer bottles, not cocktails and actually we had discovered Mother Kelly’s, which could easily become a favourite of mine even though I don’t like beer.

This place is a beer kingdom – they have six fridges with bottles of all kinds available (to drink in or take away for a 25% discount), and on top of this they have 20 more beers and ciders on tap! They serve one red wine, one white, one champagne, and keep food to a minimal but well-chosen offering of meat and cheese boards. I tried a bottled cider I hadn’t had before and followed this up with a white wine just to see how much attention they’d paid to it. It was unusual – very fruity and verging on sweet, quite soft and round. Very different to the wines I normally drink but not unpleasant. The beer on draft is served in 2/3 pints in the main, but they're priced accordingly so you're not getting gypped.

We then headed up to the Dead Dolls Club at about 10 pm, which is when I knew the band were meant to be taking to the stage.

Dead Dolls Club

And so, to another arch, namely The Arch, where Dead Dolls Club are in residence for the foreseeable. You step through its little café-like foyer and into the main room.

At first, we were underwhelmed. There was no one in there and the whole place felt sparse and cold. I’ve been to the Dead Dolls House and the original Dead Dolls Club and was expecting something more homely, the same stencils on the wall, the same feeling of being in a quirky parlour. I was disappointed. This felt like what it was - a railway arch.

But still, we took a seat and got a couple of cocktails and waited while the band warmed up. I had an espresso martini (if you follow the DDC on Twitter, you’ll know they’re quite proud of them) and Stephen had an old fashioned. We were both very pleased with our drinks – mine had a very strong coffee flavour that completely threw me off how much alcohol was in it. After three of these I was pretty sloshed and I don’t say that often about cocktails. I probably should have had some of Checkon's chicken to soak it up - we saw people chowing on buckets of the stuff and it looked pretty good. Stephen stuck to cocktails the whole night, having a julep and a negroni to follow up.

Kansas Smitty finally took to the stage and didn’t waste any time in whipping up some liveliness. They are a jazz band in the speakeasy, 20s-40s sense, not in the strokey-beardy 60s beatnik sense and they were brilliant! They followed up their frenetic start with something a little mellower but in general the whole set was up tempo and got people on their feet.

The place had begun to fill by this point. I don’t know if people were filing in specifically to see the band or if this just happens to be when the DDC gets busy but with the crowds the space came into its own. It’s clearly a place for dancing and merriment, rather than refinement, and the sparkly lights and humongous glitter ball now made sense. We had noted the rather utilitarian chairs and fixtures but who cares about those when there’s dancing to be had. I understood their thinking now.

We loved the band and were having a lot of fun – so much so that our original plan of getting the last tube home went out the window. Of course, this doesn’t mean quite so much when we were only a ten minute bus ride from home, but it is meant to illustrate that we liked the place. 

Spaniards Inn and stargazing, 14th January

After our ill-fated but ultimately successful trip to Broadway Market we had little time before heading out to our nighttime activities. Between October and April, the observatory in Hampstead opens to the public to use their telescopes and look at the stars. I also wanted to go to the Spaniards Inn which wasn't too far away from the observatory and so thought to combine the two. We invited a couple we're friends with and I made reservations at the Spaniards for 7 pm.

The Spaniards Inn is a little bit of a trek to get to and we were running a little late. Luckily our friends got there a bit before us so we didn’t lose our reservation. I can only imagine this is quite a popular pub, with people eating there all day, because when we arrived, we were told that they were out of pork belly (I was considering having the pork belly salad), the smoked haddock and both burgers (Stephen was thinking of having the pork and chorizo burger). So our bad food luck was continuing. At least it gave me an excuse not to order something healthy, although none of us were impressed that they had run out of a good chunk of the menu so early on.

I opted for the ox cheek pie with red wine and kale colcannon (mash to the uninitiated). 

Stephen had the fish and chips. 

