Corney & Barrow Exchange Square

You can tell a lot about the culture of a place by how its planners choose to treat the humble town square.

In some towns, the square becomes a market stall in the weekend at which you can purchase high quality meat, vegetable, and dairy products. These come complete with cafes at which you can indulge in the local delicacies while washing them down with your beverage of choice. In some Northern European towns they can even include a water feature - admittedly of variable quality.

However, in the dear old City, developers have shown the initiative for which they are famous, and turned a barren stretch of land behind Liverpool Street station into a community square; complete with a water feature, a croquet lawn, and a handful of pubs and bars.
And the best of this admittedly random selection of drinking venues is the local Corney & Barrow - the fine wine and beer chain that is the closest thing that the Square Mile has to 'bar royalty'.

At first glance, Corney & Barrow in Exchange Square seems to sit at odds with the rest of its brethren. For a start, the bar itself is not much bigger than a garden shed, and seems to have been designed by someone whose core competencies are in greenhouses rather then wine bars. Depending on where you are seated, your view can be the departure platforms of Liverpool Street station. Interesting for trainspotters I’m sure, but not so much for your average punter.

Yet I do the Corney & Barrow Exchange Square a disservice, as packed into this glass room with (not much of) a view, is space for up to 50 imbibers, serviced by charming and very efficient bar staff, and a nice little atmosphere. The lack of space gives the place an intimacy which is friendly rather then intrusive. And, of course, in summer the place comes into its own as City folks take advantage of the open plan concrete to quaff rosé and European lagers in the sunshine.

I often think that bars/pubs around train stations are subject to the law of diminishing returns - they deteriorate in quality the closer you get. The Corney & Barrow in Exchange Square is a notable exception to this rule, and as a result has become a regular for my motley crew of bankers. I recommend you try it.

Exchanging roof gardens for a square - Exchange Square

The plan was to head to a roof terrace for a St George's day Pimms. The Queen of Hoxton's to be precise. It was after all a gloriously sunny Thursday, the QOH ,formerly known as Industry, is both very close to where I work and a very funky and hip bar - after all Pixie(not Peaches) Geldof drinks there. Better still the QOH comes equipped with a large 'English country garden' style terrace, a feature that contrasts nicely to the urban uber-hip persona of the bar itself. Heavy D, as ever, was available so we both wobbled on down. One small problem. The terrace, albeit fully functional wasn't open. 'Private parties only senor' said the barman who I suspect wasn't local. The logic wasn't obvious to us or the bored looking hipsters draped over the furniture, so we bade our farewells and strolled 50 metres down the road for a bit of sunshine and Kirin's at Exchange Square.

You have to hand it to the English. In Europe if you get a clear bit of space behind a public amenity they'll turn it into a park with water features and the like. The English turn it into a glorified garden bar. Albeit with a water feature. Situated just behind Liverpool St station, Exchange Square is the effectively the border where the City meets Shoreditch. No pretty young things or hipsters at this place. The men are all dressed like they've stepped straight out of an Austin Reed catalogue, while the highly out-numbered women are appropriately corporate conservative. It's a bit like drinking in Canary Wharf - but without the river views. For bars you have a Davy's - a dull version of Jamies; and a Corney and Barrow - an interesting version of a Jamies. Spoilt for choice then.

However in spite of these 'features' the place actually works very well. It's a natural sun-trap that's buzzy and sets you up for the evening very nicely. The service was sharp, the beers worked a treat. It wasn't the QOH, but it was a lot of fun. I think its best to ignore me in future.

The glamour of going out - The Diner, Shoreditch

Six months ago when I was on a social whirl of cocktail bars, clubs and restaurants in all the hot (and not so hot) spots in London town and NYC, a blog seemed the perfect place in which to show off how socially mobile and cool I am. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Of course, by the time I got around to actually putting this little thing into action, not only has the credit crunch brought my industry to its knees but worse I seem to have been afflicted by 'boring pub' syndrome, as my unemployed, or soon to be, crews keep insisting on 'cheap as chips' venues.

Which brings me nicely to the Bull Inn in Bishopsgate, which is where Friday night drinks kicked off. We were there to meet the Spaniard, who incidentally is English, and was over for a weekend of indecently bad behaviour. The beers flowed freely as he regaled us with stories about his recent 'adventures'. Not to be repeated on a site like this, but certainly enough to make yours truly physically (as opposed to metaphorically) blush. The Bull itself is everything that people dislike about they city - male-dominated, suited and conservative. However it's not entirely without merit. Great service, a decent selection of wine and beers, and a very nice atmosphere despite the 'cityness'.

The Northerner and I decided it was time to move on for food and headed for Shoreditch. En route we dropped into Jamies wine bar on Bishopsgate to have a cheeky vino with the Senorita who is actually Spanish, who was surrounded by a gang of fawning men, of which only one was her boyfriend. The fact that Jamies is, and markets itself as a 'wine bar' in the city probably tells you all that you need to know about it. I don't think I'm doing it a disservice by describing it as a downmarket Corney and Barrow. Nevertheless it does all those things that city bars do so well, with great service, a stonkingly good selection of top notch wine and beers, and a post-work atmosphere of splendid denial of the financial crisis, meaning that it certainly was a festive and fun stop.

We said our farewells to the Senorita and headed up to the Diner on Curtain Road. The place has successfully transposed the food and ambience of a Manhattan diner right to the very heart of Shoreditch - great food and drinks all served by local hipsters and pretty young things, waiting for their big break into the music, fashion or film industry. The ambience is good although a little on the tourist side as Europeans and non-local Brits try and get a slice of cool East End action. I have a couple of rather pretentious friends who have stated that Shoreditch is no longer 'cool' and going out on a Friday night is like being in a Disney theme park. Two points to make here. Given that these guys live in and frequent pubs and bars around Islington probably undermines any credibility they have as to reliable judges of what's 'cool'. And also, I don't know what Disney theme parks they go to, but if it has the number of great bars, music and funky well dressed people as the Ditch, then I'm packing my Mickey Mouse ears and heading for the Eurostar.

Back to The Diner, which is a superb place to drop in for a drink and food and is the perfect spot to observe the hip and wannabe cool kids of East London. It's also the perfect antidote to the City and a great place to round off the week. Roll on Saturday night.