It’s time to dust off that flat cap that’s been nestling at the back of your wardrobe and don your best pair of this season’s brogues. Vauxhall Motors who brought us Vauxhall Skate and Vauxhall Ice Skate is preparing for the next instalment. Its summer extravaganza sees a one day only pop-up bowling club when Brick Lane will be transformed into a professional standard bowling club!

Guests can expect to find a traditional bowling green with a serious twist. Bowlers will be greeted by a multi-coloured club house, psychedelic English country garden flowers a bandstand and, of course, some stylish four-wheeled art commissions.

The event will be hosted by T4′s Rick Edwards and Gavin & Stacey’s Mathew Horne will be spinning wheels and the odd track or two in an hour long set. There’ll also be a top mystery band making an appearance.

Interested? Well, to be in with a chance of a free ticket or two, hot foot it to www.vauxhallmotosbc.co.uk and register your interest.

See you on the green!

Just when you thought Shoreditch’s award-winning Calloh Callay couldn’t possibly get any better! The team has just launched the brand new JubJub bar. Tucked away atop a long staircase on the venue’s upper level, guests enter this secret bar through some special  wardrobe doors. It’s a little Narnia for those in search of cocktail heaven. Every week a different member of the bar team will be creating their own cocktail menus showcasing some of its rarer and more unusual spirits and liqueurs.

On offer right now is the French Fairy – a mischievous blend of Beefeater gin, Amontillado sherry & Pernod Absinthe balanced with fresh lemon & sugar; the aptly titled Whizz Bang – a eye-popping concoction of Auchentoshen Three wood whisky, grenadine, Noilly dry vermouth, orange bitters & a drop of Pernod Absinthe and Tea Time – 42 Below pure vodka, strawberries & camomile tea with fresh lemon & apple juices.

Check out the drink flights too which allow you to sample a variety of the rare or reserve rums, whiskies and tequilas. Callooh Callay is inspired by the poem “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll and takes its guests on an exciting journey into a realm that’s a veritable playground for the wicked!

www.calloohcallaybar.com

London’s uber trendy Bungalow 8 is about to get even more chic!  Preen designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi are to style and design the uniforms for its staff.

“They’re based on a cocktail dress and have thick straps, one is in lace, and then the skirt is drape-y so there’s movement to it,” explains Thornton of the result of the collaboration – which came about when St Martins Lane hotel approached the duo with the idea.

Bungalow is something of a hotspot for those who wish to see and be seen, but will these new coktail dresses be as popular as the cocktails…..

“They really liked what we did and asked if we’d be interested to do the uniforms for the girls. We met with them and talked about the practicalities that they need,” says Thornton, noting the importance of collaborations. “We love the challenge. To challenge yourself, it keeps it fresh.”

If Adam and Eve had stuck around after munching on that forbidden fruit, the world might have been a whole lot different – something like The Brickhouse‘s Garden of Eager perhaps.

A new pop-up garden is sprouting in The Brickhouse’s outdoor terrace and it’s soon set to be bursting with forbidden fruit, sneaky snakes and crazy cocktails.

The collaboration with Eager Drinks will transform its outdoor terrace into an Edenic escape this summer and promises to transport all comers into a weird, wonderful and twisted earthly paradise.

Drawing inspiration from the drinks label’s quirky branding, designers have morphed the outdoor space into a lush utopia, where grass grows on the walls and the trees sprout gigantic cartoon-sized fruit.

The bar will serve up forbidden fruit cocktails crafted by the venue’s master mixologists using juices from the delicious Eager range. So make like Eve, give in to temptation and try an Apple Bite, mixed with eager’s cloudy pressed apple juice, cinnamon and vodka, or the apple & mango based Serpentini if you want to unleash your wild side.

There’s even a stage above on the outdoor roof so guests can both soak up the sun and enjoy The Brickhouse’s legendary circus, burlesque, cabaret and comedy performances from Adam and Eve to the Devil and that pesky snake. Punch and Judy eat your heart out!

There’s also a fabulously fruity dressing-up box and guests are encouraged to don the most hideous Hawaiian shirts they can find paired with fruit garland necklaces – or just fig leaves for the body beautiful.

Make sure you look out for any snakes in the grass.

www.thebrickhouse.co.uk

As the final countdown for the World Cup gets underway, the capital’s venues are all vying for a piece of the action.

Kicking off the season in style is Frank Lampard favourite, King’s Road’s Raffles private members’ club with its World Cup prequel party on 10 June. For one night only The club will transform into a football haven with David Beckham look-a-likes, Golden Balls cocktails with two gold leaf cherries and sponsorship courtesy of Belvedere Vodka nad Veuve Cliquot. Guests can also expect a special performance from Jeremy Lynch, World Champion football freestyler and those coming suitably attired (we’re talking WAGS, players and sexy refs) will be in with a chance of winning signed footy merchandise, flown in especially for the night!

Then once the games get going, Chelsea’s Collection bar and restaurant sports the most glamorous catwalk entrance in London so the WAGS who haven’t managed to score a modelling shoot in South Africa like Abby Clancy would do well to raise a glass of champagne there while watching their other halves on five of the biggest screens around.

Expect all the major games to be broadcast there in glorious technicolour alongside some special rates for pre, post and mid match sustenance. Twosomes can share a platter selection and a bottle of fizz in the lounge for £50 or £70pp will buy you a five course meal plus fizz and then a stonking £80 corporate offer includes a five course meal and unlimited beer and wine for the duration of the game. Choose your match wisely and hope it goes into extra time!

Groups will be in their element at South Kensington’s Firehouse. The bar, restaurant and basement members’ club, Chloe have pulled out all stops to please a wide range of footy fans. Outdoor types will love the ground floor bar with its two plasma screens and stunning outside terrace. And if you can’t bear to share you can hire it exclusively for £2500 for 50 people which includes unlimited beer, wine, Pimm’s and a BBQ piled high with steaks and burgers.

Or for a slightly more elegant affair, it’s up to the first floor restaurant with its panoramic views over South Kensington’s Museums. Two additional plasma screens await revellers plus a £50 per head three course dinner – with unlimited drinks as before. And then the party posse can whoop it up in basement members club Chloe while watching the action unfold on more plasmas and enjoying drinks and BBQ for £50 per head.

And last but not least, Covent Garden party zone, The Langley restaurant, bar and night club is offering VIP and Premium corporate packages to enjoy the matches in modern Art Deco style complete with sharing platters and an enviable cocktail list that’s guaranteed to get the party started win or lose.

But with only three confirmed England games so far (England vs USA on 12 June, Algeria on 18 June and Slovenia on 23 June), you’d better move fast to secure one of those coveted spots!

www.the-collection.co.uk www.raffleschelsea.com www.firehousesw7.com www.thelangley.co.uk