It's World Rum Day this weekend (Saturday 16th August), so get drinking the stuff. Here are our favourite places to play pirate and swig it baby.
The Artesian - London
Do not conga in here wearing a lei garland, this ain't no tiki, Hawaiian shirt affair. The Artesian is a very slick affair, but when it comes to the drinks they lose their inhibitions. The bartenders know how to have fun, all drinks are served with a flair whether it's in a golden pineapple, with a stick of burning incense or set alight in a vintage vessel, you will leave with a very big smile on your face. This is next level stuff.
The Langham Hotel, 1C Portland Place, London, W1B 1JA
The Liar's Club - Manchester
If you walk down these stairs, you will not be walking back up them anytime soon. This basement is the king of parties. With barrels for tables, palm trees and enough rum to sink a fleet of ships, it doesn't get much more tiki than this. Think you've had a Pina Colada? You haven't until you've tried theirs. Think you've seen bartenders blaze things up? Just you wait.
19A Back Bridge Street, Manchester, M3 2PB
Aloha - Liverpool
When everywhere else in Liverpool winds down, Aloha is just getting started. Notorious for hosting the after-party every night of the week, this colourful graffitied basement is where you come if you want good times, good drinks and a helluva lot of fun. Shots of rum and flaming drinks ahoy.
22 Colquitt Street, Liverpool, L1 4DE
Cottons Rhum Shack - London
Located on the cusp on Camden, you'll find Cottons, the home of rum in these parts. On our last visit there were around 250 varieties of the good stuff, but it just depends on what's landed from the Caribbean that day. Their cocktails are great, the happy hour is even better and their restaurant out the back is epic if you can handle your spice.
55 Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1
Island Bar - Birmingham
With Haitian babes on the walls, Rubik's Cube stools and one helluva back bar, this is a good place to get stuck in for the night. Get your tiki on in their upstairs bar, and if you're with mates BarChick recommends getting a canoe or a treasure chest to share. Bands, the occasional burlesque dancer and a lot of rum. Go get it.
14-16 Suffolk Street, Birmingham, B1 1LT
Tiki Bar and Kitsch Inn - Glasgow
Hidden on Bath Street, go down the stairs and you'll find a tropical paradise that will transport you straight out of Glasgow and to a Caribbean island. Yes please. With Polynesian masks, blowfish lamps and a lot of foliage to get lost in, get a couple of grogs in and Glasgow will become a very distant memory.
214 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HW
Trader Vic's - London
The original London tiki bar, this place will never grow old. Frist things first get the Mai Tais in because it was Trader Vics in San Francisco that invented them. Kudos. Huge boats hang on the ceiling, odd faced masks on the walls and there's a whole load of wood. If you're feeling wild go for the Treasure Map which has seven cocktails, BarChick did.
Park Lane Hotel, 22 Park Lane, London, W1K 1BE
The Saint James - Brighton
"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you rum", BarChick lives her life by that mantra and so do The Saint James. From the outside it looks like an ordinary pub, but don't be fooled, they have over 100 different rums on offer, so get as tiki as you like or drink them straight up. For a fiver you can try a selection of three rums, you'll be a connoisseur in no time.
16 Maderia Place, Brighton, BN2 1TN
Trailer Happiness - London
It's a tiki-tastic trailer in this basement bar and we're into it. When you're done posing on the Portobello Road, pour yourself down the stairs and into this rum haven. It's retro chic, drinks come in zombie heads and they aren't afraid to set the place alight, literally...
117 Portobello Road, London, W11 2DY
Call Lane Social - Leeds
Sure Call Lane Social is cool, but it's the upstairs tiki bar (the only one in Leeds) where the real fun happens. With a thatched tiki bar, drinks that they set on fire and puffer fish lampshades this is where to get your tiki on. Hawaiian shirts at the ready.
8 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 6DT
