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Claridge's Bar
London
Venerable. Tradition-bound. Staid. These words often spill out in rapid-fire form when veteran international travelers talk about Claridge's, the legendary hotel in London's Mayfair district. But don't be fooled. They're out-of-date descriptions for one of the most luxuriously appointed hotels in the world. The 197-room Brook Street hostelry, just minutes by foot from Bond Street's elegant shopping district, has been refurbished to its turn-of-the-century architectural glory at an expense of more $50 million, and, at the same time, modernized for the new millennium. One of the more welcome contemporary additions is a stylish cigar lounge.
The juxtaposition of old and new is striking. In the rooms and suites, bedside buttons will summon a waiter, valet or maid, but on the table in the living room, a fax machine blinks away. In the bathroom, the sewer cap-sized brass shower head seems antique, but the water pressure is tremendous. The white ceramic bathtub is plenty big for two.
Nowhere is that contrast of old and new more evident than in the main lobby. Straight ahead through the brass-handled revolving doors are the Foyer and the Reading Room, where high tea is served every afternoon and cocktails every evening. The hotel describes the waiters as "liveried footmen." Just to the right of the entrance, tucked away under a sweeping staircase to the first floor, a door leads to a new bar, redone in Art Deco motifs with low-slung chairs and couches that evoke the trendiest of London's modern hangouts. There, standing in a corner near the street entrance, is a humidor case filled with some of the finest Cubans brands.
The humidor is very well maintained. The offerings include most major sizes of Cohiba and Montecristo, plus Bolivar Royal Coronas, Partagas Serie D. No. 4s, Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2s, Punch Double Coronas and Margaritas, Romeo y Julieta Cedros No. 3s and Churchills, and Trinidad Fundadores. There is also a Macanudo Duke of Windsor for £8.50 (about $14). Prices for Cuban cigars range from £4.25 (about $7) for the Punch Margaritas to £42.50 (about $68) for the Trinidads.
Claridge's Bar, which reopened last year for the hotel's centennial celebration, is an intimate place to sip Champagne (available by the glass) or a full range of single malts and whiskeys and enjoy a cigar in quiet contemplation. Light food items, such as a goat cheese terrine and caviar with buckwheat and lemon blinis, are also available. But above all, it is place to share the company of people who truly understand how to please themselves. It's quiet. It's luxurious. And it has all the trappings of a place where people with money go to enjoy the finest things the world has to offer. The crowd is an eclectic mix of London characters--the Middle Eastern playboys, the traditional (and yes, staid) British gentlemen in pinstriped double-breasted suits, the traveling international businessmen, and the hip young couples dressed in black just looking to hide away in a quiet corner. The head bar man, Niall Cowen, is friendly, and ready with all kinds of suggestions to accompany your favorite cigar.
You don't have to be checked in to Claridge's to check out Claridge's Bar. But hopefully you will be. That way, you can take your time in the bar, then slip out to the operator-manned elevator and ride up to the absolute luxury of a Claridge's suite.
--Gordon Mott
Claridge's Bar
Brook Street
Mayfair
London W1A 2JQ
England
Phone: 011-44-207-629-8860
Fax: 011-44-207-449-2210
Hours:
Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Sunday, 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Go to Cigar Bar Central.
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