Overview
New York on Tap listed this bar without a review.
History
Out went the grill, in came the gin
Ernest Hemingway finalized the draft of For Whom the Bell Tolls at the Barclay, and the hotel was the first ever to put a large birdcage in its lobby1. It made its debut in 1926 as one of the original railroad hotels2. A 1995 renovation installed a bar behind the Barclay Terrace, and in 1997 the Barclay Bar & Grill opened in the lobby3.
In September 2014 the whole hotel closed, lobby bar and all, for a renovation announced the previous December3, 4.
The hotel returned in 2016 after a $180 million, 20-month top-to-bottom renovation2. Off the lobby was a new Gin Parlour, inspired by the Dutch and English gin bars of the 1920s2, 3. A 2017 review found it was the hotel's only bar and restaurant, and a modestly sized one5.
Today the hotel's bar and restaurant is The Parlour, and it, too, pays tribute to the hotel's 1920s origins6.
Sources
Researched October 2026.