Light Bar (Closed)

Address: St Martin's Lane Hotel, 45 St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4HX, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 207 300 5599
Website: view Light Bar (Closed)’s website
Door: Members & guests only
Style: Lounge bar
Food: Tapas/plates & dishes
Established: 1999

Review

Ian Schrager's St. Martins Lane Hotel opened in October 1999 in a blaze of publicity. The original Light Bar that lay at the end of the Stark designed lobby was noted for being full of celebs, being impossible for mere mortals to access and for not having a bar. It was a bar without a bar! Waitresses took your order and a hidden bartender created your drink.

The new look Light Bar still sits at the end of the hotel's lobby, between Asia de Cuba and Tuscan restaurants. And, yes, it still has the waitress service and the hidden bar screened from view by a cabinet of antique glassware, but there's now also a very visible second bar in the middle of the room.

The eponymous light filled ceiling shafts are still there, as are the odd celeb, great cocktails and the door policy, only the crowd are ageing these days and coloured walls now resemble a Dulux advertisement.