Two minutes with Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne, Co-Founders of London Cocktail Week...
2024 will be the fifteenth year of London Cocktail Week. Did you ever imagine it would continue to be so popular after over a decade?
When we first started out, neither of us would have imagined that the festival would evolve and grow into what it is now. Cocktails really weren't quite as mainstream back then, and we wanted to show people how great they could be by encouraging them to visit some of our favourite spots. Now our guests are so switched on and take their drinks super seriously! So many brilliant bars have opened in the last decade and a half, and London Cocktail Week's ongoing success is because of its celebration of the way the city's cocktail scene has continued to flourish and develop.
What aspect of this year's festival are you most excited about?
Last year, we introduced a brand new initiative called 'The Connoisseur's Collection', a selection of tailored experiences with some of London's best high-end bars. Venues including The Savoy's American Bar, Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London and Kwant Mayfair hosted one-of-a-kind events or offered limited edition drinks experiences, and we can't wait to build on the initiative with another incredible line up at this year's festival.
Last year you began to transition to a not-for-profit model. What drove you to do this, and why do you think it's so important to support London's bartending community?
Supporting and championing London's bartending community and hospitality industry has always been our main ethos, and we've actually just rewritten our mission for this year to strengthen that commitment. We've always strived for the festival to be truly valuable for our bar partners, not only in terms of visibility but also from a commercial standpoint, so the transition felt like a natural next step in supporting those venues. Over the year's we've injected millions and millions of pounds directly into London's night time economy and this amount is now increasing with pace as ticket sales, as well as the usual cocktail sales, now go to the bars.