The Vineyard – Islington

The Vineyard 

I’m on a constant quest for the best possible party venues, up to the point now where my friends, colleagues and relies are getting a little annoyed with me. However I stumbled on a little gem yesterday. I would say The Vineyard is one of London’s hidden treasures. You can seek it out in-between Angel and Islington/Highbury.

The staff have captured the perfect Christmas atmosphere. A small Christmas tree stall had been set up in the entrance of the beer garden/courtyard so as you wa

lked through to enter the pub all I could smell was pine mixed with spicy oranges and berries form the homemade wreaths.

The rest of the bar was like a scene out of a Christmas book or film, log fires, Christmas trees, mulled wine, dinners drinking merrily wearing crooked paper hats and white and cream fairy lights twinkling and tinsel lining the bar shelves. It was so so lovely!

Id brought my party crew with me to The Vineyard for a spot of dinner; I ordered a steak sandwich and chips, the other diners scoffed down club sandwiches, burgers and steak frites. Next time I visit I’m defo going to have the garlic and bacon pasta, sounds very yummy!

Such a shame that it was raining otherwise I have liked to get wrapped and sit outside with a glass of cider or 2. Pergolas were used to separate the courtyard with benches, plastic moulded “sofas” and chairs. I bet in the summer it’s a real sun trap. Mirrors were on the walls on either side of the bricked walls which looked cute and made the space seem a lot bigger than it was.

I really enjoyed my night in The Vineyard; it’s a cute little pub with filled to the brim with character.

Scores on the (royal) doors:  

Food and service:  Service with a smile
Atmosphere and decoration:  merry and bright, tra la la la laaaa
Facilities:  Old white porcelain tiles made an impact.
Talent Radar:  Too wrapped in my Christmas wonderland to take notice actually.
Fun Factor: Yeeeeeah!
Perfect for: Quiet drinks, topping up your festive spirit, good hearty food, mulled wine
In 3 words: New Years EVVVVVVE!

Check out other reviews from View London, Party Offers, Qype or Yelp

The Southern Comfort Juke Joint – Deep South in London

Well howdy y’all Im just fixing to go out on another party mission but just before I do….

*Cough Cough* So who was invited to the coveted Southern Comfort Juke Joint last week? Oh only yours truly!

Even though I get to go to some pretty awesome parties and events, it’s fairly rare that such an invite pops up in my inbox. Back in’t day a Juke Joint was basically a party held in a (to quote SOCO) “Beat-up run down shack where people would gather to dance the night away” At these unplanned parties, musicians would often rock up and have a little jam to get the party really started. Well 100 years later, the location has moved ever so slightly from the Deep South of New Orleans to central London but the spirit is 100 per cent still there. Long live the Deep South.

The party was held at The Metalwork’s just behind Angel tube station in an old industrial space which still had a lot of its old features such as cobbles, the metal frame windows and red brick walls. Southern Comfort had transformed the space with spray paint, lined the walls with corrugated metal and placed a huge life size model of an old tube train in the middle acting as a bar.

We were given two branded poker tokens which could be exchanged for drinks at the bar. I had a Cranberry and Southern Comfort which I’ve never had before but really enjoyed it, and had one of their tall cocktails which was Southern Comfort with ginger beer and lime juice- now I don’t like ginger beer or ginger ale but that drink was lush! I’m going to steal and claim it as my own at my next cocktail party.

I turned the corner to go to the other dance room and was greeted by a man in a rocking chair waving a handkerchief! “Well hey there ma’m welcome to the juke joint. How r’ y’all t’day?”  I was a little taken a back but was really impressed the effort SOCO had gone to make the event authentic, that wasn’t all though! Various characters were milling around all night including a voodoo man with white and black face paint on, a couple of ladies giving out SOCO mardi-gras  necklaces, a dancer strutting her stuff on the dance floor and another lady giving out branded tambourines, hand shakers, and various other hand held instruments. I love my tambourine but I’m sure the other passengers on the way home didn’t appreciate my jiggling and my singing – more fool them!  At one point all the female characters climbed on the bar and had a little dance, coyote ugly style.

The music was awesome; I stayed for DJ sets from Blonde Ambition, Joe (Hot Chip) Goddard  and Dixon Brothers. The music was normal house/electronica/dance music with one major twist. A trumpeter, snare drummer or trombone player were playing alongside. Joe Goddard and the trumpet player were in my opinion the best pair, it worked really well. Loved it. Check out this video, it’ll prove my point!

Blonde Ambition

I was accosted by two face painters who painted a lightning bolt of my chest out of UV paint which (unsurprisingly) showed up when I passed through the UV in one of the other rooms.

All night I kept getting whiffs of food, a slight Smokey, chilli, creole smell filled the air all night. I thought it was a smell pumped into the air until I saw the New Orleans kitchen at the back of the main room selling Jambalaya, chilli and other New Orleans classic dishes. I didn’t taste any myself but saw people walking round with plate plied high of food, salad and rice. It really did look very very tasty.

Scores on the (royal) doors:  

Food and service:  The smell was divine

Atmosphere and decoration:  Edgy, very welcoming and the decoration was minimal but made a big impact

Facilities:  lots of old style school type benches to rest my feeties.

