8 Broadwick Street,
Soho,
London,
W1F 8HN
0871 971 3936
The ViewLondon Review
Are you a player? A drinker? A mover and a shaker? Yes? Then you're this bar's target audience. One of the slickest enterprises to hit Soho for, oh, a while, The Player has a cool name and an interior to match.
Part of a chain of private members clubs (including the possibly even better-named Milk and Honey on Poland Street), this is the only component of the group you can actually enter without paying an annual subscription.
My guess is that they see the exclusivity as a selling point: signs on the door state that after 11 it's members only and if you're name's not dahn you're not coming in. It's £250 per annum for that privilege and there's a waiting list, if you're interested. The good news is, you get to visit Milk and Honey too, and its sister bar in Manhattan should you be passing through. If you don't join, the drinks are still not quite cheap. So what do you get for your money?
You get a drinks menu designed by Dale DeGroff. I assume that means he chose the drinks rather than the colour of the leaflet, since his speciality is getting people tipsy in a delicious and fashionable way (That would be one way of putting it…he is, in fact, renowned as one of the greatest barmen and cocktail makers in the world. Ed.).
You also get plush retro cool. Dim lighting pervades a warm, gravy-brown space furnished with comfy nooks, mahogany wall panels and lots of leather. 70s-inspired lamps hang over the bar in orange and tan splendour, and the bar staff are suavely exotic to complement the scheme.
The crowd I encountered struck me as rather subdued, and uncannily smart for a Soho gathering. Apparently though there's no strict dress policy – if you look cool, you're in.
And, surprisingly, entry is only £3 Friday and Saturday nights for DJs and drinks till 1a.m. Music is funky lounge style stuff – the kind of tracks that get sampled, the manager tells me. Intrigued? Well, you're certainly going to have a classy evening here, that's for sure. So put on your slickest outfit: the in crowd's waiting…