London Cocktail Club - Old Street
This dark, downstairs bar, formerly called Whistling Shop, intimately recreates the gin palaces of the early Victorian era. And while the decor is faithful to the era, the cocktails offer a modern twist on the old classics: there's even an in-house steampunkish laboratory where the mixologists create their intriguing concoctions. "Drunk For a Penny, Dead Drunk for Two Pence, Straw for Free," offers the menu, with a wry wink to the promises made to customers at the height of the gin craze and memoralized in William Hogarth's illustration
Gin Lane.
