The team behind award-winning London cocktail bar Purl are to run a six-month pop-up bar in south London.
They are to open Purl At The Bedford in Balham from November 5 to April 27, bringing the unusual and eye-catching cocktails that they are well-known for.
Purl in Marylebone was opened three years ago by consultancy Fluid Movement which has gone on to open other London bars including The Worship Street Whistling Shop – last year named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars.
The pop-up at The Bedford pub (pictured) will begin by showcasing the Marylebone bar’s “Forgotten Purls”, a selection of their most popular creations no longer on the original venue’s menu.
Purl will be taking requests from customers through their Twitter feed at @PurlLondon, with the most popular choices to be restored to the menu. These will be on offer for a number of weeks before the menu is shuffled once more, and a new selection is made available.
Forgotten Purls already confirmed for a return include signature drink Mr Hyde’s Fixer Upper, a combination of Zacapa 23 rum, Bob’s Chocolate Bitters and homemade cola syrup with Pedro Ximénez sherry smoke, dry ice and lapsang souchong tea, while other old favourites such as the Champagne Caviar and Rum Grog will also be on the menu.
The aim of the original Purl bar was to bring classic concoctions back to the forefront of London’s drinking scene while adding new flare and creativity to forgotten libations.
Using aroma, fogs, airs, foams, food, bespoke barware and liquid nitrogen, Purl’s inventive mixology is designed to work on a multi-sensory level, bringing drinks to life and transporting the guest to another time or place.
“We’re all looking forward to reviving these Forgotten Purls,” says managing director Bryan Pietersen. “We’ve gone back through our recipe book to dig out some of our greatest hits from the first three years of Purl, and can’t wait to serve them up to a new crowd in our south London pop-up.”
Bryan was one of the founders of consultancy of Fluid Movement which went on to launch Purl and The Worship Street Whistling Shop. In August, he quit Fluid Movement to run Purl as a solo venture, with plans to develop the brand further in the UK and overseas.
Holding up to 50 guests, Purl At The Bedford will have its own front door at the pub and will run from 5pm to midnight, Tuesdays to Saturdays, with reservations taken through the Purl website at www.purl-london.com.
Updated October 15, 2013, with postponed opening date.
