Hello and welcome
We spent this weekend in New York, taking in the sights, sounds and drinks of this magnificent, energising city.
Because we like to “give” here at KAM Towers, we frequented some of the city’s best watering holes *just* to be able to share some trends from across the pond with you.
First up, we went to Vandal, an uber-trendy bar full of the hip and beautiful people of New York (Bradley Cooper was in the “restroom” when Mr Katy went in!). The bar is a concept born out of street art and has pieces by Shephard Fairey and EElus adorning the walls, a botanical garden and a 3-part cocktail list (sweet, spiced and barrel-aged).
Not quite as easy to recreate in your local pub, but The Old Nuns Head, near me in South London has managed to team up with local artists to put their stamp on the inside AND outside of the pub. Customers there love the artwork, and it, in itself has become a reason for people to stop off at the pub. And we asked members of KAMunity, our online pub and bar going community whether they would like to see local artists work in their local pub/bar; a resounding 75% said yes.
Another concept that I saw a lot of in NYC was tequila and ceviche bars. Now, I’m not allowed to drink tequila after a regrettable situation with a pool table and a broken nose (not mine) in Peterborough in 2001, but these bars point towards our bet earlier in the year that Tequila is the next “gin”. Most of the Tequila bars have day-specific happy hours with certain drinks/food/entertainment on special, and I have it on good authority that this helps to attract a different crowd each night of the week. The terrible picture below is Tequileria, a cool, 50’s inspired tequila bar.
I’d love to see these popping up throughout the UK- if anyone out there knows of a pub/bar doing something “different” with tequila, please let me know.
Tonight we are heading to a secret location for a secret wedding present… all very odd but it’s something to do with food and drinks and I’ve been told not to wear heels, apparently we get a text message at 4pm telling us where to be, but other than that, we are totally in the dark. Tomorrow I’m doing a dreaded B&Q run to pick paint for our new office, and Sunday WILL be a day of rest.
