I decided to brave the recent dreary weather and head east for a night out at the club 333.As I went straight from work I had a lot of time to kill. Pre-drinks can often be tricky! What did I want? Music, but nothing too hectic, great drinks, but not horrendously expensive, great ambience, but no entry fees and I wanted more than a pub! A tough customer! So after walking (quite a lot) with my mates around Old Street, we uncovered some great old street and shoreditch bars to fit the bill:

1) Loungelover - What a magical bar! You walk in and are greeted by an intentional mish-mash of eclectic styles. My eyes didn't know where to look! Glamorous, bizarre, crazy, chic all sprang to mind. Having mopped up the drool we headed to the bar. The cocktails are fantastic and have brilliant names! I indulged in a Postcards from Rio, which is a twist on the Brasilian classic, Caipirinha. It was quite pricey at £8.50 but the surroundings are well worth it. If you like to be impressed by a London bar or impress others with a bar in Shoreditchthen Loungelover is a must. Also, if you are visiting London as a tourist, I would say that Loungelover is one of the cocktail bars in London that you must treat yourself too; make sure you have enough pounds in your pocket as it is not a cheap London bar! Not only is it expensive for the Shoreditch area but is compared to central or Mayfair bars too.

2) The Redchurch: Coming from Loungelover, the next spot had a lot to live up to. We came across the Redchurch. It definitely can't match the interior of Loungelover (not many bars in London or definitely bars in Shoreditch can) but the small, intimate atmosphere, with a mix of baroque french, floral wallpaper and sumptuous red velvet booths, made The Redchurchvery interesting. What did match its predecessor was the great cocktail list. I had a Lady Marmalade, which was a lovely mix of gin (my favourite!), fresh marmalade, Cointreau and elderflower juice and at £7.50 it wasn't overly pricey. This is a great little find and much recommended. If you want an unpretentious cocktail bar in Shoreditch, The Redchurch is one I can highly recommend.

3) 333 Mother Bar: We then needed to rev it up a bit and it was getting quite late so why not go to a bar right next to the club you want to go to? So that's what we did! Mother Bar is an upstairs twin-roomed, London DJ bar. The first bar, with its french-esque wallpaper and black and white tiled floor is quite striking and a good place to get your drink and sit and chat. Walk next door and it all gets very lively; a square ex-living room is now a big dance floor with everyone jumping up and down to the incessant house beats. Drinks prices are happily affordable and did the job before we headed downstairs to 333. Be warned, Mother Bar gets busy and queues do form from 10ish and it also gets quite cramped upstairs. If you don’t like dancing in busy busy bars maybe this one isn’t for you.

If you have any further thoughts on these London bars or other great pre-drinks cocktail or fun bars in Shoreditch, please let me know!