Worship Street Whistling Shop

Shoreditch / Brick Lane, London –

City professionals visiting the Worship Street Whistling Shop may feel like they’re stepping back in time as they descend the stairs to this two-room wood-paneled bar.

Curious couples and adventurous tourists find themselves in a Victorian-themed space, complete with flickering lights and a large glass enclosure that is home to the test tubes, burners, and other futuristic-looking contraptions used to make this bar’s otherworldly cocktails.

Waiters eagerly explain the more unusual ingredients like chip pan bitters, malic acid, and walnut ketchup, encouraging drinkers to boldly order seasonally changing mixed drinks like Gold Dust – a sparkling wine cocktail with chlorophyll bitters – and The (Substitute) Bosom Caresser, a brandy- and grenadine-based concoction containing powdered milk.

A streetlamp centerpiece gives the spacious second room a vaguely Dickensian feel, providing a cozy, glowing backdrop for the lively groups of after-work revelers who feast on charcuterie washed down with domestic bottled brews.

For carousers who aren’t tipsy enough after a few specialty cocktails, The Cocktail Emporium room offers a two-hour multisensory experience where imbibers can learn about topics like the history of different alcohols through filmed presentations, costumed performers, piped-in smells, and, of course, plenty of actual liquor.

Part tribute to a bygone era, part futuristic cocktail lounge, Worship Street Whistling Shop does more than recreate the past – it re-imagines it.