Go back to glamour

Hotel bars, once the reserve of the gentry, prostitutes and silver-haired old gimmers, have become fashionable hangouts in recent years. You've only to look at the Long Bar at the Sanderson hotel, the Rockwell at the Trafalgar, the Lobby Bar at One Aldwych to see that glamour and sophistication are alive and well in London's hotel bars.

It has been said - by me at least - that the most exciting event in the more established, fossil-filled mausoleum hotels happens when the barmaid comes to change her apron. But they're trying, albeit in protracted fashion, to modernise and attract a new generation of customer, and Rubens Hotel close to Victoria station is the latest one to do so.

An independent identity (if not a downright disguise of ownership) seems to be an essential ingredient for a hotel bar's renaissance, and there is little to signify that the B Bar belongs to a corporate dullard.

The modern interior, almost cafe-style on the ground floor, carries an African safari theme, with leopard-skin lampshades, hide furnishings and some rather attractive black-and-white animal prints adorning the walls. The seating is comfortable, the tables well spaced, the background music unobtrusive. The basement lounge bar is a sexier affair and can be booked for private parties.

An interesting collection of bottled beers is offered and includes Budvar and Peroni, along with the Southern African brews of Castle lager, Savanna and Windhoek. A long and erudite wine list is grouped together by style of wine.

The cocktails are good - very good, in fact - and the menu boasts more than 50 creations costing an average of £7 each. The Oriental Garden (lemongrass muddled with kiwi fruit, ginger and vodka) makes for a scintillating summer drink, and the Watermelon Mojito is an interesting twist on the old classic.

Snacks and full meals are available all day, and these range from satay dishes and antipasti platters to steak sandwiches, bangers and mash, and burgers. Seven pounds will buy you a substantial enough lunch or dinner, and Rubenesque waiting staff offer table service for drinks and food.

However, the temperature (tepid) and texture (congealed) of the food suggested it had been a long journey between kitchen and table, just like when you order room service in a hotel bedroom.

But no matter, the B Bar is fun and already seems to be attracting a not-too-young crowd of local office workers and would-be travellers who just want to kick back at the end of the day and have a laugh with their mates.

I will go back. In the past, whenever I've found myself in the immediate environs of Victoria station, I would drop my head down and run like the wind. It would have been ignominious to have been spotted in any of the lamentable drinking holes around these parts.