Time was when Worship Street was probably just outside the fringes of the City of London proper and was where the light industrial sector of this part of London began, but now it has changed drastically. The initial impact was perhaps due to the Broadgate development which extended north from Liverpool Station to Worship Street and nowadays restaurants and bars are springing up all along the street. It is becoming trendy all of a sudden.
And it is due to become even more so with the development of Principal Place on what used to be a derelict piece of ground to the east of Curtain Road. This is a massive office development which will house the UK headquarters of Amazon, but has been built taking in some exciting restaurant and leisure spaces – and next door will be Principal Tower – a 50 storey residential block which, combined with the new office space will generate considerable demand for these new leisure facilities.
The newest bar/restaurant to open in Principal Place is the impressive Drake & Morgan run The Allegory – a massive space to match some of the other Drake & Morgan venues like The Anthologist on Gresham Street just to the south of the Barbican. Drake & Morgan currently owns and manages around 20 other such venues in London having taken over Corney & Barrow wine bars a couple of years ago. Drake & Morgan venues include The Refinery – a group of six bar/restaurants with the same name including probably the closest such venue to the east of the Barbican in City Point. We will be publishing a restaurant review on the dining options here in the near future.
But back to The Allegory. This officially opened its doors on October 18th, with a launch party on the 19th attended by Barbican Life, which filled the huge venue, with wine and cocktails flowing freely. Excellent canapes kept coming and staff were doing a sterling job – which bodes well for service on a normal evening. Custom may be affected initially given the frontage is part hidden behind construction hoardings, but as Amazon’s projected 4,000 employees complete the move-in to the office space above, and with a brand new massive office block on the opposite side of Worship Street, the future should bode well for the latest Drake & Morgan venue.
The décor is all copper, stainless steel, chrome and mirrors, with wooden topped tables, comfortable cushioned chairs and banquetted areas. The publicity states that The Allegory offers relaxed, fuss-free drinking and dining in stunning surroundings and has craft drinks and British dining at its heart. It’s difficult to confirm this at a hugely busy launch event, but we hope to cover dining options there at a future time when the venue has settled down to normality. Initial impressions are that this would be a great venue for an evening out – if only the music wasn’t quite so loud!
