{"id":2274,"date":"2025-10-24T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=2274"},"modified":"2025-10-24T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:00:00","slug":"inside-londons-coolest-new-secret-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=2274","title":{"rendered":"Inside London\u2019s Coolest New Secret Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our drinks columnist discovers a musical den of iniquity in Mayfair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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And it\u2019s now a drinking destination thanks to the launch of No Regrets, a blood-red speakeasy hidden in the bowels of British rock \u2018n\u2019 roll jeweler Stephen Webster\u2019s recently opened boutique.<\/p>\n

No Regrets doesn\u2019t have an Instagram account or a website. You won\u2019t find its reservations number online. The only way to gain access is down a little staircase tucked away at the back of the store. \u201cI think people like that fact it\u2019s a bit secret,\u201d says Webster with a chuckle. \u201cThey think, \u2018we can disappear here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The bar is a collaboration with two of Webster\u2019s old fiends: chef Mark Hix and bartender Nick Strangeway, two famously convivial veterans of the British food and drink scene. Also on the team is Stu Bale, the mixological whizz behind drinks studio Crucible. It\u2019s highly likely you\u2019ll find at least one of these chaps in the bar on any given night.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9Stephen Webster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mood is dark and decadent: velvet banquettes-meets-candlelight. But in true Webster style, there are also playful details: a trio of iced mini martinis comes on a silver tray engraved with the words \u2018Enjoy Your Flight,\u2019 while the jaw-dropping golden toilet is worth a visit, too.<\/p>\n

Other signature cocktails include a sour cherry-spiked negroni and an English twist on the margarita, made with blackcurrant and lemon verbena instead of citrus. Everything is served in exquisite glassware, over crystal-clear ice.<\/p>\n

The menu is a rollcall of great British producers \u2013 Capreolus; Pleasantland; Vault. The house fizz is a traditional-method sparkler by English winemaker-of-the-moment Dermot Sugrue. Five-star bar snacks include sausage rolls, caviar with blinis and Mark Hix\u2019s own smoked trout with soda bread.<\/p>\n

Webster has also laid on a record player, with vinyl from his own stash. \u201cWe\u2019ve got rock, reggae, Motown, a bit of everything,\u201d he says. \u201cI hope people will have a look through and pick out what they want. Or even bring in a record of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u00a9Stephen Webster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the other side of the room is a cabinet stocked with Webster\u2019s more rock \u2018n\u2019 roll designs, hardware that\u2019s adorned the fingers, wrists and necks of stars ranging from Ozzie Osbourne and Steven Tyler to Elton John and Madonna. Some examples of Webster\u2019s homewares range, which includes ornate knives and cocktails sets, are also on display.<\/p>\n

The tininess of the bar makes it very sociable. Within minutes of arriving I find myself chatting to a couple at the next table. He\u2019s an artist, I learn, and we soon discover we have musical friends in common. \u201cIn that way, it\u2019s less like a bar and more like a living room,\u201d says Strangeway, \u201cor a room in an old-fashioned pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of arcade closing times, the place keeps funny hours \u2013 it\u2019s officially only open 2-7pm Tuesday through Friday. But don\u2019t be surprised if you find yourself getting swept-up in a spontaneous lock-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like it to feel a bit like stumbling into one of those amazing bars you find in Ginza in Tokyo,\u201d says Strangeway. \u201cYou have to unravel things a bit to get there. I want people to come in, put some vinyl on, have a nice drink, maybe a little snack and just lose track of time.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our drinks columnist discovers a musical den of iniquity in Mayfair.\u00a0 And it\u2019s now a drinking destination thanks to the launch of No Regrets, a blood-red speakeasy hidden in the bowels of British rock \u2018n\u2019 roll jeweler Stephen Webster\u2019s recently opened boutique. No Regrets doesn\u2019t have an Instagram account or a website. You won\u2019t find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}