Most speakeasies invent a past. Pepperbird just had to read the building's. Olympia hosted Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd in its jazz and rock heyday, and the new bar beneath Pillar Hall treats that history as a house style: low amber light, velvet reds, polished nickel and antique mirrors, all of it a staircase down from the street.
Down the stairs at Pillar Hall
Pillar Hall is the Grade II* listed landmark at 5 Olympia Way, a room that has hosted early film screenings and Vivienne Westwood's first catwalk show, and has now been reopened by Des Gunewardena's D3 Collective as three venues in one. Idalia, the big all-day restaurant, takes the main hall. Upstairs at Pillar Hall handles events and live music. The basement belongs to Pepperbird, billed as a speakeasy inspired by Olympia's jazz and rock years of the 1960s and 70s. Gunewardena spent 18 years at the helm of D&D London before founding D3, whose other sites include Engel and Jang at the Royal Exchange, so he knows how to build a room with a door policy.
The door policy was, at first, the headline. Ahead of opening, the team described Pepperbird as guest list only, a phrase that is not easy to decode. Check the Pillar Hall website for how to book before you turn up with hope and a good jacket.
The room
Think of a late-night radio studio that decided to stay open. Curtains hang in acid green against walls patterned in burgundy and red, banquettes are striped in pink and cream, and small lamps sit on round tables with stools for company. Behind the bar, the bottles glow like a back catalogue. It is a room for talking close and ordering a second round, and for listening: the venue's own billing is cocktails and live music, and the launch party was staged as a fictional broadcast, Pepperbird 102.6 FM, complete with a late-night DJ named Slick Simmons.
The drinks
The cocktails borrow their names from the record collection, and two signature serves were introduced at the launch. Hey Joe, for Hendrix, is dark and soulful: Johnnie Walker Black Ruby with roasted cherry and cocoa nibs. Golden Years, for Bowie, is the bright one, built on clarified pineapple and Zacapa rum washed with coconut fat, finished with a light sparkle. Start with the Hendrix if you want the room's mood in a glass, then move to the Bowie when the evening needs a lift. Both were poured at the launch with support from Diageo, whose Johnnie Walker and Zacapa anchor the pair, and each was written to read like a chapter in the night's story. The rest of the list is unconfirmed, so ask the bartender.
Who it is for
Pepperbird suits the second stop of a good night. Dinner at Idalia upstairs takes in a Herdwick lamb cutlet, courgette flower and romesco, and a sharing dessert, the Vivienne Heel, built as a chocolate stiletto, which makes a fair warm-up act. It is not a bar for a quick pint and a quiet table, and the guest list approach means it works best for people who plan. The building is step-free throughout, with lift access, so nobody has to be left at the top of the stairs. Come with someone you want to hear properly.
Olympia has always been about the noise. Down here, someone has finally taught it to purr.
- The vibe
- Basement speakeasy of velvet, amber light and live music, nodding to 1960s and 70s Olympia.
- The food
- Dinner is upstairs at Idalia; this is a drinking room.
- The drink
- Hey Joe, with Black Ruby and roasted cherry; Golden Years, with pineapple and Zacapa.
- A tip
- Check the Pillar Hall website for booking before you go; it opened as guest list only.
