Poor Cocktails

This review was first published in August 2000

I'm getting a tad bored of hearing people bleat on about preserving old buildings for the purpose for which they were designed. Such pre-Industrial Revolutionists, if they got their way, would have us riding donkeys, eating coal and building ships nobody wants from steel we can't efficiently produce. It is essential we find modern uses for buildings built for yesteryear's industries, and so it is with the meat traders' warehouses along the side of Smithfield meat market, which is already home to London's premiere night spot, Fabric.

The latest installation has seen the conversion of four floors of recently derelict warehouse space into bars and restaurants in a £3million project fronted by partners John Torode and Stuart Hopson-Jones. And I almost don't need to tell you that the results are spectacular because the sheer enormity of the crowds bear testament to this, and to the fact that the area was previously lacking a quality eating and drinking destination. The interior design reflects the heritage of its industrial past with brick walls, timber ceilings and much use of concrete and steel and exposed air-conditioning systems. It's hard to make such an industrial look feel warm, but this is a very sociable, comfortable space bearing all the hallmarks of a quality, 21st-century venue. The ground-floor cafe bar is where the meat of the action is - where the large dining tables and the by-now-familiar squashy leather sofas disappear in the evenings under the weight of the fashionably shabby folk who throng the place. It serves a good range of beers, both on draught (Kozel, a Czech beer at £2.60 a pint) and by the bottle - Freedom Pils (£2.75), Anchor Steam Lager (£3.50), and a few samples from the St Peter's brewery in Suffolk (a Fruit Beer at £3.50 and its Organic Ale at £3). The first-floor champagne and cocktail bar has a more intimate, exclusive air about it and only accommodates around 60 people, compared with 200 on the ground floor. I ordered a bone-dry Stoli martini (£7.50) which was served warm and far too sweet. I opted instead for a Maker's Mark Old Fashioned (£6) and immediately rejected it for the same reasons. To be fair, our waitress tried to ascertain the problem and relayed my concerns, along with the offending drinks, back to the bartender. The drinks were neither replaced nor reduced from the bill. We opted instead for a bottle of Taittinger (£44.25) which, if it was fine when leaving Champagne, should be fine when brought to the table. And it was. My only reservation, apart from their inability to prepare cocktails, is the prices, which are on the steep side of expensive. But I guess there's a £3 million-quid loan floating around over everyone's heads and someone's got to pay for it.

Smiths Of Smithfield
Charterhouse Street, London, EC1M 6HJ