Tucked a few streets away from Soho near Chinatown, is the flashy sounding 79CXR – an abbreviation of the venue's address: 79 Charing Cross Road. Tucked under some colonnades in a modern (80s) strip of shops, CXR sucks in light from the outside whilst none appears to escape its cavernous void.
What? Well, it's got black tinted windows which were probably necessary when it opened. Sadly, we suspect if light and for that matter sound could escape this venue, it would tell a tale of broken dreams, misery and despair. Truth be told, Misery herself would probably die in here and worse, it would be suicide.
Well, "may be some of us like the misery", as Mrs Doyle said in Father Ted? Well, what's to like?
Venue: A big plus is that they often now open those big black tinted windows completely – a reflection of the changing times since they opened and more recently, the smoking ban. Inside? Think Nandos on two levels. This barn of a bar has a big downstairs area and mezzanine level with the cottageyest loos in the whole of old London town.
It's roomy much of the time (it is popular and gets busy) meaning you're not always being nudged and you can hear people speak: again, endorsement or indictment?! Yellowy brown throughout it feels like you're wading through sick as you try to navigate to safe harbour aka a seat with somebody nice near it. That said, it does reflect nice of your skin which is great if you're really pale and ill looking like Gavster. Outside there's a covered (it's under a colonnade type thing) seated area (few seats, table) but the regulars camped out there have never made it that appealing: often haggard it's a bit "Don't go on the moors!" and all that.
Staff: Nobody we spoke to had a clue about who owns it but we did hear it's not a chain. Whoever did open it was probably ground-breaking at the time given its sheer size. If so we they've probably long since retired on its ample takings, possibly somewhere the regulars go like Tenerife or Gran Canaria. We can't honestly vouch for the staff but we imagine they serve quickly, efficiently and wouldn't get away with short-changing. We're guessing cute – you know, wild guess.
Punters: We found some a bit buttoned up, some others too inedbriated and a tad boring and some in a hurry to get home to feed their cats somewhere way beyond zone 6. Some were rough, some were polite. Meaning? A mix of the down to earth and down at heel.
Security: tried and tested to the limit we should think.
Conclusion: This bars saving grace, and this depends on your enthusiasm, is that it's not populated by clones of one another but what some would call "characters". If somebody invested some cash in a refit it might generate life and light, but then again, that might ruin it and... may be some of us like the misery.
www.79cxr.co.uk
NB: We'd like to flag up that we haven't been in here in a little while so we may be out-of-date: feedback welcome. Whilst we're in no rush to go back under any circumstances, it may now be an oasis of loveliness. This review is however based on one recent quickly abandoned visit, what we've gleaned from friends and mystics.
