Claridge's Bar at Claridge's Hotel

Claridge’s art-deco bar is a metaphor for the hotel itself: elegant, comfortable, sophisticated & self-assured – credit being due to designer David Collins who re-established this red & creamy sumptuous leathery lounge as one of London’s more fashionable meeting places, not least thanks to its gloriously flattering lighting. The bar’s boast that it attracts ‘movers & shakers in the worlds of fashion, film & fortune’ rings true, but we are minded to add another F – footballers & their over-styled WAGs. They’ll knock back top-notch bubbly like it’s going out of fashion, while others will opt for classic cocktails: Negroni, Sidecar, Americano & Cosmopolitan. Bento boxes, sashimi & sushi, & warm roast lamb & hoummos sandwiches make suitably chic snacks, & a semi-private area to the rear of the bar is a good spot for a chin-wag.