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Cocktail hour in London
by Mark Mason
Sometimes a white wine down the pub just doesn't cut it. You need glamour, you need style, you need a little mixology in your drinking - yep, it's cocktail hour in the capital. Where do you head? Here are our tips for the coolest places to down a daiquiri or sip a seabreeze:
Oxo Tower
One of London's most fashionable restaurants (turn left out of the lift) has one of its liveliest bars (turn right). From the eighth floor of this converted wharf you'll gaze out over the Thames to the tree-lined Embankment and a beautiful stretch of central London. Inside, drinkers chat as live jazz tinkles sweetly in the background. If you're eating at the restaurant, you can enjoy your cocktail out on the terrace.
Drink: Voodoo Child (spiced rum and pear shaken with cinnamon syrup and lime, topped with ginger beer, £7.50)
Watch: the gorgeous sunset, then the twinkling city lights
Oxo Tower Bar and Brasserie, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, London, SE1 9PH. Nearest Tubes: Waterloo, Blackfriars. Tel: 020 7803 3888, www.harveynichols.com. Open: Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 12pm-10.30pm
Match
Urban chic doesn't get more fashion forward than this. Clerkenwell is a hip, cutting-edge area of London; wear Diesel rather than Dior. The ultra-chilled feel finds its perfect home at Match - groovy music, trendy but not intimidating. Theme is The Magnificent Seven - post-modern prints of the film's stars line the walls, and some of the drinks (by New York cocktail king Dale DeGroff) are dedicated to Yul Bryner and the gang.
Drink: Any of the Matchnificent Seven - the Brad Dexter Mojito is particularly good (Havana Club Especial rum, fresh mint, lime juice, £6.25)
Watch: the print of Steve McQueen - ultimate eye-candy
Match, 45-47 Clerkenwell Road, EC1M 5RS. Nearest Tube: Farringdon. Tel: 020 7250 4002, www.matchbar.com. Open: Mon-Fri 11am-12am, Sat 5pm-12am
Vertigo
Never before have the words 'Level 42' and 'must-see' been so right for each other - the forty-second floor of the old NatWest tower is now a super-cool champagne bar for City slickers. The views are unbeatable: as you gaze five hundred and ninety feet down to the streets below, it's not just the cocktails that'll have you feeling on top of the world. In fact the only way you can enjoy a higher drink in London is to fly over on your way out of town. Demand (and security concerns) mean you have to book in advance (if only on the day).
Drink: Kir Royale (Crème de Cassis and champagne, £9)
Watch: London...all of it
Vertigo, Tower 42, Broad Street, EC2N 1HQ. Nearest Tubes: Bank, Liverpool Street. Tel: 020 7877 7842, www.vertigo42.co.uk. Open: Mon-Fri 12pm-3pm (same-day reservations must be made before 12pm) and 5pm-10pm (reservations before 5pm)
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Created: 09/09/2004 Updated: 09/08/2006
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