Be at One

Huge queue and £10 after 10pm to get in on a Friday night, door staff are friendly (but avoid talking to the female staff if possible, most of them have Nepoleon complex).
Downstairs it’s party time, the dance floor is heaving but it’s still surprisingly easy to get a drink. Bar staff are fun and friendly.
If you’re coming with a group, download the BeAtOne App and make sure you’re in before 9pm, else it a night on the tiles is going to be very expensive.
Young-​ish straight crowd, with a mix of Londoners at play after work, tourists and out-​of-​town type having a big night out.

This has such potential and is located in one of my favourite places to go out in London ever, however, it just falls short for me. It tries to encompass a nightclub vibe and just fails entirely. The cosy, underground location would be much better suited to a speakeasy environment, and would mean you wouldn’t need to shout in order to have a conversation too!
It’s really difficult to get a seat — you will end up standing, or propping up the bar usually. The bar staff are also a little ‘in your face’ — I was sat enjoying my drink and minding my own business when one of the bartenders leant across and snatched my arm over the bar, almost pulling it out of its socket, just so he could look at my tattoo. First of all, look, don’t touch! And if you really must, at least ask first. Good lord.
The three stars is for the great 2−4−1 happy hour that this chain is famous for, and also they make fabulous ice cream cocktails. I highly recommend you try one if you visit!

Me in a cocktail bar? Yes, I admit it’s a rare occurrence as I’m teetotal. However, sone friends and I had some time to kill before a dinner reservation in Soho
A quick once over by the bouncers on the door (yes, I got carded — maybe the light was dim or something!) and a cursory bag check later and we were in. Fortunately, as we caught the bar just after opening, we managed to secure 5 chairs for our group
Even bigger bonus was that it was happy hour with a 2 for 1 offer on all drinks. Which is how I ended with 2 raspberry coolers instead of the 1 I ordered. It was ok. The execution was good but I think the flavour profile wasn’t right at the conception stage. The base of the drink, lychee juice has a strong but delicate perfume and this was masked by the much less subtle raspberry purée
The others were happy with their drinks. Nice way to while away 30 minutes til our dinner reservation

We were searching for a happy hour and someone suggested going to Be@one. I’ve seen a few of these around London but never been in one so I said OK.
Descending into the dimly lit basement, this was not probably the best place to choose on a sunny autumn day and as we went in at 4:30pm (I think it had just opened) we were greeted by the most enthusiastic bar staff ever — cheering and hollering as we entered. That’s kinda nice, I thought…
The thing is, we were the only people in there and after we’d taken our seat they ramped up the volume on the speakers to deafening. So we moved to another table away from said loudspeaker. Then, as if the music wasn’t loud enough, the bar staff started shouting loudly at each other and rattling various cocktail making equipment over and over again. They were SO loud we had to pause our conversations. Eventually, after about the 6^th time this happened we quickly finished our drinks and sought out less annoying places to have bargain drinks in Soho.
Had this been customers I wouldn’t be so miffed as they’re not always there but the staff are! I won’t be coming back here anytime soon.
On the plus side, it’s central, cheap at happy hour, spacious, has a small dancefloor and cloakroom and plenty of seating and you can reserve tables/​an area. So if that’s what you’re after and it’s later in the evening so the staff are too busy to make a racket then you’ll be OK.

I definitely am a fan of Be At One, their Irish Disco Biscuit cocktail with Oreos, baileys, vanilla ice cream and mint syrup is the best thing ever. The staff is always really friendly as well and always make fun conversation (to be fair it is actually part of their job to ask you your name and chat but they seem to enjoy doing so too).
Their app for get happy hour whenever you want is also a great idea as you don’t even have to go at a specific time. They just activate the app and you get 2 cocktails for £9.50 for the next hour.
This particular venue is a really nice one as well, fun pop music, lots of space to dance and great for larger groups even when most Soho bars are really crowded. It is chain bar and that might not appeal to some people in this age of bespoke cocktails and eclectic pop up cocktail bars but you are definitely getting a good night out without any fuss.