The Nightjar Bar

Live jazz and adventurous signature cocktails in a subterranean speakeasy setting try The Nightjar Bar in Shoreditch. Taking its cue from the illicit anti-Prohibition bars of 20s and early 30s America, Nightjar has a typically understated entrance: a stone's throw from the Old Street roundabout you'll find a wooden door between a kebab house and a café. Beyond this door - bearing a picture of the Nightjar bird after which the bar is named - a staircase lead down to a dimly-lit underground drinking den. With its exposed brickwork, old furniture and faux wood-panelled ceilings, it's very Manhatten-lite - but it's all good fun, and a revelation for the area. Jazz, blues and rock are performed live on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays - when an additional cover charge will be added to your bill - while on Friday nights retro tunes are played by DJs. The cocktails (?8.50) are meticulously mixed (by dapperly dressed barmen) and excitingly edgy: one, called The BBC, is even served with absinthe smoke. Full table service means you shouldn't head here if you're after a quick beer, but for such a grotty area, this is a real find.