x&y Bar

X & Y is packed out every weekend with a hyperactive crowd of sweaty youths. It wasn't supposed to be like this. During the week the bar still plays host to live bands and on these nights X & Y Bar is how it should be; a laidback bunker-like venue with a quirky tongue-in-cheek interior. Some people accuse the interior's street signs, wire fences, fish tanks and wooden booths of being tacky and I can't help but be reminded of A Night at the Roxbury's 'outside is the inside' theme. It's not supposed to be taken seriously. Downstairs things are a tad more swish with a James Bond inspired cocktail bar which, even on the weekends, is a glowing oasis from the hustle and bustle of the upstairs dance floor. Down here you don't usually have to fight your way through an intense crowd to get to the bar and the bartenders can take the time to make you a killer, albeit expensive, cocktail.