London Gin Club offers over 400 gins 🙂 In short, you need to go! As Ricardo’s Christmas present, we were booked in for a “History of Cocktails” gin tasting experience which was 1.5 hours long. We were dealt with promptly by super friendly staff, taken downstairs to the lovely and atmospheric cellar area, where we were served our gins throughout the session and were provided with quite a deal of information about the history of gin cocktails! The staff were passionate and the tasters were small but just the right amount; I felt quite tipsy on leaving! I loved the staff’s expertise and historical knowledge we were provided, but expected that during the tasting we would have more time to talk. We probably had just a few seconds per cocktail at best! We left the event straight away as had the Candlelight Club lined up, but for those remaining they were able to stay in the lovely secluded downstairs area and order cocktail with table service, instead of being in the very noisy and busy upstairs area. I would totally recommend doing that therefore, and not rushing off as we had to. Found just behind Oxford Street, it’s a gorgeous but small bar and therefore I recommend booking a table. See their website re full details of bookings: https://thelondonginclub.com/book-a-table/
Our gin cocktail tasting session was £32 pp and further details can be located here: https://thelondonginclub.com/tasting-events-at-the-lgc/ I strongly recommend for a lovely experience for a date, catch up with friends or with a partner. We had all mixes of people in our group, and it was great.
Candlelight Club focuses on 1920’s night and the event was held in Angel. The dress code is Gatsby style glamour and the party centres mainly in one room, with an outdoor area for smoking. From being spoilt with Prohibition and Blitz parties from vintage organisers Bourne and Hollingworth, this feels a little restrictive to me.
Design my night lists this event as one of the best immersive events. It isn’t immersive though, so I’m not sure if I’ve missed something! It’s a great party, but I’m not sure where’d they suggest the immersive really comes in. The party started at 7.30pm and finished at 12am, again, a bit early really. There is the option to book a table and dinner pre the party. As we didn’t do that, I can’t comment on the standard of the food or service, although it certainly looked lovely. The compere was hilarious and the live music was pleasant, just one band however. Cocktails were good and standard London prices at around £8.50 a go. You could only pay for drinks or the cloakroom in cash, which I thought was a bit ridiculous I’ll be honest. My boyfriend had an experience with one of the barmen assuming he could keep his change: I would say as so many party go-ers are fairly tipsy at these let your hair down events, it’s probably advisable here (and anywhere) to keep an eye on what you are handing over!
We had a great evening with our lovely friends, however as you may possibly be realising, I’m not sure I feel overly passionate about the Candlelight Club event or would return. Do check their website though, as it’s very detailed and it may be for you. I would also say, if you go and like it, then you are going to love the Bourne and Hollingworth events!! 🙂