The Spirit of Lucky Strike, Reimagined by Thomas Straker

Published 22.04.2025

I used to hit Lucky Strike in Soho all the time—back in those Bon Vivant days of social chaos and general depravity. 

The food? It was fine. The drinks? You got exactly what you ordered. Nothing over the top. But that wasn’t the point. It was the vibe. The people who worked there. The crowd that rolled in no matter the hour.

Lunch and dinner were practically two different restaurants, but it was the late nights that stuck with me—the kind of atmosphere only a few cities really know how to pull off. No one cared if the burger came out at the right temp. It fed you, it kept you going. We weren’t there to nitpick—we were there to ride the wave until we dropped.

What made Lucky Strike the place to be was that it was normal—expected even—to share your space with a stranger. Whether you were seated or standing, you were part of this communal, chaotic dance. It had that same spirit as the speakeasies from the Prohibition era—crammed into an orgy of socially controlled chaos. And somehow, it all worked.

Some nights there’d be a DJ tucked at the end of the bar, and we’d dance like idiots until closing. Other nights we’d end up drinking next to someone famous, and no one made a fuss. It was a scene. A feeling. And honestly, that kind of magic is hard to find these days.

So I’m genuinely glad Tom Straker’s giving it a go in a space that deserves that energy. What he’s doing down on Golborne Road—there’s a real shot it brings back that vibrant, bohemian, eclectic magic that Lucky Strike once nailed. And I’m all in for it.