High Bar

Follow the neon sign just off Chapel Street into an art-deco jazz lounge celebrating 1930s Manhattan. This is High Bar, in the space is behind Tusk – formerly Back Bar.

It’s influenced in particular by the Stork Club – the New York City bar and nightclub that for more than 30 years was a symbol of wealth and power, frequented by celebrities and cultural icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra.

The pattern of the floor’s European oak herringbone parquetry is echoed in a tiled bar top. Art-deco-style wallpaper, glass chandeliers, sconces and divider screens complete the time warp. The furniture is a mix of banquettes, plush armchairs grouped into conversational clusters, and low glass and chrome deco tables. And a stuffed peacock – which died of old age after a long and happy life – surveys the room.

There are classic cocktails, including the Charlie Chaplin with sloe gin, apricot liqueur and lemon. And a list of what the bar calls “theatrical cocktails” – with nitrogen and a few explosions.

To eat there’s cheeseboards, pulled-pork sliders, prosciutto-wrapped tiger prawns and woodfired pizzas.

A stage down the far end of the room hosts live jazz performances on Friday and Saturday nights, and on Sunday the bar transforms into the "High Heel Bar”, where resident showgirl Paris, and her equally sparkly friends, sing live cabaret, and there are lip-syncing drag performers.

You’re probably going to want to dress a bit glam when you go to the High Bar. It’s that kind of place.