Wedged between two old cafés just a stone’s throw from the lively Old Street roundabout, guarded by a sturdy doorman, is a great bar called The Nightjar. When you first peer down into the darkness below, you could be forgiven for wanting to turn on your heels and run.
Please don’t. As you walk down the stairs and open the door you enter a beautiful, opulent and intimate bar from another time and your evening of old-school glamour begins right there and then. This is The Nightjar – welcome to one of London’s best kept secrets.
The decor is gorgeous – panelled ceilings dripping with glowing lamps, vintage clocks and Art Deco prints and the most comfortable brown leather seats you ever did sit in. The live band plays velvety blues and jazz, prohibition speakeasy style that transports you back to the good old days.
But you really come to Nightjar to taste the cocktails and say what the heck to abstention – the drinks are sinfully brilliant. Categorised by era – Pre-Prohibition (1600-1918), Prohibition (1918-1932) and Post-War (1940-2000) with some signature cocktails thrown in for good measure, they don’t only taste good but look amazing too. The seductive Plantation Potion is a giddy concoction of Pamper Anejo Especial Rum, Vanilla, Coffee Infusion, Cherry, Prune, Orange Infusion, Muscovado sugar and Champagne. Glistening elegantly in a tall glass, it’s an amber potion with a blackberry that seems to be suspended in mid-air but is in fact held in place with a piece of twirly, smoky wood. Then there’s the Box Car, the Zazarec and the Cupcake – but I’ll let you discover these yourself.
The magic of The Nightjar is not simply delicious cocktails, it’s the infusion of smooth music, decadent drinking glasses and delicately placed tables that invite conversation and booze-soaked laughter. I would highly recommend it to anyone old or new to London, who wants to experience something out of the ordinary, a bar where you can forget who you are, where you are and the year you live in, even just for an evening. Which is easily achieved with a San Telmo Swizzle and Champagne Flip or two.
NicolaG
