Get your quirky fix
Are you bored of bars that offer nothing except the same old pints, cocktails, and shots that you’d find anywhere else? Admittedly, after the year we’ve had, I’d be surprised if you turned down even the blandest of bland beer gardens. But still, maybe you’re looking to switch things up a bit on your way out of lockdown.
Well, if this is the case, look no further – I’ve managed to gather a list of the most unconventional and offbeat bars in all of London. For those days when pork scratchings and a Bierra Moretti just aren’t cutting it.
1. Purl, Mayfair
Never has a bar been so much the embodiment of it’s name, until this place came along. ‘Purl’ comes from the Old English tipple drink consisting of warm ale, gin, wormwood, and spices, and this place is certainly that – it’s warm, comforting, and spicy. The devil really is in the detail at Purl, as they specialise in cocktails that both challenge and satisfy the senses on a multi-sensory level, using aroma, fogs, airs, foams, food, bespoke serviceware and liquid nitrogen, to bring a whole other dimension to the concept of cocktails!
This place is always full to the ‘brim’ (if you’ll pardon the pun) so get in there early to avoid diasoppointment! Book here.
2. Hackney Funhouse, Hackney
Hackney Funhouse describes itself as ‘an adult playground’, and they certainly deliver on that. Much more than just a bar, the Funhouse offers its guests two whole floors of cocktail galore to keep you and your mates entertained for hours! On the bottom floor, you have their infamous immersive bar where customers get to dress up in lab wear and “cook” their molecular cocktails. It’s like something out of Breaking Bad, we promise you. Upstairs is a whole different story though – home to Dear Sunny, the sister to their incredibly popular Chelsea Black in west London, this bar offers 11 different variations of this famous classic plus a range of other cocktails.
Check it out for yourself here.
3. Lounge Bohemia, Shoreditch
Lounge Bohemia is ‘by appointment only’. Their website is simply an image. That’s how you know it’s good. They don’t need to try. Well, they don’t need to advertise anyway – when you get into this place (which admittedly, is quite difficult to do), you’ll soon realise that they do try, very very hard. Lounge Bohemia is an underground bar with a heck of a lot of attitude, an early nineteenth-century Russian feel, and a menu of whimsical cocktails that will honestly take you the whole night to properly acquaint yourselves with. If you fancy a martini in a bathtub or a margarita in a sandpit, this is the place for you.
This is all I can give you, I’m afraid.
4. Flight
If you want something less complicated and angsty - but still with bags of character - Flight is for you. Flight has completely reinvented pub darts, making it trendy and fun and pretty much dedicating their entire bar to the sport. They’ve moved the darts board out of the damp corner at the back of the pub, and made it the absolute centrepiece of their business model. With bottomless brunch deals, private party packages, and an app where you can relive you and your mates’ best (and worst) moments again and again, this place has really stumbled upon something good.
You can book here.
5. The Last Tuesday Society
Last, but certainly not least. This might be the weirdest bar in all of London. Nestled in London Fields, this place is home to its very own museum, full of the strangest antiquities in the history of Hackney; the museum displays everything that has glittered & caught the eye of its founder – from rare priceless marvels of the natural and scientific worlds like Dodo Bones or to the intriguing “beauty” of McDonald's Happy Meal Toys. Adjacent to the museum is their very own absinthe parlour, a drinker's cabinet of wonder filled with the most unusual spirits, from the old world and new, together in one curious exhibition of extraordinary elixirs. The Last Tuesday Society has to be seen to be believed.
Get your tickets here!
I hope you have enjoyed my magical mystery tour, bringing you the most curious and inventive drinking experiences in all of London. We hope to see you at one of these weird but wonderful spectacles soon.
Words by Rebecca Clayton