Simmons Bar | Old Street — Restaurant in London

Very upset and disappointed- Myself and a group of 7 girls one guy came to this bar as part of our staff night out on Monday 6th November 2023. Immediately when getting to the door the bouncer took his time to look us all up and down and made no secret about it, which I personally found a bit uncomfortable. Regardless after showing our ID’s we were let in one by one until it got to myself. I am 23 years old and have a post office pass card which is a legal form of photo ID in England, it is also scannable. The bouncer said they couldn’t accept it because they were too easily forged. After a bit of back and fourth of me telling him it’s not legal to refuse it, the manager came out. He told me it was company policy and I wouldn’t be allowed in without another form of ID which I didn’t have. My pass card has never been a problem and wasn’t a problem in any of the other bars I went into that evening. I told him the company policy was not okay as again this is a legal form of scannable ID. The manager then proceeded to get his phone out and unconsentually take a photo of my face. Up until this point I had stayed very fair and calm but this however did upset me to the point of shouting. As a 23 year old woman, I find this behaviour completely unacceptable and very upsetting. My friends that had already entered the bar then came out and we decided after hearing what had happened to go elsewhere. As we were walking away the manager waved his phone at us said ‘don’t think you’ll be going anywhere else around here tonight.’ We ignored him and continued to walk to another bar across the street where he proceeded to follow us to the next bar. We had already been let into this bar with no issues but could see him talking to the the bouncer on the door of the new bar. After talking to the bouncer at this new bar and explaining the situation, he obviously told your manager to leave us alone and we continued our evening.

I find this whole situation completely outrageous. From having pictures of me taken unconsentually to being followed by a fully grown man, this behaviour is completely unacceptable and will be emailing to deal with...

We arrived around 23:30 for a table we had booked for five people at 00:30. We proceeded to ask the doorman who was checking guests in if we would be able to get in a little earlier. He asked for our table booking name and found it on his register and said an earlier entrance wouldn't be possible as the table was currently occupied so we should wait, which we were completely fine with, knowing we had turned up an hour earlier anyways. So we proceeded to wait just outside the bar for approximately for the hour. After an hour waiting directly outside of the bar the time was now 00:30 when we then approached the doorman to see if we would now be able to enter and to our amazement he said that the table was clear and we would be able enter. But just as we were about to enter one of the bouncers said that we would not be able to enter because we didn't have a mixed group (a mix of males and females), even though this was NOT specified when booking earlier in the week or on any of Simmon's terms and conditions. Moreover, when we had arrived an hour earlier than our original booking and asked if we could get in earlier, the doorman clearly saw the gender of all the participants within our group and DID NOT specify any 'mixed group' requirements and still proceeded to tell us to wait. When we queried his reasoning behind this and asked to speak to a manager he eluded to 'guys having a drink and wanting to talk to girls and causing trouble' a clear act of discrimination, sexism and stereotyping, especially since we had been very polite and understanding while waiting outside for an hour. I would highly recommend giving Simmons a HARD PASS in the future as their staff have no respect for their guests and will make up any rules on the door as to wether they will allow you to enter or not even if you have a booking in advance with all your participants...

I came out with a few mates and was pleasantly surprised to have been hosted by Coffee Jay. I've met him a few times at Soho Simmons, Oxford Street Simmons, and a few others; and was delighted to have run into him again! Awesome individual, tending to mine and my groups every need; recommending drinks, providing us with a barrel of laughs, in addition to introducing us to the team. The security team were also extremely pleasant. Polite and professional and even offered to hold our birthday cake behind the bar to bring out as a surprise later on during the night. Danielle is amazing and has promised to look out for us in future and Myca was just an all round awesome person (can see why everyone loves her). Sian, Elly and Aeron were making our drinks and WOW were they tasty! Not only did the drinks look amazing but they also tasted like something out of this world. Jay recommended the "reverse cowboy" shot and Miami Vice- and the girls on the bar did not disappoint in making them. Dasia and Kat was so lovely and ensured that our table never got crowded with glasses and also just radiated positive energy. Erin, JamieLeigh, Nadine, Tuva, Nour and Nathan were just fantastic! Jay introduced us to them when he seated us, and they remembered all of our names, so me and my group made the effort to ensure we learnt all of their names and hence this review! An absolutely awesome experience and will definitely be a regular there! Looking forward to seeing all of the Old Street Simmons...