Despite the inconsistency of Six Richmond House‘s food offering I did lament its recent closure. Things move on quickly though and Local opened in September to resurrect the site down the ever popular Hurts Yard. In the course of my visit & research I decided this is a questionable name for a bar. Visits to local government and news websites aside,what did I make of it? The moody lighting and atmosphere of its former incarnation are gone and a bold orange colour scheme has emerged. The layout remains but with a more casual feel and a pool table added to make use of the entrance area. Its menu is based around sandos, a thick Japanese sandwich. On the evening I visited they had 4 available along with a handful of specials and sides.

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Chips (£4.50) arrived first, without a requested buffalo sauce. They were solid, if unremarkable, but spread widely on a try and liable to get cold a little too quickly. The Korean Chicken sando (£10) was a little wait but an appealing chunk of a sandwich arrived. The chicken itself was moist and nicely flavoured though the batter was a touch under cooked and oily. Entirely my fault for not reading the menu but I didn’t expect my Korean chicken to include cheap american cheese. If you got rid of that and added some punchy gochujang then you would really be in business.

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Service was chaotic throughout, it took a long time to order and some of the staff lacked basic knowledge about their menu. Forgivable stuff but frustrating nonetheless. Despite it being far from perfect Local is a good feed at a reasonable price. A particular bargain is their Magic Rock IPA at £5 a pint. The likes of Mollis might be similar (and better) but the same meal would be £25 rather than £20 here. Every little helps. I’d be happy to return to try more of the menu and see if they have perfected some of the items.

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