Light Bar

One of the most exclusive bars in central London is the prestigious Light bar of the St Martin’s Lane hotel. The bar is accessible by entering the hotel and striding forth up to the bar entrance, there is always some kind of guest list so preparation is essential, it doesn’t usually cost anything to reserve a table on a week night given enough notice so I went ahead and did that hours before we arrived. Inside the light bar is somewhat a dark bar, it is basically an ornate passageway with a small bar on the left hand side upon entry, but the host instead shows us to a table, passes cocktail menus and we observe the list. At £12 a cocktail the prices are steep and so are the expectations for an amazing reward. I order the belgian white chocolate and am disappointed by the bitty taste left in my mouth. The passageway of the venue features large Murial’s of faces which peer scarily down into the bar below in elevated coves above. At the end of the passageway an apparent display of highly prized cut Cristal, the urge to act like a bull in a china shop springs to mind but doesn’t overcome me as we finish up drinks and take off.

Overall the light bar was not as impressive as I had imagined, the clientele were certainly well clothed and perhaps somewhat stuck up and I suppose for a hotel bar it certainly tops the list but the cocktail menu could do with hints of realism and the place was far more empty on a Friday night than I could have ever predicted.

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