The Breakfast Club’s third cocktail bar is hidden beneath its latest restaurant at London Bridge
As well as serving fine burgers and brunches, The Breakfast Club group is building a reputation for quirky hidden cocktail bars. Its first “dirty little secret”, The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town, opened in Spitalfields, east London, over three years ago, accessed via a large Smeg fridge inside the 1980s-inspired restaurant, followed last year by King of Ladies Man hidden inside a retro laundrette at The Breakfast Club in Battersea, south London. Its third bar, Call Me Mr Lucky, has now opened at the company’s sixth restaurant, near London Bridge, this time accessed via a working kitchen.
Like the other bars, its name is taken from a quote from TV sitcom Cheers – the line was spoken by beer-loving regular Norm. The Breakfast Club team again worked with hospitality design specialist Finch Interiors, headed by Sophie and Nick Finch. The concept was inspired by gangster film Goodfellas where Ray Liotta’s character impresses a date by accessing an exclusive nightclub through a restaurant kitchen. To find the bar, you need to tell a member of staff, “I’m here to get lucky”. Nick says: “As with any ‘speakeasy’ for The Breakfast Club, the main concept is always surprise and a secret concept.”
Once inside the dimly lit basement bar, you are transported to a Spanish-style “dive” bar, with vaulted ceilings featuring Spanish feria decorations. “Don’t forget your pen,” Nick adds. “You can personalise the space by writing on the ceiling.” If you are feeling lucky, you can spin the Wheel of Fortune to try to win a round of shots for everyone in the bar.
Their twist on an honesty bar is the Sink of Truth which is continually filled with some good-quality bottled beers. If customers fail to pay for the beers they drink from the sink, it will start to be filled up with cheap stuff instead. Beer is sold by the bottle or schooner alongside a Spanish cider.
A range of cocktails and spirits is available but the bar specialises in tequila, using brands such as Herradura and Don Julio. Drinks include Shrub Me Tender, with Don Fulano reposado, kumquats, pineapple and ginger shrub, fresh lemon and wheat beer, and Stuart’s Germain, made with Tapatio reposado infused with kaffir lime leaf, mixed with St Germain elderflower liqueur, fresh lime and cardamom. The house shot serve is Ocho blanco with a shot of jalapeño pickle, pomegranate molasses, coriander and habanero alongside some mint-infused coconut water.
Open from 5pm Monday to Thursday and from midday Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Call Me Mr Lucky is open to midnight every day except for 10.30pm on Sundays. Bar food is also available if you are not tempted to eat upstairs.
Call Me Mr Lucky, The Breakfast Club, 11 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RQ
Tel: 020 7078 9635
www.callmemrlucky.com
Behind the scenes
Design: Finch Interiors
Main contractor: Embassy Bar & Shopfitters
Lighting: BES Systems
Mechanical: Summit Design
Quantity surveying: PSE Associates
