Like a couture-wearing Pied Piper, when Fashion Week hits town it calls to fashionistas, bloggers, photographers and goody bag grabbers alike. If the thought of one more bejewelled hipster in a cape, leather jeggings and a Mason Martin Margiela mask brings you to your knees then listen to BarChick– these girls know the bars to hide in.
MeatLiquor – consume some calories
Eating during fashion week often takes a back seat, anyone that claims they went out for dinner during fashion week wasn’t doing it right. Ain’t nobody got time for that shit. If you’ve ever queued around the block for your chance to chomp down on MeatLiquor’s chilli fries, big ass burgers and coconut cream then this one’s for you. Swing a tiger, go large on the hard shakes and take your sweet time; the ‘no ballet pumps’ rule alone means that you’ll have this graffitied gaf to yourself.
74 Welbeck St, London W1G 0BA
The 3 Crowns – Old Street is old school
With all the hipsters and fashion folk flocking to shows there’ll be nothing but pigeons, kebab shops and the 3 Crowns at Old Street Roundabout. All the more reason to head there we say. A boozer with top notch pub food and cocktail-bar worthy cocktails means you can get fat and crunk in peace, without someone in pool slides and socks shooting you sly ones.
8 East Rd, London N1 6AD
ECC – sooooo last season
Being on trend means more during fashion week than any other time of the year. Sashay up wearing the hottest look of last season and look forward to a lonely evening in loserville. Remember a few years ago when everyone was raving about that speakeasy bar in China Town with a black door and the kind of cocktails that make you never want to order a rum and coke again? Well it’s still there. When everyone makes a beeline for the Ladder Shed why not break away and head to last year’s favourite, there’s still just as much door drama only it’s easier to get a table.
13a Gerrard St, Chinatown, London W1D 5PS
El Camion’s Baja Room – treacherous terrain
Even in flats the steps leading to this underground lair are treacherous. Imagine taking the tumble in your 6-inchers, in front of your fash week crew and that model you’re trying to get off with… the whole ordeal is just unthinkable. With all the Manolo wearers minimising their chances of looking like a mug by staying the hell away you’ll be free to cruise right in to this legendary tequila bar. Order from owner Dick Bradsell, he invented the Espresso Martini, so you know he’ll do it right.
25-27 Brewer St, London W1F 0RR
Barrafina Soho – no reservations? No problem.
When Baraffina opened in Soho six years ago, who knew that it’s no-bookings would inspire so many more to do the same? These days we can’t get a bite without name dropping BarChick or hanging outside Honest Burger for hours. Here’s the curveball, though, the second Baraffina just opened in Covent Garden and since that’s where Somerset House and all the fashion action is, your chances of getting a spot at the original just went up.
54 Frith St, London W1D 4SL
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WC – head to the toilets
What better way to diss fashion week than choosing to hang in an old toilet over watching waifs walk the line. Make loo roll (or a coaster) out of the line-up and kick back here with the other haters. It’s not that this place isn’t fashionable per se, but toilet humour isn’t exactly chic, is it?
Under Clapham Common Tube Station, London SW4 7AA
Craft Cocktail Company – BarChick beat ’em to it
The fashion peeps would love this place, it’s all fresh produce, natural ingredients and bright colours. It’s just so new on the scene that no one’s heard of it yet; they may be ahead of the catwalk trends but bars? They aint got nothin’ on BarChick. From the badasses that brought us The London Cocktail Club, expect the same taste sensations only blended, carbonated and bottled on site. Seriously, this place is like a lab backstage and there’s something about being to take home a bottle of Old Fashioned that really floats our boat.
Arch 253, Paradise Row, Bethnal Green E2 9LE
The Vic – an old man’s pub in Mile End?
A murky old man’s pub in Mile End is sure to be shunned by the glam squad on the grounds of being too far out of Shoreditch to be cool. Wrong. Head to the loos and you’ll find a sneaky underground speakeasy. Enter it through the one-sided mirror and laugh for days as the people in the bathroom blue steel themselves… and the rest of the bar in the process ha!
110 Grove Rd, Mile End, E3 5TH
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.