Make this a pit stop

I've been avoiding Soho (socially, that is) for the past few years, as I'm of the opinion that it's full of tacky, overpriced venues that are packed with members of the binge drinking, bridge-and-tunnel brigade, whooping it up large to the annoyance of all those capable of reading a menu without moving their lips.

Such people might want to avert their gaze, for this week I have to report the arrival of the Refuel bar at the new Soho Hotel - part of the Firmdale group, which also owns the Charlotte Street Hotel in Fitzrovia and the Covent Garden Hotel - and which, being a hotel bar, is unashamedly pitched at attracting charcoal-suited boys with large wallets, and platinum-blonde PR girlies with loud okay-yah voices.

The hotel is on the site of a former NCP car park (hence the name Refuel, I assume) where drug dealers would transact under the cover of darkness, or so I am reliably informed. Ken Livingstone could complete a double whammy by putting the demise of the car park down to his congestion charging policy, and freeing Soho of a part of its drug problem.

The theme of the car continues inside Refuel, with a large mural depicting a childlike view of the world of automobiles running the full length of the back of the bar. High stools sit alongside the very long bar, low sofas and more formal cocktail tables fill up the rest of the room. This is a comfortable, elegant affair, oozing with cosmopolitan style and more than a frisson of posh totty opportunity.

Cocktails are ambitiously priced at £8.50, and the list includes some interesting bespoke drinks alongside a list of traditional classics. The attentive and appropriately friendly team of staff informed me that only freshly squeezed juices are used in the ingredients, and this turned out to be true - but the watermelon was stale, rendering a muddy, unpleasant taste to a Watermelon Papaya drink.

I experienced similar difficulties (ordering offpiste) when I asked the staff if they could rustle me up a Watermelon Martini.

However, the rest of the drinks were first rate: my Mango Duce (Havana Club rum with Amaretto and passion fruit pureé) was a deliciously refreshing, fruit drink with a sharp kick, and a passion and ginger

Caiphirinha was an applaudable variation on the classic.

I wasn't tempted by the food - platters of Japanese, Spanish or Italian nibbles seemed steep at £38 (designed for four people, apparently!) and the wine list is out of reach for many budgets with starting prices of £18 per bottle.

I'll be happy to use Refuel as pit stop on any future drinking circuit. Its prices might make it inaccessible to the majority of Soho folk, but, in my book, this is not necessarily a bad thing.