North London Food & Culture

In Pictures: Ladies & Gentlemen – signage old and new

Faded municipal notices were recovered from the former khazi-turned-cocktail bar, which opens tomorrow. Plus a first look at the new illuminated sign

Most of you will know by now that Kentish Town’s third underground cocktail bar is about to, er, explode onto the scene in the peeling former public toilets.

It’s certainly been a long time coming, so we’ll let you know exactly what the interior’s like once we’ve taken a peek, not to mention the (presumably not bog standard) food and drinks offering.

But in the meantime, take a butcher’s at some of the brilliant old signs unearthed during the late Victorian site’s redevelopment. What’s interesting is that the stern municipal warnings – “No loitering”, “Washing other than face and hands is not allowed” – in fact say an awful lot about what evidently used to transpire in this subterranean facility. (Want to know more about the history of public toilets, especially round these parts? Read this.)

And what do you think of the bar’s smart new illuminated signage already dazzling passers-by up at street level?


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For more on Ladies & Gentlemen, and why their signature drink has been christened a nimby, thumb back to last week’s interview with owner Will Borrell here.

Ladies & Gentlemen opens “softly” on Friday Dec 12 and properly on Thursday Dec 18, junction of Fortess and Highgate Roads NW5.

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