The annual London Club and Bar Awards took place last night at the InterContinental Park Lane, with 16 accolades being awarded to the various cogs of leading establishments across the capital.

The action kicked off with pre-award drinks at the hotel, which mysteriously followed a bondage theme – near-naked women gaffa taped to the walls, naked men on tied up on leads, topless women on the bar, rubber outfits galore, and the option to join in the look by fashioning yourself a badge out of recycled porn mags…

Anyway, the excitement continued with the awards themselves: best bar tender went to Chris Ames, best DJ to Sam Young, and best mixologist to Christian Ozzati (pictured), while best night went to Cirque du Soir, Matthew Cramwell (also pictured) got best promoter and Nick House was awarded the lifetime achievement award. Huge congratulations to all of them.

Comedian Steven Furst compered the evening and kept the audience tuned in, while a smattering of celebs were on hand – Calvin Harris, Callum Best and Lee Chapman – to provide some instant glamour.

As would be expected from the Oscars of the nightlife world, the after parties were award-winning in themselves. The official one was held at Jalouse (which incidentally won best club); the parties that followed may well still be going on…

News item from Imbibe.com, 08-06-2010