The Bird and the Churchkey
Gammel Strand 44, Cph K; open Tue-Wed 16:00-02:00, Thu-Sat 16:00-04:00; table bookings at table@thebird.dk; www.thebird.dk

If you have not already heard the roar, there’s a new playground in the city, and they mean business! Bar-business. The place is The Bird and The Churchkey, located at the premises previously occupied by everybody’s favourite burger house, Cocks and Cows. It’s a gin and beer bar with a big focus on quality products, so when you order your beloved G&T here, it will be “where gin, tonic and garnish all complement each other”, promises Adam Hjorth from the Nord Group, the owner of several city venues, including Nord, the over-30s nightclub, and  Hero, the Japanese street kitchen restaurant.

Walking down the steep stairs to the Bird and The Churchkey is like taking a little trip across Europe and back in time to East London’s rough neighbourhood bars. The interior is polished up, with beams in the ceiling, white tiles on the walls and a long bar in the rather small entrance room. After ordering your drink from the smiley and, might I add, very attractive bar staff, the various corners of the bar beckon you, whether it’s to take a seat on one of the retro décor wooden barstools, or one of the old benches in the smaller adjacent rooms. Both trendy and funky, and serving an interesting mix of beer and gin, the fantastically eccentric Nord Group has delivered again.

The place is perfect for an after-work drink, and the clientele coming in are at both ends of the age scale and range from your regular businessman to hipsters making the journey over from Kødbyen. If you’re partial to a G&T, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a choice of 20 different variations. Along with the 40 kinds of expertly brewed beers, there’s enough to give both beer enthusiasts and gin nerds wet dreams.

So what are you waiting for?

Indeed, the sign alone should be enough to entice you in, or at least that was the idea in East London when most of the population were still illiterate.

“In London, the old traditional pubs often have a name consisting of two symbols, animals/things, as many could understand symbols, but not read,” explains Hjorth.

While The Bird and the Churchkey does not have any special events planned for the foreseeable future, the Nord Group is known for spicing up our routine weekend escapades, so keep an eye on their web and Facebook pages.

So, if you are still reading this review, it means you have not made your way their yet: move! You will find no other place this funky in town. So, I repeat myself: what are you waiting for?