With its dark wood panelling, billiard green walls and brass-topped bar, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Ralph Lauren’s newest bar was nestled in an upstate New York country club – an impression the polo mallets hanging from the wall do little to refute.

But when I dropped into the elegant establishment this morning, I didn’t have to drive out of the city or cross a polo field to get there. Instead, I jumped on the Central Line – for the brand’s intimate new bar can be found hidden in Ralph Lauren’s European flagship store, on London’s Regent Street.