119 Hampstead Road,
London,
NW1 3EE
0872 148 1555
The ViewLondon Review
Remember that cartoon Mr Ben where, dressed in a banker's uniform of bowler hat and pinstripes and armed with an umbrella, he goes into a fancy dress shop only to step out the changing room and into another time portal, transformed by the costume he was wearing?
This is how it felt stepping from Hampstead Road into Positively 4th Street. Clambering out of my taxi, Positively 4th Street was a dark, nondescript building boxed in and overshadowed by convenience stores artificially shining with tube lighting and fridges displaying Happy Shopper chocolate milk and cans of shandy.
However, rounding a corner and crossing the threshold I was transported to a world of seedy sophistication; to a time of The Untouchables and Prohibition.
Influenced by Japanese art and 1930s America, Positively 4th Street is a seductive bar bejewelled with art deco windows and mirrors. Spanning the room is a 35ft bar, lined with mushroom puff stools and bottles of spirits, gleaming temptation and with the promise of cocktails...
Leather banquettes, made shadowy by the tealights flickering on the tables, allow for covert conversations - perfect for an intimate rendezvous with people who you really shouldn't be seeing - and punkawella, petal-like fans, sweep back and forth from the ceiling, cooling the pace, allowing you to linger over your drink, losing hours to a world where smoke clouds are supposed to linger.
I arrived in the early evening and the bar was quiet with only a few after-work drinkers. Yet I got the impression that the bar was warming up for later on. With a full DJ line up at the weekend, Positively 4th Street plays host to funk, hip-hop, Brazilian house and classic soul meaning that the people in the know can party until 1am in a bar that is a little off the beaten track.
Downstairs there is a dance floor and the whole venue makes a fantastic place for a party. Decadent food - sushi, oysters, bento boxes - the house's specialities are served by the Japanese kitchen at lunch and dinner but most importantly alcohol is served every day from midday 'til late in a New York saloon on street level with an underground attitude…