Chris Bodker views his new super-restaurant, West Street, as 'a democratic members' club'. And if anyone can pull off an oxymoron, this man can. 'It's a new concept. I view it as a restaurant with rooms, but really it's a bit like a home, isn't it?' he says, 'somewhere you can eat, watch telly and sleep.' There's a slinky basement bar, a gently-priced, no-booking brasserie and a restaurant serving 'Modern British with a nod towards Italy', as well as a screening room, private dining room and three bedrooms on the upper floors. The two restaurants are called Upstairs and Downstairs and the bar is called, you've guessed it, The Bar. 'Oh we're simple folk, we can't think of good names,' says Bodker. West Street is on West Street, just down the road from the hallowed Ivy. Let battle commence.