Talent Radar:  Not too bad, possible hotties….

Fun Factor: Loads’a fun, a one off unique event and I appreciated all the effort SOCO had gone to bring the Deep South to London

In 3 words: #Voodoo Baby Voodoo#

Halloween at The Rectory, Purley.

Hellooooooo

I love Halloween.  I love Halloween. Shall I say it again…..I love Hallo…, you get the picture!! The main reason I like Halloween so much is that it’s a great excuse for a spot of fancy dress,  it’s the only time I get to flex my gore make up skills and most of all I like seeing other people’s fancy dress skills. Unlike half of the population of the UK when it comes to Halloween I like to dress up scary, not slutty. This year I went a vampire, with a stake through its heart and my friend went as my victim/murder.

I heard the place to be this Halloween was a pub in Purley called the Rectory so gathered up my band of dead(ish)  friends and headed over Purley

I couldn’t believe it when we walked in! There were cobwebs, giant spiders, massive pumpkins, huge gravestones, mini spiders amongst the cobwebs and the entire bar staff had gone all out in a massive fancy-dress-a-thon. Not only did we see a zombie Smurf but we had Mexican skeletons and Pumpkins, not to mention the other customers who had dressed up as a cross dressing zombie bride and his zombie followers. All in all, my efforts were dwarfed.

DEMON!

It wasn’t till later in the night speaking to the bar staff that I realised that all the decorations were hand made from papier-mâché by the manager herself. Giant pumpkins, spiders, graveyards, witches cauldrons, all totally amaze. I think from the pictures, it’s pretty safe to say, she did an AWESOME job! *Claps to her*

The rest of the customers, (even though slightly drunk) were really friendly and all of them very very talkative. I couldn’t shut half of them up to be honest. Several rounds of Southern Comfort put us in the same situation and we were happy to join in the conversations.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking! Well done to all the staff for making the night totally fantastimacal.

 

Scores on the (royal) doors: 

Food and service:  Really quick, lots of creepy zombie smiles

Atmosphere and decoration:  awesome, amassing, outstanding, creative…

Facilities:  managed to dodge the dancing dead people on the dance floor

Talent Radar:  Little older but very friendly

Fun Factor: Hell to the yeeeah!

Perfect for: Massive all-rounder, must visit during the day to get a better over view.

In 3 words: The Monster Mash.

For other reviews visit Croydon Today and All In London

Pembroke Castle

I went to the Pembroke Castle – Primrose Hill the other day for a spot of lunch with some friends.  The bar itself is just up from Chalk Farm tube station so it was super easy to find (and considering I’d get lost in a paper bag means it must be REALLY easy to find!!)

The inside of the bar is really welcoming and had a cute eclectic feel about it. On the walls were lots of little framed postcards of local shops, road signs and funky little bits of graffiti. They had good taste in music as well, bit of old indie songs like The Libertines, Blur mixed with
more recent stuff like Ed Sheeran. Massive thumbs from me on that front. On all the tables were pots of basil, and even though that might sound weird, it looked really cool and I’ve since taken the idea and stuck a wrapped pot of basil on my kitchen table.

Seeing as it was sunny – Yes I said sunny, can you believe it a whole afternoon without rain or hurricanes!!! –   We sat outside in the beer garden which was really cute with fairy lights and cushion, very boo hoo, bang on. If only it was July again, a jug of Pimm’s or a Gin and tonic would have been just the ticket.

Actually choosing something for lunch was a bit of a mission. Both of us were in the mood for pizza but couldn’t pick one, goats
cheese and red onion, peri peri chicken or pepperoni. Dilemma.  In the end we shared a peri peri chicken pizza and the goat’s cheese and red onion pizza. Both were so so yummy, I didn’t really want to share the red onion one, it was far too good. Much too good to share with friends. Tee hee!

The bar seemed really well stocked, there looked to be something for everyone, beer, ale, cocktails for the eve, spirits. If only my flat was this well stocked, I’d never have to leave.

I noticed there was an upstairs meeting room which would be good to rent out for parties. They actually hold comedy nights up there every now and again, would be fun to go to one in the future I think. The staff were really friendly and seemed to enjoy their job. I hate grumpy barmaids.

Heading up to Stirling this week for a beach party, Beach parties shouldn’t exist in Scotland, I’m going to freeze my butt off. Is it ok
to wear scarves and Ugg boots with a sundress? Ill rock it anyway!!

Scores on the (royal) doors:  

Food and service:  Scrummy, I’d return just for the pizza. The staff were lovely.

Atmosphere and decoration:  Really chilled loved the fresh flowers around the bar.

Facilities:  Loved the retro bottle green tiles

Talent Radar:  Slim pickings. 😦

Fun Factor: Wasn’t a heart pumping night out but Pembroke was very relaxing,
just what I needed

Perfect for: General hang out, lunch date, pre-bar drinks

In 3 words: Good Indie Pub.

Don’t just take my word for it though! Check out other reviews at:
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/31/3144/Pembroke_Castle/Primrose_Hill