Seven Dials Goes Zuma
Published 18th Aug 2006 by Laura Creasey

In various places and at various times, Zuma has been the name of a classic Neil Young album, an Aztec god and a Californian beach.

As of summer 2006, it is also the name of the Seven Dials' most characterful bar. Run by Su Drummond, formerly of Browns, Zuma is also continuing the model inherited from its former incarnation, Bank, in combining drinking haunt with art gallery.

The artwork, which will change every six weeks, is being provided by Four Walls, the locally-based promoter of contemporary painters, printmakers and photographers.

Zuma offers a warm and atmospheric environment for anything from daytime coffee to an evening cocktail, the new red velvet seating surrounded on all sides by superb paintings and photography, much of it locally produced.

As well as the main bar, on street level, they are currently developing the downstairs as a second, more intimate seating area.

They offer a snack menu including nachos, which might be a cheeky nod to their Aztec namesake, or might, on the other hand, have nothing to do with him whatsoever, and a live music programme which, quite definitely, has nothing to do with the Neil Young heritage, consisting, as it does, almost entirely of jazz.

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