23/09/2025
CLASS AUTUMN 25 - DO OR DIVE 🏍️⚡️💨
When we asked Chris Tanner to define All My Gods - our cover bar for Autumn - in a few words, he simply replied: “It’s a modern London dive bar.” He was wearing dungarees and a biker jacket at the time, but the pitch still painted much of the picture.
In today’s market, your bar’s purpose must be chiselled to within an inch of its existence. People need to be in one mind as to why they’re spending their shrinking disposable cash in your venue. About now, heading a little down market on price and vibes but heightening and sharpening the concept – just as All My Gods has – isn’t such a bad idea. Value for money needn’t die at the door of the cocktail bar. Who isn’t going to head to Bethnal Green for a game of pool and a few £8 Martinis?
In this edition of CLASS, we try to cultivate this idea of finding growth in what seems a shrinking market. Over at UK Hospitality, Kate Nicholls has news for us on licensing changes, while we also explore how best to adapt to reduced revenues compounded by rising costs - essentially, why we need to now fish where the fish are.
Nathan Larkin of Speak in Code makes the argument for batched cocktails to shift the focus on the bar experience – and increase revenues, while Oli Dodd has a piece on five of the best-value brands to help drag that creeping cocktail price back to something more affordable.
Outside of our topical commentaries, Iain McPherson has advice on marketing, while Kevin Armstrong unpicks the dynamics of brand work, plus all our regular columns and features.
READ HERE: https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=c5b1f327-6abb-47a5-81b8-c486cfa4f7df
