London Cocktail Week is returning for 2021 – and, for a second year, it is being extended across the whole of October to celebrate bars, spirits and cocktails.
In October 2020, the month-long programme of events and online activity increased footfall to London’s bars at a time when it was needed, generating positive feedback from the trade.
Consumers also loved the previously week-long festival being extended to a whole month: 96% of those surveyed asked for it to remain as month-long, saying it gave them more opportunities to check out bars, spirits and cocktails they had not tried before.
This year’s London Cocktail Week will feature the popular self-guided Cocktail Tours, encouraging consumers to visit bars to try out specially priced signature serves, as well as a full programme of in-venue events.
However, the Cocktail Village – a hub for pop-up bars that has taken over locations such as Old Spitalfields Market in the past – will again not be taking place, reflecting the organisers’ commitment to putting London’s bars at the heart of this year’s activities.
In a statement, co-owners and organisers Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne explained: “We all hoped that by this time in 2021, the industry would be in a much more positive position. However, the situation for our bars has only become more and more serious. So, once again, we want to step up to the responsibility of what London Cocktail Week can do for our city – it is our duty to use our platform to help rebuild our incredible trade.”
The extended London Cocktail Week will also be a fantastic opportunity for people in the trade to reconnect, coming together and celebrating the end of such a difficult time for the hospitality sector.
Trade-led marketing for London Cocktail Week this year features the image of “Resilience” – made up of a tower of drinks-measuring jiggers – created by Addie Chinn as part of industry fundraising collective Our Future Proof. It carries the strap line, “Throw anything at us and we survive. We can take it all. Even balanced so precariously, we continue to stand tall”.
The campaign, dubbed A Shot in Time, aimed to capture the shared emotions people associate with drinking and dining out, visiting bars, coffee shops and everything in between. Supporting the hospitality industry during the pandemic, 100% of all proceeds go directly to The Drinks Trust.
More information about the Cocktail Tours, events and tickets will be available at londoncocktailweek.com.
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