Cocktails at Kingly Court's Cahoots!

We clattered down the narrow staircase, following the sign to the ticket office. A smartly dressed ticket officer in a double breasted blue coat and flat cap greeted us. “The train tonight is full Madam, unless of course, you were looking for something else..?” We were handed our tickets and buzzed through a door, where we were directed ‘to the trains.’ We rounded a corner and ended up on the most lively platform I have ever seen. No, sorry, the tube hasn’t started hosting secret after hours parties- we were in Cahoots, London’s newest (and only) war-time tube themed bar!

 Cahoots has taken one of London’s old air raid shelters and turned it into something totally magical. Sand bags line some of the walls, while vintage posters, signs, tube maps and train paraphernalia cover the others. We sat on the southbound platform (others sat in a recreation of a 1940s train carriage!) while staff dashed around not only in costume, but also in character! The menu looked more like a collection of vintage newspaper clippings, each page different, while the cocktails were themed with some rousing names such as ‘give peas a chance’ or named after stars of the ‘40s!

The cocktails were all tasty and presented beautifully. Mine came in a pretty crystal champagne flute, decorated with an apple crisp and a skewered blackberry. Another came in a tin mug (white with a blue rim of course!) and apparently you can even get one which is served in a working clock! We were also given a tin proclaiming to contain baking soda but instead was filled with popcorn, and, much to our delight and surprise, we were later presented with two complimentary lunchboxes filled with mini sandwiches, crusts cut off and filled with classics such as cheese and pickle. Hey, nothing excites me quite like free food!

Cahoots was a lot of fun- there was so much going on around us that I had to leave my seat several times to go have a closer look at something I’d just noticed and I caught myself more than once just gazing around the bar, taking it all in! All in all, Cahoots is definitely worth a visit, but I’d recommend you book- rush hour seems to go on all night!