BILL OF THE WEEK
DID THE Chelsea speakeasy Barts have City profits in mind when it designed its new “up in smoke” drinks menu? Not at all, says the bar – in these post-smoking-ban days, it is all about giving smokers a nicotine hit without having to stand outside in the cold. Among the first to get their fix were ten insurance brokers, whose food to cocktail ratio came in at 1:50. No problems with liquidity there then, as the group worked their way through the drinks infused with Perique tobacco liqueur – the Holy Smoke, the Cignature [sic] Cocktail and the In Vogue. Add in six more prohibition-themed chasers, a magnum of Grey Goose vodka, a bottle of Bacardi and another of vintage Dom Pérignon champagne, and you are left with a £1,153.63 bill. And a headache.