Published: 13 March, 2026
Opening in March, this Ukrainian-founded cocktail bar describes itself as “method-driven”, with its signature technique – the loggerhead or flip-dog – involving plunging a 1200°C iron poker into its cocktails to caramelise sugars in the drinks, intensifying flavours and enhancing textures. Complementing these cocktails will be a seasonal sharing menu, inspired by both eastern Europe and Asia. In the heart of Old Street, the bar was designed by Kyiv-based YOD Group and is structured around two different levels – the first a 20-cover space on the ground floor, inspired by pop-up installations, and the second a quieter and “more refined” 80-seat lower level.
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Published: 11 March, 2026
Describing itself as “Friday markets in Cairo colliding with a Soho bar”, Impala is a charcoal grill restaurant which combines influences from Egypt to England. The debut restaurant from chef Meedu Saad, who previously worked as head chef at Kiln, the space – an “awkward 1960s building” – will be based around an open kitchen. The presence of an in-house butchery is also a standout feature. Food will be seasonal, with dishes collected from Saad’s formative cooking experiences. Meanwhile the wine list, run by Penny Vine and Martina Larnach, can be expected to be idiosyncratic and distinct, with back vintages of Italian alpine greats, and a project underway to import Bourgeois Dias – a zero-sulphite Champagne producer.
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Published: 10 March, 2026
Natural wine has grown massively over the past couple of decades, moving from a niche product drunk only in a handful of ‘cool’ venues, to a much wider, and more well-known, phenomenon. A survey by the IWSR found that in 2024, 31% of regular wine drinkers were aware of natural wine (up five percentage points in three years). However, despite expectations that natural wine will continue to grow well into the future, some in the industry are beginning to think that the category is running out of steam.
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Published: 09 March, 2026
Acclaimed British chef Sally Abé will open her first standalone restaurant at the end of this month, named after her favourite game bird. Recognised for her ‘robust’ approach to food – which is rooted in British cooking and a nostalgia for the classics – the menu will include dishes such as haunch of deer, pickled walnuts and cavolo nero and Cornish mussels, Jersey royals, cauliflower and sea kale. Co-owner Abe Drewery will curate the wine list, which will be continually changing, with limited cases refreshed throughout the season – focusing on Champagne (a favourite of Abé’s), along with rich Chardonnays and Bordeaux reds to complement her cooking.
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Published: 04 March, 2026
Bar and restaurant group Drake & Morgan has raised £500,000 for Maggie’s cancer charity.
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Published: 02 March, 2026
Champagne house Laurent-Perrier and Berkshire’s Newbury Racecourse have unveiled a three-year partnership.
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Published: 25 February, 2026
In the wake of Michelin’s new Grapes distinction, Eloise Feilden asks why restaurant critics more generally are often drinks list-blind.
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Published: 20 February, 2026
Market intelligence firm The Oxford Partnership has released its ‘snapshot’ of January 2026 for hospitality venues, which highlights what it called a “widening gap between engagement and consumption”.
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Published: 09 February, 2026
New independent Italian Vieni opens its doors at the Goodsyard in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter early this month, promising Nonna-inspired cooking from Agrigento in Sicily. Chef-founder Angelina Adamo, who has spent a decade working across various Michelin-starred restaurants and hotels, and manager Charlotte Carter will draw on generous regional cooking and Sicilian street food to recreate a taste beyond the popular Italian image of pizza and pasta. From lemon granitas to whole sea bass and chargrilled beef ribs, decadent cannoli and affogatos, the drinks menu naturally dips into Sicilian wines, with spritzes and Italian liqueurs also to the fore. With 40 covers in this light and airy development, Vieni should easily meet its brief of being the flagship hospitality venue at Goodsyard.
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Published: 06 February, 2026
New independent Italian Vieni opens its doors at the Goodsyard in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter early this month, promising Nonna-inspired cooking from Agrigento in Sicily. Chef-founder Angelina Adamo, who has spent a decade working across various Michelin-starred restaurants and hotels, and manager Charlotte Carter will draw on generous regional cooking and Sicilian street food to recreate a taste beyond the popular Italian image of pizza and pasta. From lemon granitas to whole sea bass and chargrilled beef ribs, decadent cannoli and affogatos, the drinks menu naturally dips into Sicilian wines, with spritzes and Italian liqueurs also to the fore. With 40 covers in this light and airy development, Vieni should easily meet its brief of being the flagship hospitality venue at Goodsyard.
