When Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne started London Cocktail Week eleven years ago, they never thought they would see days like these.
The event, which is the largest celebration of cocktails, cocktail culture and bars in the world, normally attracts thousands of people to London bars. But, of course, that was before Covid.
PIN ITHannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne
When the city’s bars and restaurants were able to reopen back in July, the pair decided to extend this year’s event to cover the whole month of October. The intention had been simple – encourage as many people as they could, for as long as they could, to help the industry that was coming out of a three-month lockdown.
“It kind of made more sense to be a month,” said Payne. “We saw a chance to shine a spotlight on hospitality, bolster consumer confidence and get people back into venues.”
But nothing is ever simple and the week before the event was to start, the rising Covid numbers saw the government bring in restrictions, including a 10pm curfew. “Really is, there is no scientific evidence as to why it’s any worse after 10 o’clock. You know, we’re not Gremlins here”
“But there was a little bit of a fighting spirit,” she continued. “The 10pm curfew has been extremely difficult, but actually what it meant is that people immediately changed their offering. They opened on earlier days in the week, which they weren’t doing before and work around to extend the hours in different ways.”
But last Friday the game changed again. As the virus numbers continued to climb in the UK capital, the government has imposed new tier two restrictions. Indicating a state of ‘high alert’, the tier two category means that any mixing of households indoors has been banned, including in bars, pubs and restaurants.
This has left the hospitality industry in what can only be described as a no-mans-land – caught between the necessity to be open and new restrictions which are proving catastrophic. Citing the example of Milk & Honey which closed permanently last month, both Sharman-Cox and Payne believe there will be some venues that simply don’t survive this.
“Hannah and I were out last night at some venues, and it was just completely derelict out there,” said Payne. “Loads of people won’t be bothering to go to bars now because they can’t go with their friends.”
Yet even with the restrictions, Sharman-Cox and Payne are imploring people to get out and about. The event’s tagline this year is ‘Every Cocktail Counts’ and for them, that is very much the point. “The bars really, really, really do need people’s custom at the moment,” said Payne. “So now’s the time to reconnect with your housemates, or go on ‘date night’ with your significant other who you live with.”
And trying to press that point home will be the goal for the pair as London Cocktail Week continues over the next two weeks. In their view, London Cocktail Week has made a commitment, not only to the bars but to the brands and the public, that they would keep the event going for as long as the bars are able to stay open.
“We’ve gone to our bar owners. We’ve gone to our drinks brands. We’ve gone to, actually to our customers and been like, “Do you want us to do this? Or should we just all have a year off?” And when they all come back and say, “No, it’s so important. It must happen.”
“And while that’s really humbling, it’s also very enterprising,” Payne continued. “It means we’ve got a bit of a mission, and there’s no greater thing than two women on a bit of a mission.”
While the bar activations are still going ahead, the pair explained that they did need to make the difficult decision to cancel their biggest draw for the event, the Cocktail Village. To their mind, the safety of the guests was paramount, and the usual maze of pop-ups, lively entertainment, and the party atmosphere, would make it difficult to adhere to physical distancing rules.
There’s no greater thing than two women on a bit of a mission
“Actually, what it’s meant is that instead of thousands of people turning up to the pop-up space that we’ve created as a one-off event, those people are actually like filling out and filling up the bars.
“Ultimately we’re here to encourage people to get back into the bars,” she continued. “And just even if in a small way, we can support the hospitality industry in London when it needs it most, then that’s good enough for us. When something big happens, all you want to do is just something that will help. Hopefully, we are giving people that opportunity.”
And although the numbers aren’t in yet, as they are only halfway through this year’s month-long event, anecdotal evidence is showing that their efforts have not been in vain. Even with everything that is going on, the pair are getting reports that London Cocktail Week has helped generate hundreds and hundreds of drinks per venue.
“It’s when you get that little phone call from somebody saying, “Thank you so much. This is just, this is really changing things.” That’s just such an incentive to keep going and to keep pushing the messaging, you know,” Payne said.
Although the pair easily admit that putting on the event this year has been hard, they have both said that doing it has been a pleasure and they have no regrets in organising it. “We should be OK. We’ll live to run London Cocktails another year,” said Sharman-Cox.
“I guess the main difficult thing for us this year is that we haven’t been able to have a team around us,” continued Sharman-Cox. “It’s just been the two of us. It hasn’t been just the two of us since 2014. So that’s been hard, the sheer workload.
“But I think just getting that feedback from the bars, where they are saying, “75% of the people in here tonight are London Cocktail goers. Thank you so much,” that has really helped.”
Payne agrees, “I think hospitality is one industry that has fighters, and people will just keep going as long as they can. So, yes, we’re hopeful that not too many more venues will have to close but the situation seems to be changing all the time. We’ll just have to see what happens.”
If you are in London, support your bars! (responsibly, of course) £15 will get you a London Cocktail Week wristband which is valid until the end of October. That wristband reduces the cost of your cocktails to £6 in 250 bars all across London.
For more information go to londoncocktailweek.com
