Alex Kratena and Monica Berg's hybrid Old Street venture: a casual front bar (Elementary) for low-stakes drinks, and a precision cocktail counter at the back (Tayer) for the serious round. The genius is the option to move between rooms as the night changes — start in Elementary, see how it's going, then either move through to Tayer or pay up and leave.
152 Old Street · Old Street · Open since 2019 · $$$ · Tue–Sat 5pm–1am
The 30-second pitch
Alex Kratena (formerly of the Artesian, four-time World's Best Bar) and Monica Berg opened Tayer + Elementary in late 2019 with a structurally clever idea: two bars in one space, separated by a partition, sharing the same kitchen and ethos. Elementary at the front is casual — high-tops, draft cocktails on tap, simpler drinks under £15. Tayer at the back is a precision counter — twelve seats, made-to-order classics and originals, the full creative menu.
For a first date the format is the magic. You start at Elementary with a quick low-stakes drink. If the night isn't landing, you finish up and leave at minute thirty with no awkward escape. If the night is landing, you walk twenty feet to Tayer's counter, sit down, and now the night has its second act in a different and more intimate room. Two-act-structure dating is a structural advantage almost no other bar offers.
The moment it makes
The Tayer + Elementary moment is a small mutual decision. You've finished your first round at Elementary — a draft Negroni each, maybe a snack. The bartender comes to clear the glasses. There is a small natural pause. One of you says: "Should we go through?" The other says yes. You walk twenty feet, take two seats at the Tayer counter, and the date now has a clear second-act structure.
That decision is the moment because it's the first explicit shared "let's keep going" of the night. Most first dates rely on inertia — the round just happens, the next drink just happens. Tayer + Elementary makes the decision visible, and the visibility itself is bonding. By the time you sit down at Tayer's counter you've actively chosen to extend the night together, which feels different from drifting into a second drink.
What to order
Elementary's draft Negroni. The bar's signature draft cocktail — pre-batched, kept at temperature, poured fresh from a tap. Ten minutes faster than a stirred negroni and tastes almost as good. The right opening order at Elementary.
Elementary's snacks. Sourdough crumpets, anchovy butter, sourcing-driven small plates. The bar's culinary side is real and you should engage with at least one plate before moving through to Tayer.
Tayer's seasonal menu. The serious cocktail program rotates around themed concepts — past iterations have explored "Spaces" (drinks built around environments), "Dark Light" (chiaroscuro flavor), and "Renaissance" (revisited classics). Pick something you don't recognize and trust the bartender.
"Tayer Classic" off-menu. A precision Old Fashioned, Manhattan, or Martini built to Kratena's standard. Available always; ask if you want one.
Timing strategy
The cheat code is starting at Elementary at 5:30pm. The front bar is at its most accessible then — easy seating, fast service, low ambient pressure. By 7pm Tayer's counter has space for walk-ins, and you can move through with minimal friction. By 8pm both bars are full and the queue at the door starts. By 10pm both bars are at full pressure and Tayer's counter usually has a wait.
Reservations are accepted for both bars but the format works best with walk-in flexibility. Reserve Tayer (12 seats only, books up early) if you absolutely want the second-act structure; otherwise, walk in cold to Elementary and let the night decide. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are the magic; Old Street is too rowdy on Friday and Saturday for a first date.
What makes Tayer + Elementary Tayer + Elementary
Most cocktail bars are committed to a single mood. Tayer + Elementary's two-room design lets the bar shift moods on demand without requiring the customer to relocate. Elementary is bright, draft-led, conversational, food-friendly — the warm-up format. Tayer is dim, precision-led, slow, attention-rewarding — the main-event format. The physical separation (a partition wall, an opening between rooms) makes the transition feel like a small ritual rather than a relocation.
For a first date this is the most useful piece of bar architecture in London. The format pre-builds an exit ramp at minute thirty (finish at Elementary, leave) AND pre-builds an extension at minute forty (move to Tayer, settle in for the night). Two strategies live inside the same booking. Few other bars on this list offer that.
What it costs
Elementary cocktails are £12-£15, snacks £8-£14. Tayer cocktails are £18-£24. Two drinks at Elementary plus a snack: about £80 for two. Two drinks at Elementary plus two at Tayer: about £150 for two. Both bars add 12.5% discretionary service. The two-room format also means you can spend less if the night ends at Elementary, more if it extends to Tayer — the economics scale with the date.
Among the most economically flexible first-date bars on this list. The wallet stress can be calibrated to the night.
Who you'll be sitting next to
Tayer + Elementary's location near Old Street puts it in the path of the Shoreditch tech crowd, the City finance crowd, and a heavy contingent of cocktail-industry professionals who treat the place as a peer-respect destination. Bartenders from across London come here on their nights off. The age skews late-twenties through forties, the dress is thoughtfully casual, and the volume stays civilized at both bars even on busy nights.
This is the room where the rest of the London cocktail industry does their first dates, which is a small but useful endorsement.
Failure modes
You went straight to Tayer without Elementary. The two-room structure is the format. Skipping the warm-up at Elementary loses the easy-exit ramp and forces you into Tayer's slower, more committed pace from minute one. Fix: always start at Elementary, always.
You went on a Friday at 9pm. Old Street weekend energy is wrong for a first date — too loud, too rowdy, too much queue. Fix: Tuesday or Wednesday at 5:30pm.
You felt obliged to move through. The point of the format is choice; if Elementary is fine and you're both content there, stay there. Fix: ask each other at minute forty if you'd like to move through. If either of you hesitates, stay put.
If Tayer + Elementary is full
Three Sheets in Soho (twenty minutes). Smaller, more intimate, also brilliant.
Untitled in Dalston (fifteen minutes). Tony Conigliaro's experimental room. More serious, similarly forward-looking.
Lyaness on the South Bank (thirty minutes). The other big modern London cocktail destination.
Editorial verdict
Tayer + Elementary earns its #14 ranking by being the most-flexible cocktail bar in London — a single venue that lets the date scale up or down based on chemistry. For first dates where you want to keep optionality, the bar is unmatched. For first dates that should clearly be one thing or the other, the bar still works but a single-mood room (Lyaness, Donovan, the Connaught) might land harder.
If you're choosing between Tayer + Elementary and one of the Mayfair hotel bars, here's the heuristic: choose Tayer + Elementary if you don't yet know whether the date will land. Choose Mayfair if you already know.
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