Thank God for the London Bar Show.  It’s is the perfect excuse for me to get some poor unsuspecting liquor company to pay my way back to Blighty where I can stand on some stage or other and make an idiot out of myself for an hour or so.  It’s a dream come true, really.

Then, after my dog and pony show is over, I get to watch people like Tony C, Thomas Estes, Nick Strangeway, and of course, Jared and Anistatia, make idiots of themselves as they take their turn at holding court at the Bar Show.  I usually applaud like crazy then get them to buy me copious quantities of ale at the pub down the street.

My very favorite part of the show, though, is meeting bartenders from all over the world as I stroll around the exhibitions.  There’s a keen sense of unity at the Bar Show.  It makes my little heart glad.
 

Gaz Regan,
Worldwide Bartender Database

Its eleven years since the first London Bar Show at Islington Design Centre in 2000 and typically it seems like only yesterday. We had been publishing Theme magazine for a good few years before this, from offices in Manchester, but when the offer came to be involved in an exhibition for bars we jumped at the chance. Prior to the London Bar Show there was little in the way of events for the modern bar sector, just a bunch of general hospitality and catering shows flogging pots ‘n pans.

The first London Bar Show was small and not too perfectly formed, but looking back it was a point in time when things really started to happen in the business. Few of the giant drinks companies were present; they still had their hands full with the pub business, but those who did attend were the nucleus of the business that grew into the industry we so proudly serve today. Many of our international visitors have gone on to build exhibitions around the world and we welcome them back to London again this year.

This year’s London Bar Show is back in Islington Design Centre and there are some interesting changes to the format. Most exciting of these is the London Cocktail Summit – a conference for the drinks industry – yes, it’s got that serious. With a packed timetable over two days, global drinks geeks Jared Brown and Anistasia Miller have put together a line-up of UK and international experts to demonstrate, lecture and discuss the past, present and future of modern drinking.

If you’re serious about tending bars, running bars or supplying bars you should really get involved – you’ll learn things. Keep an eye on this site for regular updates and announcements leading up to the show and put the 15th and 16th of June in your diary.

See you there,

Andy Bishop
Event Director, Bar.10