Candy is Dandy, But Brickers are Quicker

I love living in London. There, I said it. It's not just because there is a vast network of design, architecture, culture, music, art, whatevs. No, it is a city that seems to be keenly aware of all mid-twenties' flaws and interests. First we'll talk social, then we'll talk architecture.

1)  The bars close about midnight.
At first this seems like a terrible idea, I mean aren't you going to make more money after people get really, really drunk at 11:30? England says 'No. You are drunk. Go home.' and shuffles the group out the door. Sure there are clubs that stay open later, and I'd be lying if I hadn't been to several of them.

 (including one in Bethnal Green that looked like a haunted house. I've been trying to find it since then and that club is like a darker, spookier Brigadoon. No one knows what I'm talking about. But I've seen it, I was there)

However, like a responsible friend, the city remind you that a lot of things done after midnight are really, really bad ideas. Kudos.

2) OMG Food.
Dude, I can't even. I have lost my ability to even. All even has forthwith left the premises. There is a stereotype about British Food being bland and terrible and that's just not true (except in the case of Sainsbury's Pastys. I'm sorry. They're awful). You get everything. Let me say that again: OOOOOVVVEEERRRYYYTHIIIING. And now that I've found a carryout website for my area, the chances of me turning into this are more likely than ever.

So why bring these aspects up? Isn't this an architecture blog? Why are you talking about your overeating and drinking you hedonistic, hippopotamic land mass? I'm getting there, hold on.

In my adventures around the city I have come across some pretty good bars that are in honest-to-God beautiful buildings. Knowledge which I will now share with you. So see below for my list of the best architecturally themed bars in London:

1) The Corner Room
Town Hall Hotel, Patriot Square, E2 9NF, E2
If you want to go somewhere to feel like you run the British empire then check out the Corner Room. The Town Hall Hotel is exactly what it sounds like. Previously a civic center it was abandoned for a number of years before it was taken over and re-vamped into a hotel. The private room is in an old hearing chambers and screams 'damndable inconvenience this First World War what what!'

2) One Marylebone
1 Marylebone Rd, NW1 4AQ, NW1
Originally designed by the famous Architect John Soane, this former church now serves as an event venue/sometimes restaurant/sometimes bar which has a pretty flexible interior space. As their website states: "It was the most expensive, and externally the most architecturally distinguished of [Soane's] three churches...Apart from the loss of the original chancel and most of the original fittings, the basic structure of Soane’s church survives complete, and is of national architectural and historical significance."

3) Architectural Association Bar
36 Bedford Square, WC1
This may be a little bit biased as it's literally the closest bar to my School, but it can't be beat for student prices and has a pretty decent selection. Located on the second floor on a refurbished Georgian house in the last full Georgian-era square in London, the AA bar might not be the most glamorous but it has always got an interesting exhibition on and as an architecture school, a space layout to be proud of.

4) The Shoreditch
145 Shoreditch High St, E1 6JE
We may be seeing a pattern here. Old buildings refitted with new bars: not this one. I'll get real with you here: There are better bars in Shoreditch, there are better bars in Hackney, there are better bars in Hoxton but as an architecture bar, I do like this one. It seems that between 2006 and 2011 there was an obsession with shipping containers as architecture, the blame for which I place directly on to 'Yes is More' and just as wood paneling screams of some kind of Mad-men-esque mid-century California modernist ideal so does this bar say 'It was 2013 and I was listening to Animal Collective and The Weekend on my shuffle while this Dude-bro was yaking on and on about his organic urban bee-farming project.' Just put on your 60$ flannel shirt and get with the Zeitgeist. I promise you, 40 years from now people will think it was cool. Whatever that means.

 5) River Cafe
Thames Wharf, Rainville Road, W6 9HA
I should start off by clarifying: I am specific kind of poor right now. Not 'I'm starving' poor. Not 'I don't know where my next paycheck is coming from' poor. Not real poor. I'm the kind of poor where you get really pretty before you go out so you can charm someone into buying you drinks based solely on your appearance. It's something that I like to call 'Con-man' poor and while it shames me to admit it, it works. That being said, the River Cafe is the kind place that is so expensive looking it makes a drifter-fly-by-night-Carney like me nervous. It's a 2008 Richard Rogers/Stuart Forbes set-up so while vaguely reminiscent of an Ikea, it's less meatball and more money ball.

6) Coq D'Argent
Central Boulevard, Blythe Valley Business Park, B90 8AG
If you're more of James Stirling quasi Post-modern fan, then the Coq D'Argent roof deck is a great place for you. The word for this building is 'Unsubtle' so you will be able to spot it from a ways away. Some people love it, others hate it, but regardless of preference you can't deny it's got style. Nestled deep in the financial district you can get a great view of the city and the river from one of the weirdest, most wonderful buildings in London. And I will fight anyone who says different.

So that's all I've got for now. Is it a complete list? No, of course not. In fact there is a woeful lacking of 'Pubs' which are the most ubiquitous and comforting of all English Bars. Just take these as a recommendation if you like buildings and liquor in the same place.