The Magic Roundabout
Cocktails, Craft Beer & Street Food
16 St Agnes Well, London EC1Y 1BE
££
The Magic Roundabout is the ‘hidden’ hangout in the middle of one of London’s busiest and most confusing roundabouts. Heralded as one of the most instagrammable bars in the capital, its seasonally changing décor and colourful surroundings well and truly help you journey down the rabbit hole and forget where you are (which is in the centre of hundreds of stressed out drivers and exhaust fumes).
I first went to check out the venue on a Thursday afternoon, when it was completely dead. One thing that must be said for this venue, is that it really does need a crowd to get the party going. Without a decent number of boozers, the neon shell can look a bit… well… depressing. Despite this, the magic roundabout has kept its reputation as one of the most popular bars in Shoreditch when it comes alive after office hours and on weekends.
In order to secure a spot at these busier times, booking is essential. I booked a space for 20-30 people on a Saturday night, however, they informed me that there is only a certain amount of space one booking can be allocated. We were given a big table with 4 benches, which worked just fine for the evening, but if you’re expecting a larger crowd it might not quite fit the bill. Another thing is that it’s always going to be a bit of a faff getting people off your table: we arrived at 7:30pm and had to boot at least 10 people off… no one wants to be that dickhead that’s called ahead, but alas, sometimes we have to be.
With a retractable roof and outdoor heaters, TMR is both winter and summer compatible. Whilst these facilities are good, they could really do with more loo’s – from 8 till 10 ladies had to queue for at least 20 mins to go for a wee, and I even saw men queuing for the URINALS… first time for everything. Drinks prices are average (around £5.50 for a nice pint of IPA) and there are lots of food options which looked pretty tasty, but I didn’t try any myself. Often the street food vendors in places such as this (pergola, neverland, roof east etc.) are always a bit underwhelming, and usually overpriced.
Overall, the magic roundabout is a cool place to go with a group of friends before heading out into Shoreditch later on (it’s a 3 min walk to XOYO). It closes at 11pm, and gets dead quite soon after 10pm, so this really is a first stop, or a good pint after work joint. However, once you’ve seen it, you really have seen it and I won’t be in a rush to return anytime soon.
OVERALL RATING: ***
http://www.magicroundabout.co/
