The organisers of London Cocktail Week have announced that the 2020 festival will be taking place, running for the entire month of October, to support London’s on-trade.
Four leading spirits portfolios – Brown-Forman, Diageo, Edrington-Beam Suntory & Moët Hennessy – have committed their support alongside 26 individual brands.
Together, they have joined forces with the festival’s co-owners, Hannah Sharman-Cox, Siobhan Payne and brothers, Rajbir and Sukhinder Singh, to ensure the festival can go ahead this year.
London Cocktail Week 2020 will focus on celebrating and supporting the London bar scene, and giving consumers a renewed reason to get back to some of the capital’s very best bars during the month of October.
The Cocktail Village will not run this year. Instead, all efforts will be focused on driving much-needed revenue to the partnering venues.
For 2020, London Cocktail Week will be underpinned by a number of fresh commitments to bolster consumer confidence, support responsible operators and reignite supply chains through the £6 Cocktail Tours, in-venue brand activations and the addition of an at-home element.
Hannah and Siobhan said: “We’ve worked tirelessly for a decade to put our city firmly on the map as the cocktail capital of the world and we now occupy a unique position as the conduit between drinks brands, bars and thousands and thousands of consumers.
“As such, 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.”
For more information about London Cocktail Week, visit www.londoncocktailweek.com.
Support for London Cocktail Week
Amy Lamé, night czar for the Mayor of London, said: “London’s bars and pubs are at the heart of life in the capital. They are community hubs as well as important local employers, so I’m really pleased that this festival can play its part in rebuilding the hospitality industry in the weeks and months ahead.”
Ali Dedianko, advocacy manager, Brown-Forman, said: “Brown-Forman are proud and honoured to support London Cocktail Week. Having launched our own distribution in May, we are thrilled to be supporting the festival with Jack Daniel’s, Woodford Reserve and our portfolio of premium brands. We know that the bartending community has always looked after us and now it’s our turn.”
Ali Wilkes, brand director for spirits, Moët Hennessy, said: “London’s bars are absolutely world leading, a key element of London’s culture and hugely important as employers. We are passionate to support London Cocktail Week and proud to stand alongside other brand sponsors in support of this amazing trade and more importantly its people”
Liam Murray, on-trade controller for London, Edrington-Beam Suntory, said: “Edrington-Beam Suntory are proud to be partnering once again with London Cocktail Week. This year, more than any other, we felt it was important to show our support to London’s vibrant hospitality businesses and deliver superb drinking and dining experiences for all Londoners to enjoy.”
Sly Augustin, owner of Trailer Happiness, said: “I think London Cocktail week represents a chance to grab back some of the lost momentum within our industry. It will help everyone reconnect with the general public and could serve as a small reset, hopefully drawing a line under Covid-19.”
Anna Sebastian, general manager of The Artesian at The Langham, said: “London Cocktail Week has become a highlight in the annual calendar for consumers and industry alike providing an unrivalled platform to showcase creativity, great drinks, make connections and build friendships. It has created a community of like-minded individuals who come together to celebrate “togetherness” via cocktails in London.”
Monica Berg, co-owner of Tayer & Elementary, said: “I think it’s important that London Cocktail Week takes place because we need to show our guests that it’s safe to go back to bars, and we need to allow them to support the bars in their time of need.”
