Raid and Pillage Skye Halla- Last Few Weeks of Hoxton’s Viking Drinking Den!

Up an unassuming concrete staircase from the Queen of Hoxton, you enter into a bark-carpeted tent of Viking revelry known as Skye Halla. The scent of woodsmoke permeates the air of city workers and the odd bouncer. Is this an artificial, immersive addition or, no- there is an actual fire pit on the rooftop outside. The tent is no gimmick either, with hanging shields and the woody domestic items one would precisely expect in a Viking home. The benches are of heavy planks with protruding nail heads to match. One or two of the punters carry small drinking horns, available for a £5 deposit you might decide just not to get back. Fill them with a choice of standard bar beverages or the more fitting hot and cold cocktails!

Skye Halla- Not Your Average Rooftop Bar

The hot cocktails are just the remedy for the bitter cold this February. Unexpectedly, the tent is very warm and you hardly realise that just centimetres from you lies the London skyline. The only downside? Building sites and the lower levels of buildings and back alleys surround. Not quite the sunset ‘going out cocktail guide’ image of rooftops like Skygarden or the Shard. It is no wonder such an effort is made to obscure this with wooden fences and typical fairy lights. But then, what better way to utilise an effective but temporarily tarnished space than an immersive tent?

As for the bar, the hot cocktails were divine. The prices were surprisingly good for, let’s face it, a themed rooftop bar just off Bishopsgate. For a mere £6.50 you could try ‘Thor’s Courage’, an irresistibly drinkable concoction of Vodka, applejuice and honey. For those of us guilty of that classic method of choosing the reasonably priced cocktail with the most booze in it, we are presented with quite a problem. The £6.50 Bjork’s Brambled Wine was a steaming glass laced with a hefty shot of Hendricks gin while the hot buttered rum is literally Sailor Jerry with a ‘secret buttered mixture’. There were no misleading ‘spirit drowned in mixers’ here!

Unfortunately, the plastic glasses take some of the atmosphere away, but after a couple of these you need some cold reality to stop you mounting a longboat to raid the Isle of Dogs.

Enjoy the Food and Events Before This Ship Sails!

Food platters are also available including stews and goulashes for around £5. The staff are enthusiastic and friendly- asking if I would like the Thor’s Courage again even though it was my companion who had ordered before. When all is done, descend the same concrete steps as your mind returns to the present. Nevertheless be confused and inspired that a typical fashionable Bishopsgate bar should conceal such originality and imagination!

How sad that such a great and noble venture should also be confined to the sagas. Be warned that this can easily get crowded at busy times but is open from four. Also note the rooftop closes at ten so warlords can descend the stairs in safety. This has been one of the Queen of Hoxton’s seasonal popups. Fortunately, numerous events remain before its demise at the end of March. What could be more viking than Pancake Day? See the Facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/365897390461417/

 

Address: Queen of Hoxton, 1 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3JX

Rooftop Opening times: 4pm-10pm

 

 

 

 

 

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