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VERSION:2.1
N:The Boot and Flogger
FN:The Boot and Flogger
TEL;WORK;VOICE:020 7407 1184
ADR;WORK:;;10-20 Redcross Way;SE1 1TA
URL:
NOTE:I didn't even notice the place, so occupied was I with the reading the protest placards about an ancient graveyard across the road, which lay undiscovered until the Jubilee Line Extension started digging up human remains. The graveyard (for prostitutes, paupers and other undesirables) now lies underneath a car park, and is threatened with the further indignity of having an office building plonked on top of it. The Boot and Flogger occupies an anonymous grey building opposite, looking very much like Dickens' description of Dombey's counting house rather than a place of intoxication and frivolity. On entering I found myself in a long, generous-sized room with a selection of tables and large leather chairs, understated wooden furnishings and lots of very rich people. The name doesn't give it away, but this is a wine bar, and one of very excellent calibre indeed. The bar staff were friendly and helpful, the wine was well selected and of good quality, and the atmosphere convivial enough for me to keep a reign on my usual revolutionary instincts. No TV or any of that nonsense, and while the food was on the pricey side it at least tasted nice. The toilets, which are a rare surviving example of lost Edwardian subtlety and good taste, are worth the visit just in themselves. A splendid place, but I do worry about the exclusive - and exclusively white, at least on my visit - clientele, and the fact that it shuts at 8pm. An improvement on both of those scores would leave it almost peerless.
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