BARS: The Whip by Chase

“The Whip” cocktail lounge above Mayfair’s oldest pub, The Running Horse (1738) launched last week, three months after the minds behind, James Chase of the eponymous distillery and Dominic Jacobs, former bars director of Sketch, reinvigorated the wood and tiles-lined ground floor saloon. The effect is at once smart, cosy and even decadent. Walls are painted with Jockey prints (silks also cushion landing walls) while Turkish rugs rest on the floors. Of one of the latter, I observed a group of late night revellers kindly rolled it up to spare it their dancing machinations. Although James Chase wanted to incorporate hunt paintings – “usually, I’m screw it let’s do” he told me - his team was wary of a backlash from more reserved clients, hence the presence of oils of stately, sedentary thoroughbred horses. Of the etymology of the bar’s name, Chase mentions it can allude to a car, hunting dog, or “an entirely different purpose...” 

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