Londontheinside has a duty to report to you about new nightspots around the city, so we recently paid a visit to the new Archer Street bar in Soho, a bar that shares it’s name with it’s location. Every new bar seems to have a gimmick to differentiate itself from other pubs and word had reached us about the singing bar staff here….
The atmosphere is typically West End, glitzy and glamorous. The ground floor is light and spacious with the basement bar more confined and more atmospheric, particularly as the night wore on. This is the sort of bar that we can definitely imagine being popular with London office workers who will come here straight from work for a cocktail or two.
The music policy is eclectic but inclusive, mainly sticking to socially acceptable pop like CeeLo Green, Beyonce and alongside classic indie and rock like Blondie, White Stripes and Queen.
The real highlight though are the performances by the staff – an instrumental track is played by the DJ and two members of bar staff with radio mics start to belt out the lyrics. This is fairly amusing when they are around the room, but slightly irritating when they’re behind the bar. Whilst preparing a cocktail for us, the barmaid burst into a rendition of ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ so energetic that she dropped the cocktail shaker full if alcohol into the ice bin and had to start again. Perhaps not a great idea when there’s a large queue at the bar!
The drinks themselves are delicious, the cocktail menu contains some innovative twists on old favourites although the prices are not exactly cheap. However, combined with a decent atmosphere, good music and the gimmick of singing staff gave us a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Archer Street bar is on Archer Street W1D 7AD (nearest station Piccadilly Circus)