Staff talked ‘Game of Thrones’ plotlines while I was being served on the ground floor of Six Storeys – otherwise known as The Lobby Bar. Despite being relatively new, the look is a bit dated, a false promise of pomp and ceremony provided by faux-fading wallpaper and shelves lined with cut-glass decanters. But at work is a laidback, affable team, with a manager who was exceptionally keen to offer good advice on our second round of drinks (chat of White Walkers had staff a little distracted first time around).
The menu – with an intro written by a fictional butler called, er, Cornelius S Lushington – focuses on gin and a list of martinis proffering vodka and gin flavour infusions rather than straight-up serves. Blue cheese and pine nut or venison and summer truffle are among your bold options, but given that the rosemary and lavender gin martini I sampled was ill-balanced, I’d approach with caution. Paired with tonic, these were much smoother – the pear and sage G&T went down a little too easily. Bar snacks were stodgy – scotch eggs and pigs in pastry – the kind of fodder more fit for a Westeros banquet than a swanky townhouse bar. But you won’t catch me complaining.