English roses judge a thorny issue

It was champagne and cocktails all the way as London's social behemoths set about the task of judging the Evening Standard Bar of the Year competition.

Novelist and singer Eva Rice, our cub judge, is now a convert to the style bar having spent many years performing with her band in the backrooms of pubs.

Fran Cutler, party organiser and bon viveur, discovered several new venues at which she'd like to throw a bash, and TV presenter Tania Bryer took the lead on sampling the food offerings. And then there was me, a thorn between these English roses, whose unenviable task it was to sample the drinks and to keep some sense of order in the judging process. Richard Bacon had already gone home for the evening. He blamed having to get up at 5am to present Channel 4's Big Breakfast as the reason for yet another sudden departure.

The five finalists battling it out for this most coveted of awards are 19:20 in Clerkenwell, The Light Bar in Shoreditch High Street, Smiths of Smithfield in Charterhouse Street, The Porterhouse Oyster Bar in Covent Garden's Maiden Lane, and Zander bar in Buckingham Gate. Which will win it? The results will be announced in early December once the judges have recovered sufficiently to reconvene for what is bound to be a heated debate.