*New Opening* All Bar One – Leicester Square

Cheers! We are welcoming a new All Bar One location to London’s Leicester Square. This month All Bar One launched a rather large new bar on the South West corner of Leicester Square itself, super close to Piccadilly Circus tube, and naturally Leicester Square station. And what does it have to offer us?

Well, the site has two floors both with floor to ceiling windows facing out into Leicester Square – great for people watching. On the lower floor there’s a long bar with high tables and bench seats then an even lower section with tables and space for a little dance when there’s a DJ night. Up top we have more seating which is a combo of bench style perches and lower cosy tables. The kitchen is upstairs along with another bar – how convenient!

The place looks nice, with fancy looking lighting and bare oversized bulbs reminiscent of any hipster type coffee shop or eatery. Style-wise, it’s not far off any of the other All Bar One locations I’ve seen, but it’s still a nice clean look. I like the little succulent plants on the tables too – everyone loves a succulent, right?!

Drink wise we were able to sample six drinks from a mini menu – my friends went for the Gin Fizz and were impressed. After a little delay and a make-do ‘waiting’ drink (some of the syrup had to be gathered from the downstairs bar), I had a pineapple vodka concoction and the first one was LUSH – the second a little strange..maybe clovey? Not sure but it tasted a tad savoury so I’m not sure what changed there.

Prosecco was also available which is always a winner for a ladies night (sorry gents, I haven’t witnessed many of you sampling this particular type of bevvy) and a #MoetMoments Moet & Chandon vending machine topped the night off brilliantly! What more could you want than mini Moet?!

There was a little incident where one attendee threw a glass at someone chatting with us (not sure what happened there!!) but the staff were quick to clean up the mess and escort the rebel from the premises – thank you, team!

We had Laura Whitmore DJing for a while downstairs though unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to say hello – next time, Laura – and the crowd was boogying away to a late 90s/early 00s set list. This was very much approved by lots of people upstairs where, with the exception of the abovementioned person, there was a vibe (yes, I said vibe) especially when a Whitney Houston choon came on. Everyone loves a good warble to Whitney!

All Bar One also serve food – we were able to sample chicken teriyaki skewers, salt and pepper calamari, feta and spinach bourek, duck dumplings, avocado and tomato bruschetta, brownies and a platter of churros with a milk chocolate dip. Yum! All of these were pretty tasty and of a decent quality (this isn’t gourmet, as you’d expect, but it does the job nicely!), the calamari especially. These are priced individually from £5.95 to £7.50 or slightly cheaper when ordered together in 3s or 5s, as is the case with a lot of tapas style picky bits.

The Leicester Square site also does cocktail masterclasses which seem a giggle, so perhaps I’ll be back soon to try out one of those with some pals.

If you’re around Leicester Square and fancy a quick sharing bite and a bevvy definitely consider this All Bar One – convenient and reliable as a chain place and with a range of prosecco cocktails at £5.95 it definitely isn’t a bad shout. We had a great evening!