Atmosphere

Just back from a weekend in London. Always nice to go there for a while and even better to get away again. One thing that I cannot bear for any length of time is wall to wall noise. Everywhere is noisy, the streets, the stations, the subways, the shops, the pubs and the wine bars.

At some stage during the weekend we found ourselves in a place called Gordon's Wine Bar. It lies in the depths of Villiers St and is not easy to find. The place lies down in a cellar and there is just the one almost unmarked door that leads down to it. Stepping into Gordon's is like stepping backwards in time. It looks old, smells old and it heaves with the young and the trendy. It is not all that big, but clearly it is the place to see and be seen when out on the town. It struck me that although it has a novelty value, most people would go there for "Atmosphere" and I am trying to imagine what gives a place atmosphere. It seems that if you have this magical property you can charge what you like and people will still come flocking.

We had previously been to a trendy Tapas bar in Covent Garden. It Oozed atmosphere and clearly was so popular that we queued to get in. The food was ........ ordinary. Lots of small bowls containing mainly potatoes, with the odd bit of protein thrown in now and then. I have to say though that I was not overwhelmed by the value for money, unless you count the atmosphere of course, which was loud and made conversation difficult and of course, loud.

I came to a conclusion. Not at all scientific of course, and based on very little evidence, but I believe that the secret of success in the catering business is volume. Make lots of noise, or encourage your punters to do it for you, and Voila - you have atmosphere and it will become a self perpetuating phenomenon. I suspect also that I may have missed something.