Formerly Tower Bridge Magistrates’ Court, this Grade II-listed pile has been repurposed as Marriott-owned boutique hotel, The Dixon, named after John Dixon Butler, the 1906 civic building’s original architect.
The hotel’s cleverly converted lounge bar is still recognisably the oak-panelled courtroom of yore, now decorated with funked-up old police mug shots of characterful Edwardian petty crooks.
Food – bar snacks include hot Brie with gooseberry and chilli dip, and oxtail croquettes with red onion jam – is under the auspices of Clive Watson, the restaurateur behind Provisioners (link), downstairs here, as well as Riding House Café (link) and Blixen (link).
Drinks include a yuzu and absinthe-laced, seaweed-infused gin Martini or the Hanky Panky and Vieux Carré hybrid, Peach Plum Quarter, among a dozen criminally good cocktails put together at a sunken bar under the magistrates bench’s original canopy.
Unless you stick to a chai tea and raspberry coupette, one of various lo- and no-alcohol options, there’s no chance of leaving here sober as a judge.