Socialising today is all bright lights and big city, penthouses and setting suns and Instagrammable moments of people wearing skimpy neon clothing to be shared with the multitudes before moving on to the next place. It must be an evolutionary thing because in the good old bad old days it was very much the opposite: dark rooms, preferably basements, dim lighting, a fire maybe burning in the corner, the steam of hot broth, loud hearty laughter and dark homespun clothing worn for days on end. Cue the Caveau Montpensier, a semicircular hole in the wall pub that quickly leads you down steps to the subterranean depths of this 18th century building in the shadow of the magnificent arcades of the Palais Royal. It is a minor miracle this little bar is still here, although it has changed hands once or twice in the intervening years. In the old days there was a pock-marked darts board that could provide entertainment for an entire evening, and before widescreen LCDs were in vogue, a wooden-framed television with rabbits ears stood in the corner, showing rugby matches on a winter’s Saturday afternoon when the picture would flicker whenever a try was scored as the steamy cellar room erupted in a crescendo of cheap beer, cigarettes and early 1990s (let us call it relatively innocent) bravado. There is still a fire here today, encased in a modern environmentally-friendly stove, and rightly so as the current American owners who took over the Licence IV almost 20 years ago keep the flame of the Caveau alive, but this time with a contemporary twist, offering gluten-free beer, a colourful panoply of cocktails and U.S. College football games. The darts board may be gone but there is a crisp red-felt pool table open to all-comers; just slap down a few euros beside the blue chalk cube and conjure up Paul Newman in the Color of Money or even Tom Cruise (who incidentally was filmed outside the Caveau a few years ago while making that memorable motorbike chase scene from Mission Impossible - Fallout.)
Au Caveau Montpensier, 15 rue de Montpensier, 75001. Tel: 01 42 60 12 89.
Join us in Paris pour un verre to celebrate the launch of
Friday September 22nd, 6PM-8PM Au Caveau Montpensier, 15 rue de Montpensier, 75001
