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If you’re passionate about interior design, mark your calendar for Decorex 2024, taking place from October 6-9 at Olympia Events in London. For 46 years, Decorex has been the UK’s premier event for discovering the latest trends and products in high-end interior design. This year promises to be more exciting […]
As the global epicenter of creativity and design, London is set to host some of the most anticipated interior design events of 2024. This year, the city’s vibrant design community will converge on four major events that promise to redefine the boundaries of interior aesthetics: the Cruise Ship Interiors Expo, […]
Modern living rooms have become synonymous with the perfect fusion of style and comfort in London’s bustling metropolis. These contemporary spaces exude sophistication while providing a haven of tranquility in the midst of urban chaos as a hub of relaxation and entertainment. In this article, we’ll look at what makes […]
A gin palace is an English name originally for a lavish bar selling gin, later transferred by association to late Victorian pubs designed in a similar style.
In the 18th century, gin shops or ‘dram shops’ were just small shops (often originally chemist’s shops as gin originally had medicinal associations) that sold gin mostly to take away, or to drink standing up. As the legislation changed establishments generally became larger; they also had to be licensed and sell ale or wine. In the late 1820s the first ‘Gin Palaces’ were built, Thompson and Fearon’s in Holborn and Weller’s in Old Street, London. They were based on the new fashionable shops being built at the time, fitted out at great expense and lit by gas lights.
Londoners are drinking gin like it’s going out of fashion. Which it did for a bit, around the 1980s. But now it’s back with a vengeance. The spirit has a long history, much of it disreputable, and new cocktail bars are having fun rummaging in the vintage dressing-up box, finding design inspiration from New York speakeasies, Parisian jazz bars and, increasingly, the sort of low-lit Victorian drinking establishment where you might have rubbed velvet-clad shoulders with Whistler or Wilde.
Some best known gin bars in London are Graphic Bar, Dukes hotel, Portobello Star Bar, the Viaduct Tavern, Match Bar, The Gilbert’s Gin Garden, the Star at Night and Purl.
And sure you hear about Spismith, the London Gin Club and City of London Distillery.
Are you a gin lover? I guess you visit some of these places, then. Tell me about your experience!
