I don't know whether to give Island Bar five stars or none at all. Let me explain....

Island is a very nice bar, with an impressive array of cocktails, and a nice selection of draught beers etc.
The decor is nice, and they play good music.
It's all very professionally done, and the place has a good atmosphere.

The music at weekends is a bit too loud, which makes conversations practically impossible (louder than most nightclubs) but on the whole, I rate it very highly.

Unfortunately, I was put off the place when my friend was barred.

Now you may be thinking that this was due to fighting or some such antisocial behaviour, and that my friend is a thug, but you'd be wrong!

She's a smart, well spoken legal professional, very well mannered and generally above reproach.

So what did she do wrong?
Well, nothing.

She ordered a couple of glasses of sparkling white wine.
The barman took the bottle out of the fridge, put it to his mouth and took a swig, then proceeded to pour it into the glasses!

My friend was understandably gobsmacked at this, and told the barman that she didn't want the drinks. The barman yelled at her in front of all of the other customers, and then shouted to the doormen that she was 'barred for life'!

Now, I'm sure that putting a bottle to your mouth and drinking from it before serving the rest of the contents to a member of the public worked ok for Tom Cruise's character in 'Cocktail', but in real life, it's revolting, and almost certainly illegal.

What wories me is that the bar has many jars and bottles of home made fruit purees and the like for making cocktails, and these are prepared on site, many by this same barman.

I shudder to think of what the human saliva content is...