Bars & Pubs

It's no great shock to find that this is a blues bar. On Charlotte Street. The clue is in the name.

You'll find it at the opposite end to Oxford Street: an unreconstructed, American-themed blues bar that resembles a scene from a 1980s John Hughes movie.

Bigger than BB King’s belly, it stretches over three floors with a slick pool hall and bar in the basement, a dedicated bourbon bar upstairs and a main bar inbetween where all the live G-string twanging goes down.

Black-and-white portraits of famous blues legends are scattered throughout and there’s a bizarre conservatory area that looks like it’s been lifted from a garden centre. Too clean cut for a genuine American dive bar, it could do with some smoke and seediness.

Drinkswise, there's an impressive range of American whiskeys, with more than 80 different bourbons. But where are the American microbrews? Shamefully for an American bar, it just sells Budweiser on tap and the rather dull Dixie in bottle.

Its signature mint julep is served in a traditional tin cup and there are several classic American whiskey cocktails including the Manhattan, the sazerac, the bourbon sour, the old fashion (sic) and variations on the Julep.

Super-sized Southern American specialities such as ribs, shrimp, jambalaya and Memphis pulled pork stack form the food menu. On our visit, the chicken salad was stodgy and bland while the burger was overdone. Damn right we got the blues.

The live music policy is blues, blues, blues, seven nights a week, attracting some pretty big names too.

Time Out London Issue 2046: November 5-11 2009