he metamorphosing Parkdale area continues with its personality adjustment, gaining hot new lounges and restaurants, and the name this conversion from the raw to the cooked says it all.

Walking down Queen West one recent Saturday just after midnight, the area - now brimming with nightlife options - was bustling full force: boom-boom-boom. Yet our destination was not The Drake, the still terminally trendy chill-spot from which the relentless beat was emanating, but The Beaconsfield, just across the street.

Located in the historical Molson’s Bank Building, The Beaconsfield has positioned itself, like its homey neighbour, as a hipster-oriented hangout. The décor is just as slick (don't miss the stainless-steel bar, which reflects the overhead chandeliers) and after midnight the DJ music's volume was cranked beyond levels conducive to conversation. But the feel is friendly casual chic, no velvet rope.

Yet, underneath the building’s lip gloss, the witty barlounge thematically appears as a more accessible, personalized version of The Paddock. But with a London (East Side) vibe that’s easier to wrap your finger around, and, thusly more conducive for the mainstream faction, but is in no way simpler or condescending.

Since the cocktail crowd wouldn’t know Molson’s Bank Building, we must take the interior designer’s obsessive love for it at face value: owners Eric Yealland, Robert Banick, Callum MacLachlan and Peter Freed have wrapped their bar in gobs of note perfect features. Take, for example, the art-deco diamond-drop light fixtures displayed at eye level for easy perusal and the little chandeliers above the bar that give the entire room a warm feel.