Last Updated on February 3, 2025
Cocktails with a comic twist
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Cahoots Postal Office in Borough Yards is the first branch of this post-war themed cocktail bar brand to open South of the River, following the success of Soho’s Cahoots Ticket Hall and Cahoots Underground.
At Cahoots Postal Office, you immediately feel like you’ve entered another world, a strange almost hackneyed vision of a 1940s London post office. I kept expecting the cast of Operation Mincemeat to come down the stairs in full costume and in character. Alas, this did not happen, but we still had a fun time at Cahoots.
The entrance to Cahoots is in one of Borough’s atmospheric railway arches, trains rumbling overhead. Guests report to the postal office desk before being sent through to the bar.
There is postal paraphernalia everywhere you look while the friendly staff are all clearly acting in the spirit of the Cahoots 1940s theme. The music matches the theme too. We arrived to the strains of In the Mood by the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the soundtrack continued in that jaunty vein taking in everything from Frank Sinatra to Volare.
The menu comes in the form of a newspaper, fittingly called the Borough Bulletin. It’s dated Winter 1946 and its packed with joky news and puzzles as well a very long list of cocktails and mocktails plus a range of wines and beers.
As the booze would be flowing (for one of us, at least) we would need something to provide ballast. Cahoots Postal Office has a short list of snacks. Or as the menu puts it “The Scoundrels have pooled their ration books and offer a fine feast of nibbles.”
Over the course of the evening, we managed to polish off generous bowls of juicy Nocellara Olives, salty Mixed Nuts and cubes of Mature Cheddar plus quite a few crunchy breadsticks.
It being January one of us was being good and not drinking alcohol. It wasn’t me. Luckily for my companion, Cahoots Postal Office offers a good selection of mocktails so she didn’t feel too left out.
Her first drink of the night was the Vera Lynn, a mix of CleanCo G non-alcoholic gin spirit, cloudy apple juice, pear purée, ginger, elderflower and lime citrus essence. Cahoots doesn’t go in for the usual range of cocktail glasses and this was served in a ceramic embodiment of Vera herself, in army uniform. This mocktail was full of lovely citrussy notes. However, a slightly woeful sentence escaped my companion’s lips: “It would be better with gin…”
I wanted to enter into the full spirit of Cahoots so ordered the P.A.M.E.L.A. This is how the menu describes it: “Once the post offices’ Postal Automated Mechanical Electric Letter Arranger, reprogrammed by the sneaky scoundrels into their very own cocktail-making machine! Meet P.A.M.E.L.A. – your mixology mistress, just ask your server to see her in action!”
A token was brought to our table with instructions to listen out for my number. The music stopped and with some fanfare, my number was called. After a bit of drama and a lot of dried ice, a hatch opened and my cocktail was revealed.
I can confirm that “P.A.M.E.L.A.” can mix a mean cocktail. This blend of Johnnie Walker Blue Label Scotch whisky, Italicus bergamot liqueur, cherry and grapefruit was deliciously smoky, sweet, warm and sour. Cherry and whisky make a great pairing.
And so onto our next round of drinks. My friend chose from the Codebreakers Collection, a selection of three Seedlip-based drinks. We had to solve a Morse code puzzle in order to reveal the secret ingredient in her Orchard’s Enigma. This dainty little drink – served in a surprisingly normal glass – was inspired by the boozier Gimlet. This version was made of Seedlip Groove 42 distilled non-alcoholic spirit, green apple syrup, green juice mix and lime juice. In the spirit of Cahoots, the secret ingredient shall remain secret.
I was determined to stay at the crazier end of the drinking vessel spectrum and chose the CPO Club purely because it came in a red pillar box. This mix of Casamigos Blanco tequila, Martini Riserva Speciale Rubino vermouth, Ancho Reyes Verde chilli liqueur, passion fruit, apricot and foamer bitters was a weirdness too far for me. It needed a bit more fruity sweetness to challenge the dominant very savoury chilli.
So much thought and effort has gone into making Cahoots Postal Office a fun and different experience. There’s so much to look at and many talking points, from animatronic carrier pigeons to other people’s drinks whizzing over our heads through the pneumatic tube delivery system. Cahoots is indeed a hoot.
Cahoots Postal Office
(Unit 205) 18 Stoney Street SE1 9AD
Telephone: 020 7590 3603
