Denmark Street – once home to various recording studios, music publishers and the very first offices of NME and Melody Maker – has gone through various iterations over the years – in the 1930s it was even known as Little Tokyo, thanks to the number of Japanese businesses there. Many will mourn the latest changes and mega development that Tin Pan Alley and the surrounding area has seen, and it’s safe to say that the arrival of Thirteen probably won’t change the minds of those who miss the days when David Bowie, Black Sabbath and the Sex Pistols would roam this Soho-adjacent road, apocryphally trading riffs with their contemporaries.
Pitching up in the neat wraparound corner building left by the most notorious Jobcentre in London, thanks to it being the one-time workplace of Dennis Nilsen – and rather more happily, Lucian Freud's model and muse Sue Tilley – Thirteen has its heart set on importing a little Mayfair glam and high octane gothic design to this historically and charmingly shonky stretch of road.
Denmark Street’s sonic heritage is celebrated in loud murals and decadent red velvet drapes. Plush furnishings, sumptuous booths and low-lighting abounds, and DJs here are a vital feature, especially down in basement club Dial8. This is not the kind of central London bar to visit on a night where anonymity and discretion is needed, but rather one where you’ll glug rock-themed cocktails (called things such as Graceland, Little Lie and Lady Stardust) for around the £14-18 mark, while swinging your hips to funk one night and glammy punk the next.
There’s food to power you through the evening too, with acclaimed British Afghan smokehouse Cue Point guiding a menu of small plates, from lamb ribs and smoked chicken naan tacos to beef brisket sliders.