Whatever happened to Shoreditch

Last Friday I went on a little pub crawl around Shoreditch so I decided to write up a quick review of the places I visited. I’ve lived in the London East End for almost 10 years and have seen the Shoreditch area somewhat grow and develop. Let me tell you, during my time here the area has seen a lot of change.

These days Shoreditch has spread so far it almost seems to be connected to Spitalfields and Brick Lane just south of it and spilling into Angel towards the north. An ever changing and growing ensemble of funky bars, modern pubs and small clubs each vying to attract punters with particular themes, extensive Y2K named cocktail lists, happy hours and supposedly unique, clever and ‘cool’ names. Some of these names are beyond ridiculous and at times it feels as though they are trying too hard.

Back in the day Shoreditch was cool. It’s hard to explain what exactly it was that made it cool. It used be a vibrant art and fashion student area, best described as underground – an uncommon alternative to the other trendy and established places in London such as Notting Hill and Camden Town. I specifically mention Notting Hill because I remember the days when several of my friends who used to live in Notting Hill first made the Circle Line trek across town every Friday and Saturday to then eventually move into the neighborhood to live here. I’ve always had a good time when out and about in Shoreditch but I guess something has worn off and got lost with time. Commercialism has taken its toll.

Anyways, it’s been a while since I’ve been to my favorite bars out here and I wanted to see if Shoreditch still had that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’! I mapped out my bars (in fact, I dug up an old mini pub crawl list I had from many years ago) and to my disappointment noticed one of them doesn’t even exist anymore. Before I remembered bars come and go here all the time I asked myself “Had it really been this long?” ‘Cocomo’ on Old Street, a tiny but great little, grungy cocktail bar. This was Shoreditch … raw, real and ready for a big night. It was the perfect place to kick things off. Oh well!

Instead, I decided to start off at another one of my favourites – ‘The Strongroom’. Discreetly tucked away down a cobbled courtyard off Curtain Road hides this cleverly designed split-level bar. Affiliated to the record studios, it typically caters for the local music and media industry and regularly features live music events. On the night, there was a DJ playing funky house music. Upstairs is the restaurant bar offering table service and a food menu along with an extensive range of beers, wines and cocktails. There’s always a good crowd here!

Next up was ‘Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen’. I am pleased to say this is still Hoxton Square’s finest and most interesting destination. Split into 2 areas, the bar/club side starts to fill quickly around 9pm (be prepared to queue if you show up later). I was hungry and decided to check out the restaurant side which was just busy enough to get that last table. To me, this is the single most telling sign of a restaurants’ food … if the restaurant is full, the food must be good! The menu here provides a solid range of cocktails and drinks and very delicious Mexican food!! Great bargains to be had here too. Decided to skip the starters and thankfully I did. The huge and tasty main course meant I couldn’t manage a desert, even if I wanted to. Good value and still going strong!

After dinner, I ended up at ‘Zigfrid von Underbelly’. This is exactly the kind of name for a bar that begs the question, why are you trying so hard? So what's that strange sounding Dutch/German name all about? You can have a read on their website ( http://zigfrid.com/about/ ) – it’s quite a story! Zigfrid is a cool bar and restaurant with either DJ or Live music depending on the night. There’s also a funky outdoor drinking area where you can sit on tree trunks and a club area downstairs.

Before I finish, I quickly want to mention another one of those crazy named bars. Ever heard of the Breakfast Club? There’s several in London but the one in Spitalfields on Artillery Lane, just off Bishopsgate has a little secret. Accessible only via a SMEG fridge inside the cafe is ‘The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town’, a cute, little basement cocktail bar. Their website ( http://themayorofscaredycattown.com/ ) doesn’t give away much and access to the bar is only guaranteed by making a reservation. The whole experience is incredibly surreal and fun and the cocktails are great.

The Last Word … Despite my expectation that the Shoreditch scene would eventually collapse or might have already done so, the area is flourishing stronger than ever. It continues to astound me and remains one of London’s trendiest areas. It may have been around for a long time but shows no signs of aging – the bars still pack in the cool kids keen to enjoy a good and fun night out.