5 places to make up with gin

Gin and I have a fraught relationship. The on-again-off-again sort. But when we make up, oh what a sweet reunion.  

London itself has had some tempestuous times with gin. From the rabid push at temperance shown in Hogarth’s Gin Lane lithographs to the glory-days of London’s gin palaces — their closure, and now their second coming.

What better place to reconcile? What better time than now?

My five spots for a make-up session:

1. You’ll forget yourself, the time, the year even, when you walk into Marylebone’s Purl. It’s modelled on a Victorian gin palace, and slings an unmissably odd, eponymous cocktail.

2. you prefer your old-world-charm served with a touch of class? (A touch that don’t come cheap.) Soak up the Hendrick’s Gin Cocktail Afternoon Tea at Green Park’s Berry Bar.

3. For a more modern take, head to Graphic, in the heart of Soho ad-land, with its enormous and colourful selection of brands.

4.  214 Bermondsey wields mystery well, and a cocktail shaker better. Enough to help you make nice with your old frenemy, gin? Perhaps.

5. Like 214 Bermondsey, 69 Colebrooke Row is too cool for a name. An address is all they need. Well, that and the damn fine gin. Their master classes also look worth a shot. 

By James McKnight