HOT DRINKS: Door 34 - a cut above the rest

You could go into a cocktail bar, pick up a menu and order your drink from the usual selection – Cosmopolitan, Mojito, Dark and Stormy etc etc.

Or, you could go to Door 34 on Monmouth Street.

Of course they serve up all the classics, but when you have bartenders this good, where's the fun in that?

Instead, put your faith in the experts and let them do what they do best. All you need to do is give them a clue – something with bourbon, something spicy, something pink, whatever takes your fancy – and after just a moment's thought they will spring into action and create something special.

Door 34 really is a cut above your usual cocktail bar. But when you look at the credentials of the men behind it, it's not really surprising.

The bar is the brainchild of award winning cocktail makers Craig Edney and Andy Walsh.

Craig has opened bars and run events all over the world, he trains the bar staff for Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant chain and has run events for high profile clients such as Kofi Annan, Dizzy Rascal and F1 motor racing teams.

Bartending has taken Andy around the world. He has tended to the needs of the fashionable and elite in venues such as the award winning Callooh Callay in Shoreditch to Tony's Stars Kitten Club on the other side of the world in Melbourne. Along the way he has picked up a host of awards from the UK Bartenders Guild, Beefeater Gin and Glenfiddich, to name just a few.

Door 34 really is all about the drinks. It's not trying to be uber cool, or filled with gimmicks, it's just about creating great drinks in a relaxed atmosphere.

And it does have a great vibe. It is small enough to feel intimate, but large enough not to feel instantly crowded.

Craig's vision for the bar was to create somewhere with the feel of a 1920s speakeasy. The kind of place you hear about from those in the know. And I think it works. It's warm and chic and the staff are friendly and happy to talk you through how they make the drinks.

Craig said: “This is a bar for good measured drinking, using the best fresh ingredients, local and globally sourced spirits, a place for grown ups to drink.

“If you want to come and have a nice drink then this is the place for you.”

I think it's the place for me.

For more information visit www.door34.co.uk, email drinks@door34.co.uk or call 01225 444770.