London Cocktail Week will return to the capital once again this autumn – but this time it will run for an entire month.
The annual festival – best known for partnering with top cocktail bars to offer £6 drinks to festival ticket holders – has announced it will return to the capital in 2020, with a bolstered focus on supporting the London bar industry in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
For its 11th edition, the festival will run for the entire month of October, as opposed to one week from the first Friday, as it has done in previous years.
The festival’s hub, The Cocktail Village, will not be part of the celebrations this year as part of an effort to encourage ticket holders to visit bars across the capital. All partnering bars – which are yet to be announced – will serve a £6 cocktail to pass holders, with some also hosting pop-ups and events.
The festival will also include £6 Cocktail Tours and a new “at-home element”, and is set to be supported by more than 30 drinks brands.
“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,” said co-owners Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne.
Amy Lamé, the Night Czar to the Mayor of London, showed her support for the extended event.
“London’s bars and pubs are at the heart of life in the capital,” said Lamé. “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.”
Top London bartenders have also expressed their support for the festival’s return, with Tayer + Elementary’s Monica Berg saying that “we need to show our guests, community and society that it’s safe to go back to bars”, and Hawksmoor’s Liam Davy adding “with seemingly everything this year getting cancelled, [London Cocktail Week 2020 is] such a ray of light to our industry.”
London Cocktail Week tickets cost £15 per person, and will be released in mid-August. For more information, visit londoncocktailweek.com
