In a Vodka Shop was one of three pieces Bax wrote in a two-week period early in 1915 for Harriet Cohen, a young pianist whom he had met not long before and with whom he had a long romantic and artistic relationship. It was not Cohen, however, but Myra Hess to whom Bax dedicated In a Vodka Shop and who gave the work its first performance, on April 29, 1915, at the Grafton Galleries. A subsequent performance in May at Bechstein Hall not only brought Hess much acclaim but won a glowing review from composer Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock), who called In a Vodka Shop "uproarious" and "stimulating." Four years later Bax revisited the piece, arranging it (along with Gopak and May Night in the Ukraine) for orchestra to serve as an interlude during the 1919 season of Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Ballet. The orchestral version was given its premiere under Ernest Ansermet's direction on July 25, 1919, at the Alhambra Theatre.

A rousing ostinato-like figure opens the four-minute composition. Grandiose but rather playful music follows; Bax clearly has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek throughout this piece. A fast-paced coda closes the work in virtuoso fashion. The humor and the technical challenges for the pianist have made this one of Bax's more popular piano miniatures.

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