We’re going down the pub deluxe
Traditional boozers are getting the five-star treatment, but Hilary Armstrong says the bar prices are reassuringly normal
It’s news that will have the real ale brigade chuntering into their pints of warm beer: the good oldfashioned boozer has had a makeover and this time it’s gone deluxe. The latest iteration of the traditional pub – let’s call it the “pub deluxe”– takes off from where Nineties gastropubs and hipster craft beer bars left off, and is edging its way into the luxury sector. Leading the charge is The Wigmore, the posh new pub at London’s Langham Hotel which launched last month with a menu by Le Gavroche’s Michel Roux Jr and glamorous interiors by Martin Brudnizki, the renowned designer best known for such A-list hot spots as Scott’s, The Ivy and Sexy Fish.
The Langham is not the only fivestar luxury hotel to have discovered the joys of a pint of beer and a scotch egg. Next Tuesday, London’s Art Deco Grande Dame, Claridge’s is to surrender its bar to raffish New York Irish pub
‘It’s the fantasy pub we have in our head. The pub we always wanted to go to’
The Dead Rabbit for a week-long pop-up. The iconic bar at Claridge’s will be “unrecognisable” once the Dead Rabbit crew has finished with it. The “snuggery” will be transformed into the “Taproom” while the main bar morphs into the liquor bottle-lined “Parlour” where such cocktails as the signature “Psycho Killer” will go for £19 a pop. Such is the buzz around this high/low, classic/cool collaboration – think of it as the hospitality industry equivalent of Louis Vuitton X Supreme – bookings are already closed, but barflies can swing by for a “walk-in” table, a dose of “Dead Rabbit craic” and a pint of “the finest Guinness outside Ireland”. Chefs are getting in on the act too: Jacob Kenedy of smart Soho Italian, Bocca di Lupo, has just opened Plaquemine Lock, an idiosyncratic, art-filled English pub doing cocktails, cask beer and Creole food in Islington; and Chris Galvin (originator of the term “pub deluxe”) is scouting sites for his Spitalfields concept HOP. This celebration of the pub experience isn’t restricted to London either. Across the country, from the beautifully refurbished Coach and Horses in the Ribble Valley, to Artist Residence’s Oxfordshire inn, and the oak-panelled Auchterarder 70 bar at Gleneagles, the humble boozer doesn’t seem so humble any more.
The rise of the pub deluxe is down to a number of factors, not least of which is the foodie culture. After cafés, bistros and wine bars, it’s the pub’s turn for an upgrade. Says Conor O’leary, Gleneagles hotel manager: “People expect high-quality food and drink everywhere they go now, whether it’s little cafés where you can get a great espresso or bars where you can find great wine.” For Martin Brudnizki, the Wigmore’s designer, it goes beyond great food and drink. “When people go out today, they want an experience. We want them to walk through the door at the Wigmore and just say ‘Oh, I’m going to have so much fun in here.’” As it switches up its offering to embrace fine wines, cocktails and table service, the luxury pub makes a break from the utilitarian gastropub aesthetic, all schoolhouse chairs and stripped floorboards. The new look is cosseting and opulent but modern. “There’s a little bit of fantasy involved,” admits Brudnizki. “It’s the pub we have in our head. The pub we always wanted to go to.”
Brudnizki’s design for the Wigmore makes “a wink and a nod” to Victoriana, while assiduously avoiding pastiche. The former banking hall has been repainted a daring high-gloss “lawnmower” green and layered with rich materials – velvet, mohair, leather, marble. As important is the layout, with bar at centre stage, standing room and “poser” tables around it, and two snugs filled with paintings, cushions and warm light.
At the Coach and Horses in Boltonby-bowland, new publicans Ko Labeij and Sue Lord have worked with local artisans to elevate the Georgian village pub. The makeover is “not bling, just correct”, says Labeij. Thus the bar is hand-riveted copper by Clitheroe coppersmith, Laurie Harrison; the “Cinderella coach” pub sign is hand-forged by blacksmiths, Trapp Forge; and bespoke fabrics come from some of the county’s few remaining mills.
Meanwhile, at Artist Residence’s 16th-century thatched inn near Oxford, modern art (Harland Miller, Connor Brothers) and decorative wallpapers (William Morris, House of Hackney) contrast with olde worlde inglenook fireplaces and flagstone floors. “We felt the pub scene was a bit safe,” says owner Justin Salisbury. Before you panic that the days of the sub-£5 pint may now be numbered, rest assured that while the look is “luxe”, the pub deluxe experience is anything but elitist. It’s even possible to leave the Wigmore, the swankiest of the lot, with change from a tenner. A pewter tankard of Wigmore Saison, brewed by Bermondsey’s Brew By Numbers, is £4.50 and posh pub grub includes “fat chips” with Bloody Mary salt for £4.50 and an “XXL” cheese toastie at £9. The priciest dish is a £34 roast chicken for two: hardly the wallet-wellying prices one expects of a Michel Roux Jr kitchen.
Great beer, great food, beautiful design: the pub deluxe is a concept we already love, only better. We’re not going to call time on that.