Not sure why my photos are sideways

Nick enjoying his pie

My friend Nick also had the pie, and Claire, the vegetarian among us had the vegetarian options – a fig, goat’s cheese, pecan and roast squash tart. After the meal she said it was the best vegetarian option she’d ever had, and it certainly looked impressive, coming with a tower of kale on the top and sitting on a red sauce. I was happy with my pie, though Stephen thought there was too much batter on his fish. All in all, the food is quite good. However, although it doesn’t say it on its website, the pub is part of a larger chain, run by the same people and you can get the exact same menu in any of them (the Alwyne Castle for instance, in Angel). 

Best veggie tart ever!

The reason I wanted to go to the Spaniards though, was to sit 
in a part of history. It is a very, very old pub (built late 1500s) and has a history of highwaymen (possibly including Dick Turpin – it is rumoured he was born there) frequenting it, and also being hung from a tree down the road. It has been mentioned in The Pickwick Papers, and Dracula, and Byron and Keats are meant to have been visitors, possibly even penning some of their works there.  It’s actually also just a nice pub to be in, all dark wood lending it a proper pub feel. If it weren’t so far away, I’d happily spend more time here. It’s a classic British pub.

After finishing off our bottle of wine and beers, we went back into town to go to the Observatory. If you have a smartphone and look up Hampstead observatory, you won’t find it, which I thought was a bit odd. Luckily, I knew roughly where it was from their own website, and on the way up, noticed a little sign pointing towards it. We found said sign, and followed it around. Typically for an English sign it pointed us toward a crossroads and then didn’t bother to tell you whether to turn left or right. Thank goodness for being able to check the observatory’s own website again for the exact location. On my smartphone. We turned down a small road, and there was a gate with some steps which seemed to have a few people around it, so we figured we were at our destination.

I was expecting something like Greenwich observatory – something large and impressive. It was almost the opposite, though they did share having a dome in common. Whereas Greenwich has a huge museum etc attached to it, the Hampstead one is literally just a dome, in a field. You would never know it was there unless you knew it was there. There were a few people also there to look at the stars so we got in the line and queued for about 5 minutes to look through the Cooke’s telescope that was pointing at Jupiter. Looking through, you could see two of its moons as well, and some knowledgeable chap was standing by spouting facts about Jupiter and answering any questions anyone had.

Outside, there were another two telescopes. One was also set up to look at Jupiter, but was a more modern telescope and hence afforded a sharper picture. We had a look through that one as well, just for the hell of it. And then we went over to the third telescope which was moved around to look at different things. We looked at Orion’s belt and then another cluster.

The people on hand were the sort of uber-geeks whose enthusiasm is infectious. It was also obvious that they all had a slightly different passion when it came to astronomy. One person clearly knew all about Jupiter, another was more into telescopes themselves – telling us about a telescope that adjusts automatically for the effects of the atmosphere (which moves all the time and can make for a hazy, wavy viewing). He said it was like looking at the stars from the Hubble Space Telescope, if you look through that one. Another pointed out Mars and the constellation Leo (which is mine) and then boasted about how he could see stars at magnitude 5 with his naked eye. He then negated this boast by pointing out the star’s location, and helping us all see it for ourselves once we strained our eyes hard enough.

It was an evening of pure, innocent enjoyment, reminding all of us of our youths when we first became fascinated with the sky and the stars in it. Apparently Mars will be close in a few months and I’d love to go back again when it is.

I don’t know how lucky we were in terms of business. There were definitely a few people there when we arrived and another 2 or 3 came along after us. We got there just before it closed at 10 (though when we left at 10:10 or so, they didn’t seem in a hurry to shut up shop) so perhaps we missed the rush. Or maybe just not many people go. Though, with the current BBC show Stargazing being produced in collaboration with Hampstead Observatory, that may be likely to change.

