A&O HQ, on Bishops Square, is but a stone's throw away from a diverse and a very trendy area – Shoreditch - with a plethora of exciting venues:
Dining:
The Diner, more of an institution than a restaurant, serves traditional American fare and is home to the Hardshake (your choice of milkshake and alcoholic mixer).
More 'gap-year' than 'working-lunch', Song Que is the best Vietnamese in the area, with appetising prices and outstanding food, though the queue is usually ten men deep.
Celebrity favourite, Le Trois Garçon, serves some of the finest French cuisine around, in an extraordinarily eclectic dining room. Health Warning: eating with the likes of Liz Hurley and Guy Richie may damage your wallet.
Drinking:
Jaguarshoes is a bar, music venue and art gallery rolled into one. Don’t be fooled by the name, it only occupies an old shoe shop!
Tea Bar is a great place to spend a few hours soaking in the local atmosphere. With a clock outside showing the seconds left until last orders, you are sure to be kept amused after a hard day in the office.
The Hoxton Pony, one of Shoreditch's newest venues, serves a mix of hand selected cocktails in seriously chic surroundings. This controversial bar has been both welcomed and shunned by residents - only a stumble from the office, go and make up your own mind!
Dancing:
Plastic People, an intimate venue nestled underground on Curtain Road, has one of the greatest sound systems in London paired exciting musicians like Mr Scruff and Unkle. The more adventurous souls can try Sunday night Forward (if you can handle work the following day).
Fabric, the undisputed king of London's nightclubs, boasts a vibrating dance floor – try it on a Friday if you like it busy. For those in our Canary Wharf office, fear not, Fabric's owners have designed Matter, a brand new nightclub situated under the O2 Dome. Opening September, it will be served by river taxi!
Fancy straying a little further from the office, here are some highlights around the capital:
In edgy Brixton and occupying the crypt of St Matthew's lies Babalou Bug Bar with Mass in the church above, pumping out big tunes into the early hours.
Possibly the best Mexican food in London - check out Wahaca : cheap and delicious, the food is served up cantina style, but beware the ever present queue! Craving a pizza topped with an English breakfast? Fire & Stone is the answer and only a short stumble away lies the tiny, almost hidden Nell Gwynne Tavern.
Schnitzel and a Stein (1 litre of German beer) anyone? Get youself over to the Beer House.
For a classier tipple (including half price champagne on Fridays during the summer) try the Press House and further up Fleet Street is one of London's oldest pubs, Olde Cheshire Cheese.
Top Table for all restaurant deals.
Also check out The World's End, Trinity, Southwark Tavern, Cargo, Herbal, Zigfrid's, Freud's, Light, Mother Bar, Leon and Bierodrome.