15 Eccleston Street,
Westminster,
London,
SW1W 9LX
0871 971 7286
The ViewLondon Review
The Boisdale Club benefits from a lack of viable drinking-hole competition in the immediate vicinity.
It is undoubtedly something of an oasis, as it has a good deal of character and several unique selling points: an abundant range of cigars, and 200 varieties each of whisky and of wine. Live jazz every night highlights the more traditional approach to indulgence encouraged by the Boisdale. It also has an award winning restaurant, click here to read our review.
As this type of enjoyment does not tend to come cheap, and as the SW1 area is not one which really hard-up boho groovers tend to live in, it will come as no surprise that the clientele is professional and city/banker boy heavy. Sadly, some of them do not quite have the class to match the cash.
I was regaled with tales of the unexpected: grey-looking suits boasting about their encounters with Brazilian ladyboys in the Bois de Boulogne, and their extra-marital flings with hirsute continental women. They did apologise for their loudness in a thoroughly pleased way, but I got the distinct impression they just wanted to make sure everyone was actually paying attention. The only difference between men and boys is the size of their tall stories.
Luckily, unlike those punters, the Boisdale is not a one story Tory. Apart from the main dining room and bar, there is are two other small dining rooms, one of which is in a charming conservatory with a roof that slides open in the warm weather. The other is small, discreet and soothing. There is also another drinking room, which has lovely wooden bow windows and gives more scope for private chat than the restaurant bar.
The design is how I’d imagine a naughty Scottish aunt who had once had a French lover to do up her Edinburgh tea rooms: gilt framed prints everywhere, columns with golden Corinthian capitals, deep green and rich red with tartan upholstery under every bottom. A kitsch baroque carriage lamp hangs above the polished bar, with real candles, which no doubt dance and flicker as the trad jazz bounces off the gilt cornices, and the sky turns indigo to black through the skylight overhead.
It isn’t cheap, but it’s quite fun, and there aren’t many places with any personality in the immediate vicinity. The staff were incredibly charming, knowledgeable and friendly, and make a real difference to the atmosphere.
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