Good morning all,
This week I’ve had the pleasure of checking out a few new South London venues (all in the name of research, obvs).
My stand out outlet was Lost Rivers at Elephant (& Castle). Now, as I primarily know E&C as the part of London where I was violently mugged a few years back, I wasn’t entirely enamoured about going there, nor did I hold out much hope for a successful regeneration of the area. However, my prejudices were unfounded and the gentrification of the armpit of the Capital is in full swing.
Lost Rivers is based out of the ever-trendy setting of some disused shipping containers, so close to the station that I didn’t miss my train after leaving just 3 minutes to get to the platform.
What makes Lost Rivers special? The multi-use site allows them to “zone” areas and therefore customer need states. The first part of the container is a standard hipster- bar with rustic furniture and simple but effective decor.
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The second part of the container is where it gets interesting. Set up to be a gaming area, it’s still a work in progress but currently has several consoles, a pool table and youth-club style tables and benches. For the more discerning bar-flies, there’s a balcony area that overlooks the area that is reserved for VIP use and includes at-table service.
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I like the branding, I like the concept, and the zoning and focus on gaming is clever and effective. We know from research that many pub/bar customers are looking for a more “experiential” visit to their local pub/bar, in fact, we asked the members of KAMunity if they would spend more time in an outlet if it had “gaming facilities”- including pool tables and more traditional games and 43% said they would. Unsurprisingly, this increased to 62% when we cut the data to just show Millennials.
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After an eventful and travel-ful few weeks, I’m SO happy to be spending a weekend in London. Dinner with a friend in Shoreditch tonight, lunch in Crystal Palace tomorrow and then a short journey down to my Dad’s in Surrey on Sunday for some family time. Perfect!
Please keep your pictures of innovative outlets and recommendations for pub & bars to visit coming!
Katy
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