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Published: 05 February, 2026
A new report on the premium on-trade from Liberty Wines, released today (5 February) and shared exclusively with Harpers, suggests that the only way to drive sales is to compete on quality.
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Published: 04 February, 2026
The hospitality industry is well known for its tricky work-life balance. Whether it be long, demanding shifts, unpredictable and irregular hours or excessive workloads, the trade’s reputation is that its demands often eat into employees’ personal lives, impacting their mental and physical health.
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Published: 04 February, 2026
There is now only two weeks left to enter wines to be judged at the Sommelier Wine Awards (SWA) 2026.
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Published: 02 February, 2026
New consumer research from Zonal in partnership with NIQ has revealed that 69% of consumers believe that pubs, bars and restaurants play an important role in their communities.
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Published: 16 January, 2026
Ruth Leigh and Oli Brown do not lack when it comes to creative ambition – their new 30-guest bar, nestled within their hotel-cum-restaurant Updown Farmhouse, demonstrates this in spades. Launching in late January this watering hole takes inspiration from Roman bars, with marble, lacquered wood and banquette seating transporting consumers from this Kent farmstead to the Eternal City. Constructed in one of Updown’s former stable blocks, the classic feel does not end with the interiors. The bar will be tended by cream jacket-adorned staff, while serves will pay homage to Italian mixology. Frigid Martinis, Fig Leaf Negronis and Shakeratos will start many a night with a digestivo of grappa likely to follow. Summer will see a 20-guest terrace open, allowing patrons to take in Updown’s ancient woodland surroundings.
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Published: 14 January, 2026
Dovetailing with the opening of The Newman Hotel, spiffy new cocktail destination Gambit Bar is due to open its doors on 1 February. The 60-cover subterranean venue is spearheaded by the new hotel’s head of food and drink, Eder Neto. ‘Creative yet understated’ is the modus operandi of Neto’s cocktail menu, an exciting twist on the Picante leading the charge. This combination of tequila, lime, bird’s eye chillies, blood orange and smoked salt is a standalone treat but clearly demands pairing with Gambit’s array of bar snacks, concocted by executive chef Christian Turner. Flatbreads, oysters and rullepølse (Danish cold cuts) can be enjoyed amid the bar’s stylish geometric interiors, inspired by the art of Fiztrovia’s very own Percy Wyndham Lewis.
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Published: 12 January, 2026
Last week’s reports that pubs will see great business rates support has been followed by a chorus of industry figures urging the government to extend the relief to all of hospitality.
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Published: 12 January, 2026
Premium on-trade distributor Enotria has announced the appointment of a new CEO, with Phillip White taking the helm.
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Published: 12 January, 2026
Birmingham indie stalwart Phil Innes of Loki Wine fame has teamed up with chef Glynn Purnell to bring new culinary vibrancy to the Brum food and drink scene. Trillium opened during the festive period in the city centre’s Snow Hill and combines the wine nous of Innes and the cooking talents of a team that includes Purnell as chef patron and Rob Palmer as head chef, who was in charge at Hampton Manor when its Peel Restaurant was awarded a Michelin star. Creativity abounds on the menu – whether its Orkney scallops with oxtail bolognese or a peasant kiev, Palmer has been given a long leash to innovate. To no one’s surprise the wine list is top notch, with an expansive by-the-glass offer allowing patrons the opportunity to explore.
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Published: 22 December, 2025
Given that it’s been in use for wine consumption since about 1500BC, glassware has had plenty of time to evolve, and today’s manufacturers have the restaurant world spoilt for choice when it comes to sizes, shapes and colours. But how far are today’s top sommeliers prepared to go outside the traditionally accepted vessels when it comes to providing the best experience for diners in their food-matching choices – and what do diners expect?
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