Victoria is known to most people in London as a commuter hotspot. However, for the DDM Matchmakers, we also know that it is a potentially great venue for a first date to remember.
Here are some Matchmaker Selected first date ideas in Victoria, London, just for you and your new date.
Victoria is a great spot for bringing people together: friends and family who are traveling from other parts of the country or world, we know it as the ultimate commuter location, so it may come as a surprise that it is also highly suitable for potential love interests, especially if you never considered it as a date venue before. If you haven’t, chances are they haven’t either, which makes your venue choice all the more thoughtful.
A stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, and more than just one of the capital’s biggest transport hubs, it is also home to a vast range of welcoming pubs, gorgeous bars and upmarket cocktail lounges. You just have to seek them out, and that is where our guide comes in.
Victoria is home to some brilliant first date venues that may well be tailor-made to you and your date.
Here are some of our matchmaker approved first date ideas in Victoria.
1. Vagabond
77 Buckingham Palace Rd SW1W 0AJ
For many Londoners, Vagabond is everything they are looking for in a great date night venue: enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, acres of natural light, and a huge array of diverse wines – over 140 and counting – ready for sipping, not slurping..
While you enjoy sampling the international wines on offer, Vagabond also offers sharing plates and low-key tapas style dishes, all served around the central kitchen-bar table. Like all great first date venues, the small drink sizes allow for the chance to move around the room together, and offer talking points – not to mention the opportunity to share a small glass together. The perfect ice breaker.
With Victoria, the best transport hub in London right on their doorstep, Vagabond is a brilliant venue to select if you and your date live or work in different parts of London. To soak up the hubbub of London on a warm summer’s evening, they also have a relaxing outdoor area where you can relax and watch the world go by, until you need that next top up of course..
2. Munich Cricket Club
1 Abbey Orchard St, SW1P 2LU
Go ahead and look up rambunctious in a dictionary, and you’ll just find a photo of Munich Cricket Club—and the epic steins, raucous table dancing and sumptuous Bavarian cuisine therein. Not exactly the usual DDM Matchmaker recommend, but if you and your date fancy something a little different, this one might be worth considering.
Munich Cricket Club is a proper German bierkeller, with myriad Deutsche beers on draught, groovy lederhosen galore, and a real-life oompah band playing Schlager covers of all your favourite singalongs, natürlich.
Prepare to sample juicy bratwurst, spicy curry wurst and savoury schnitzel around communal beer hall tables, and get ready for a right jolly knees-up. Oktoberfest style. Just make sure it’s the kind of venue your date will enjoy as much as you will, and no, this isn’t a chance to test your potential partner. First dates should be all about fun!
3. Wild by Tart
3–4 Eccleston Yards, SW1W 9AZ
A proud constituent of the newly refurbished Eccleston Yards, Wild by Tart is your quintessential neighbourhood eatery.
A contemporary British establishment set in a 9,000ft2 multipurpose space comprising a bar, restaurant, coffee kiosk, events space, retail store and photography studio.
Owners Lucy and Jemima’s talented team of cooks dish up irresistible scratch-cooked meals using only the freshest, organic locally sourced ingredients.
The menu includes intriguing bites, small plates and desserts all packing big punches by virtue of their nationally sourced seasonal ingredients. It’s not just holier-than-thou food ordered by those of us on a macrobiotic diet. For those of us still on friendly terms with carbs, there are sourdough pizzas topped with pickled chilli, confit tomato, tallegio, tarragon and spicy fennel sausage emerges from their traditional wood-burning oven.
And as for the bar, where to begin?
There is a drinks list with just as much thought and substance. Bursting with wines both delicate and punchy, with delicious cocktails expertly crafted.
4. The Soak
Terminus Pl, SW1W 0RP
A plushly decorated Grade II–listed building right next door to Victoria Station, The Soak is an oasis amid the hustle and bustle of the London throngs.
In the abounding natural light streaming in through gorgeous arched windows and bouncing off high ceilings, you can savor a gourmet menu centring around pickling, fermenting and brining. Hence “the Soak”. And while brining chat might not sound like the most romantic evening out, the substance and style behind this venue means you can more than get away with it.
Amid the grandeur and history of all The Soak has inherited, you can stand at the stunning oval bar to browse a selection of classic world-class cocktails – best sipped in one of the venue’s intimate booths to the backdrop of The Soak’s regular live music. The funk gets real when the sun goes down.. Immerse yourselves in The Soak for a gastro affair that should delight your date as much as it does you.
Matchmaker Tip:
Whether you’re visiting The Soak for a tipple or a nibble, there’s always time for a top notch cocktail. There are numerous outstanding cocktails on their extensive list, which are of course served in appropriate glassware – even if that sometimes means they hand you over a wonderfully retro Tiki glass.
5. The Hari
20 Chesham Pl, SW1X 8HQ
If you and your new date are in the mood for some stylish five-star al fresco sipping, well—The Hari’s got you covered.
With a marvelous retractable roof for cocktails amid the London skyline, this stylish hotel bar is a bona fide gem, perfect for an afternoon aperitivo, a long and lazy lunch or an evening rendezvous which could well see you into the small hours (though not if this really is a first, rather than second or third date – find out why in our first date tips).
A short walk from Harrods, Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall and Buckingham Palace, The Hari is a Victoria first date venue like no other.
If our Victoria venues sound pretty good to you, but location wise it isn’t quite hitting the mark for you and your date, then perhaps Knightsbridge or Belgravia might be more to your liking?
With 5 hidden gems in Knightsbridge, our matchmakers have rounded up some of their favourite first date ideas which will hopefully increase your chances of securing a second date with your new amour.
Alternatively, if you don’t fancy hitting a bar or dining in a restaurant, how about meeting your date in a museum.
If you are ready to meet someone special, contact the friendly award winning matchmakers at Drawing Down the Moon Matchmaking.
