London Cocktail Week readies for 2020

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 22 July, 2020

London Cocktail Week, the world’s biggest city-wide cocktail festival, will go ahead this year, its organisers have announced.

But to meet the challenges presented to the on-trade by the Covid-19 crisis, the festival will run through the whole month of October.

The focus will be on driving trade to partner venues, many of them small, owner-operated businesses, which have been crippled by the pandemic.

Initiatives to help boost consumer confidence and re-invigorate the bar scene include £6 cocktail tours and in-venue brand activations, although there will also be a new at-home element.

Festival co-owners and organisers, Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne said: “We feel it is our duty to use our platform and our voice to provide a solid, trusted foundation to support small businesses within our trade, and help get the London bar scene back where it should be.

“We feel hugely grateful for the incredible backing of this mission from our sponsors and believe that London can act as a blueprint to show other major cities around the world what can be achieved when an industry shows a united front in the face of adversity.”

London Cocktail Week is being supported this year by four headline portfolio sponsors: Brown-Forman, Diageo, Edrington-Beam Suntory and Moët Hennessy. A further 26 individual brand sponsors are also backing the festival, including Asahi, Bacardi, Grey Goose and Santa Teresa.

Sly Augustin, owner of Portobello Road bar Trailer Happiness, said: “I think London Cocktail week represents a chance to grab back some of the lost momentum within our industry. I think it will help everyone reconnect with the general public and could serve as a small reset, hopefully drawing a line under Covid-19.”

There is more information about London Cocktail Week on the festival website here.

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