Shunt Vaults. Southwark.

. . .because I've done a fair bit of drinking and bar-hopping in my day, and Shunt is still my favorite place in the world. For starters, the entrance is in the tube station - come on NYC MTA, why didn't you think of that?

Once you actually find the entrance, marked only by a dude sitting behind a table to collect your 5 quid, you walk in and it smells . . .funky. Not dirty hippie funky, but *funky*. That's because Shunt used to be the wine cellar for the city, or something like that. At any rate, it is huge, about the size of a football pitch with dark cavernous rooms everywhere.

The thing I love about Shunt is that there's something for everyone here. Not only can you dance in the main space, but you can play arcade games in one of the side rooms, make out with someone in the dark wine cellar corners, hear live music, watch a movie, or catch a short theatre piece. Seriously, this place is like a much cooler grown-up version of Chuck E. Cheese, go while it's still hot.