The Loft ETAGI Project abides by the first law of hipster: find a disused office block and convert into art spaces, cool bars, Google-style cafeterias… and youth hostels. Okay, the last one is optional, but BarChick knows where she is going to stay when she comes back for the legendary White Nights in June. Spread over five floors, of which Sever Bar has the second, Loft ETGAI Project would be well worth a look even if it weren’t for the huge toucans and the jungle (ish) massive mural on the facing wall, beckoning us in.

This used to be a local bakery’s refrigerator, and they’ve left the surfaces raw with nice touches like glass vases upturned to make chandeliers, which brightens it up. Check the upside-down snow globes hanging down over the bar for mini sculptures by a local artist inside each one.

High tables are crammed with cool crowds out for a Saturday night. A movie projector blasts old Soviet movies on to the wall bathed in a glow of disco lights while a DJ spins tunes. A Hockney-lookalike barman wearing giant fake breasts mixed us the house cocktail filled with berries and Russian prosecco. This place has been gentrified just enough.