Drink to Last Days of Decadence

It's nice to see a new club opening amid all the credit crunch gloom. Especially such a good one. Down what used to be — until relatively recently - the grottier end of Shoreditch High Street, The Last Days Of Decadence is an elegant art deco club and bar, featuring a hip Hoxton crowd, riotous parties and new twists on all your favourite cocktails.

The name is from America’s Jazz Age, that hedonistic interlude between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the Great Depression from 1929: a decade of dissipation, hot bands, racoon coats and bootleg booze, an "anything goes" feel which this venue certainly tries to emulate.

I’d heard a lot about TLDOD since its launch late last year, and wanted to check out DJ Jodie Harsh’s very successful Circus night (£5 before 11pm, £8 after), formerly at the now-defunct Soho Revue Bar but now happening at TLDOD every Friday.

Other nights include Luke Christie and Spencer Brown’s Jazz Jam with a special guest every Monday, and the monthly "Bloody" night — don’t fret, it means "bloody awful poetry". And look out for Prohibition parties with the Texas Chainsaw Orchestra.

We arrived at Circus at 11pm, not quite prepared for the extravagance of the regulars’ outfits. Let’s just say lots of men were more dressed up than the women.

Finding a table upstairs in the wood-panelled bar area we started to browse the huge drinks menu and soaked up the surroundings — fresh flowers on the starched tablecloths and stained glass windows. A good sound system brought the entertainment bang up to date.

Food is served from 5.30pm to 10pm. The small but perfectly formed menu includes pan-fried chorizo picante cooked in port (£4.50) and chargrilled chicken wings with dressing (five wings, £5.95). We fortified ourselves for the night ahead with the nachos rancheros (£6.45), smothered in cheese, sour cream and salsa.

Fitting in nicely with the Twenties theme, many of the drinks are served Prohibition-style, camouflaged as non-alcoholic beverages. I shared one of these "cockteas" with my friend Chris.

Don’t jump to conclusions — TLDOD offers a range of alcohol-infused hot cocktail teas (£9.50 a pot). We chose Boun-Tea: jasmine tea with 75ml of Koko Kanu coconut rum, 25ml of Mozart dark chocolate liqueur and 25ml of Chambord berry liqueur. Fresh raspberries in the glass made it pretty, and also made me feel slightly healthy.
Drinking warm tea on a night out felt strange, I admit, but it was deceptively potent and after a pot I definitely knew I had been drinking.

After an alcoholic cup or two too many, we decided to explore and made our way from the genteel bar to the unexpectedly thumping club that was waiting for us downstairs. Trannie-about-town Harsh was playing a brilliant set of dirty electro remixes and, at midnight, Peaches (the singer, not the Geldof) took over the decks as a guest DJ which was an awesome surprise.