The List - DRINK

And so we come to my final list - drinking. One of my favourite pasttimes and yet something I still don't think I do enough of. The problem is, unlike with things to do, and even clubbing, it's quite hard to find freebie drinking establishments. And, unlike with eating, I can go without drinking if I have no money. So it's taking me a bit longer to cross things off this list. But - as I have hinted earlier - I think the imminent arrival of my friend will help me boost my success rate.

Cocktails at Twelfth House

Cocktails at Lost Society

Vintage wine tasting at Sampler

Amersham Arms

Haggerston

Half Moon Putney

Old Blue last

Brooks Blues bar; Telegraph pub

The Blues Kitchen

Bar polski for vodka

Cabaret at Volupte

Cocktails at Crazy Bear

Cocktails (martinis) at Christopher's Martini Bar

Mix cocktails at Christopher's 2nd Monday of the month

Cocktails at Dollar

Cocktails at Floridita

Cocktails at Hawksmoor

Cocktails at Lobby bar

Cocktails at 1 Lombard Street

Cocktails at Shochu Lounge

Snuff at CellarDoor

Fitzroy Tavern

Tombola bash Dreambags

Trafalgar hotel bar for good view; Trafalgar Hotel

Loungelover   

Martini at Duke's hotel bar

Gordon's wine bar (leaky and gross last time I was there)

Roof terrace at Gilgamesh

Big Chill House          

Vinoteca (read about it here)

Berry Bros & Rudd; Britain's oldest wine merchant

Green & Blue wine bar and shop       

Milk & Honey, call ahead for non member access    

Wenlock arms

Vertigo 42

Library bar, cocktails; Lanesborough Hotel

93 Feet East  

The Lane        

The Big Chill   

Café 1001      

Juno   

Light Bar (Gone off this place after a Friday night there)

Bar Music Hall

Cargo 

Dragon Bar    

Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes   

Zigfrid’s           

Hoxton Bar and Grill   

AKA    

The Langley   

Montuno’s       

Industry          

Bed Bar          

Play    

Sub Club and Bar      

The RedChurch         

Charterhouse 

Fluid   

Meet Bar         

Essence         

Epicurean Lounge      

Leonards EC1

Clerkenwell House     

The Cuban     

Ballroom         

Agenda           

Charlie’s         

Rhythm Factory         

Feelin Gloomy at Bar Islington           

The Gardening Club   

El Barco Latino          

Infinity 

Kabaret/Kabaret’s Prophecy 

Opium

Lvpo   

The Soho Lounge      

Bar Rumba    

Sirocco Bar & Nightclub        

Teatro 

Sugar Reef     

Thirst  

The Kingly Club          

The Tatty Bogle Club 

The Warwick  

Umbaba         

Taboo 

On Anon         

Big Chill House          

Bar Monsta

The Lounge    

Stompin’ at 100 Club 

Trafik

Indieoke - Buffalo Bar, Upper st         

The Blind Tiger, Battersea     

Rebel Bingo   

The Phoenix   

The George    

The Anchor    

The Lamb       

Nell of Old Drury        

White Hart      

Lamb & Flag  

Coal Hole

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Kings Head & 8 Bells

Ye Olde Mitre 

Cafe Koha

Callooh callay (read about it here) 

Dalston Roof Park     

Shacklewell Arms (read about it here)

Queen of Hoxton              

Old Queens Head  (read about it here)     

The Whistling Post (read about it here)    

The Book Club (read about it here)

The Palm Tree           

The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town  (read about it here)      

Casita 

Roadtrip  (read about it here)        

Night jar (read about it here)
The Dolphin
Purl
The owl and the pussycat (read about it here)
Fernandez and Wells
Arts theatre club
57 Greek Street
69 Colebrook Road
Lounge Bohemia
McQueen's
Mason & Taylor (read about it here)
The booking office
The Three Crowns (read about it here)
The Lion
The Grenadier
Sebright Arms
Happiness Forgets
The Black Door
Evans and Peel
Illegal late night cocktail bar
The Fourth Wall
Hawksmoor bar
Ruby's bar
Three Blind Mice