Simmons

Formally known as potion bar Simmons is one of your standard London bars. It gets extremely busy on a Friday night after work hence the low score. It really gets packed. It’s not a very big space and can get quite loud. They also messed up a friends reservation moving us 3 times to different tables. Having said all that it has to be one of the cheapest happy hours in london with spirits and mixers for only £2.50! Now that’s a bargain. It doesn’t serve food or snacks but if you go on a less busy week night it’s not a bad place to grab a cheap drink.

Simmons is spread over 2 floors, ground floor and basement, with outdoor seating spreading out on to the pavement. Décor is a blend of shabby-​chic and kitsch. Crowd is young. Floors are sticky. Cheap drinks offers.
But don’t let that put you off. Vibe is lively and the staff are friendly.

Cool, quirky, ‘old school’ décor (old fashioned lamps, disco ball above the bar, typewriter on the bar, vintage TV etc). They do a good happy hour (2 cocktails for £10, beer and wine for £2.50 and other offers)

This place has the potential to be great! But due to the experience I had (some of which was out of the control of the bar), I really wouldn’t go back for drinks. Firstly, I absolutely loved the quirky, ‘old school’ décor (old fashioned lamps, disco ball above the bar, typewriter on the bar, vintage TV etc). I wasn’t so fond of the tables however (‘old school’ desks) which intentionally had graffiti on them (but that’s just me, other people might like this ‘Shoreditch’ type vibe they had going on haha). This bar does seems quite out of place in the Fitzrovia area too.
They do a good happy hour (2 cocktails for £10, beer and wine for £2.50 and other offers), but I wasn’t impressed with the cocktails — didn’t have much flavour and seemed quite watered down. There was a leak downstairs by the loos, so that was unpleasant. What really ruined the evening was the awful stench that drifted into the bar from the drain pipes outside! It was truly unbearable (despite the bar staff spraying Fabreeze everywhere) and at that point we had to leave (understandably it wasn’t the bar’s fault, but it did cause our night out to be shortened). A disappointing evening on the whole.

Two cocktails for £10 Friday to Sunday?! Win!!! Happy hour is until 9pm which is totally amazing.
Atmosphere was great, with great music (think The Strokes, The Fratellis etc) but am not sure if that is always their vibe.
Décor was pretty cool, and kitsch. The best part was that the cosmos were served in tea cups with saucers!
Fun place to go and drink, and it won’t break the bank — would definitely recommend! There are also a few other Simmons’ dotted around London that I’ll be looking into.

Went here for a private party — they have a bar downstairs with caves very unique. Drinks are reasonable with a great happy hour! Staff are friendly and they offer quirky drinks i.e. cocktails in teapots. Nice venue will be returning

Simmons bars are like your nan’s lounge on speed, originating in Kings Cross back in 2010 with Elliot’s place at the bottom of Caledonian Road. This new venue takes over the old Potion space and is infinitely better than the predecessor. There is much more open space, and the «caves» are intact — but the prices are still very low (the happy five hours have made their way here as well, thankfully!).
If you’ve ever been to the other Simmons venues, this will be your cup of tea; if you’ve not then this is the best of the bunch and you should definitely check it out for a fun night with great drinks choices.