Where shall we meet?: The Club Bar, Waldorf Hotel

Now the hot weather has broken, it's once again safe to patronise the Club Bar of the Waldorf. Avoid the dralon tub chairs, obviously, and luxuriate in a nice leather Chesterfield.

Clubby but casual, this bar is a handy stepping-stone between shopping in Covent Garden and a night at the theatre. A smiling waiter will bring you your gin and tonic (pounds 3.10), mineral water (pounds 1.50) or icy glass of Lanson (pounds 6.50), complete with mixed nuts and crisps. Someone in the hotel trade once discovered that if you give your guests those very vinegary olives with a sad bit of pimento shoved up them, no one will eat more than two. This may explain the presence of these disgusting little vegetables in London's otherwise excellent watering holes.

The Club Bar, Waldorf Hotel, Aldwych WC2 (071-836 2400)

(Photograph omitted)