Hamish Smith

Stick together - Bar Glue on community and a more cohesive industry

The trio behind the Class Bar Awards New Bar of the Year chart Bar Glue’s rapid ascent. Hamish Smith took notes.

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16 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

The big review: The Martini Bar at Hawksmoor St Pancras

Hamish Smith visits a bar with all the trappings of a five-star hotel bar - without the unhappy ending.

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17 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

CLASS Winter 2025 launches

Editor Hamish Smith introduces the latest magazine. Access the digital magazine here. Not subscribed? Bartenders can sign up for a digital or hard copy here.

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15 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Q&A: Pippa Guy and Seb Fileccia share more on their new Bristol bar

Hamish Smith catches up with former Savoy bartender Pippa Guy (now of Diageo) and ex-Milk Thistle GM Seb Fileccia about a new Bristol venue.

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17 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Rhum Tavern to host Christmas for bartenders

Rhum Tavern will host Christmas Day for bartenders based in London, living away from friends and family.

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16 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Funkidory in Peckam Rye to close

Neighbourhood bar Funkidory in Peckham Rye is to close, after its owners Sergio Leanza and Anna Fairhead-Benitez announced it was London’s latest hospitality casualty.

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11 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Champagne bar opens in Manchester

Manchester saw the launch of Portfolio yesterday, a ‘champagne boutique’ built around a collection of more than 250 champagnes, including rare grower bottles and vintage prestige cuvées.

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10 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

How to make American Bar at Gleneagles' Silky Drizzle

Velvety, Herbal, Tangy

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10 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Fire bar at new five-star Hotel Gotham opens

Fire bar has opened at the newly launched Hotel Gotham Newcastle, a former fire station which has been transformed into a 57-bedroom luxury hotel.

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08 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Edinburgh agaveria Chancho to close

Alex Palumbo and Rachel Bailey Palumbo have annouced they are calling time on their Leith agaveria Chancho, which opened in May 2024.

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08 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

William Reed to launch Europe's 50 Best Bars

William Reed will launch the inaugural list of Europe’s 50 Best Bars next year.

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04 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

International spotlight: CLASS visits Alquímico in Colombia

Bartenders can change the world, says Hamish Smith after seeing what Jean Trinh has achieved through his bar and social projects in Colombia.

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03 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

The Bon Vivant in Edinburgh closes

Restaurant-bar The Bon Vivant on Thistle Street in Edinburgh has announced it has closed.

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02 December, 2025

Hamish Smith

Pippa Guy and Sebastiano Fileccia to open Bristol bar

Pippa Guy and Sebastiano Fileccia will launch their debut bar in Bristol this winter, CLASS can exclusively reveal.

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28 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Simone and Lidia Crepaldi to launch Italian restaurant and bar in Dalston

Simone and Lidia Crepaldi are set to open Hoax in December — a modern Italian restaurant and downstairs cocktail bar named The Devil You Know.

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12 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Hawksmoor St. Pancras to open this November

Hawksmoor St. Pancras is set to open on November 22, promising a “grand” steak and seafood restaurant and Martini Bar.

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11 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Richard Wynne takes interim lead at Silk Stockings

Richard Wynne of Callooh Callay has taken over the running of Silk Stockings in Dalston.

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11 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Simone’s Cocktail Club opens in Liverpool

Billed as Liverpool first listening bar, Simone’s Cocktail Club has opened on Queen Avenue in the city’s business district.

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10 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Esmeralda’s Mayfair to open at Mandarin Oriental

Esmeralda’s Mayfair, a new late-night live music lounge, will open in early December at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair on Hanover Square in London.

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10 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Smokey Kudu opens above Kudu in Marylebone

Following its move from South London to Marylebone earlier this year, Kudu has opened a new cocktail bar this week, Smokey Kudu, above its restaurant on Moxon Street.

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06 November, 2025

Hamish Smith

Theme magazine and London Bar Show founder Andy Bishop passes

Drinks publisher and event organiser Andy Bishop has passed away, his family has revealed.

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31 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhán Payne to buy LCW

Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhán Payne are to acquire London Cocktail Week and London Wine Week from Speciality Drinks, owned by Pernod Ricard.

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20 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Sign up to our Glasgow CLASSROOM on carbonation with Crossroads Consulting and Schweppes

Bartenders can sign up free to the latest CLASSROOM event - Carbonation, sponsored by Schweppes - hosted by Bart Miedeksza and Valentino Girotto, authors of Bubbles and founders of Crossroads Consulting.

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15 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Bar Leone tops 50 Best list amid strong UK showing

Lorenzo Antinori’s Bar Leone has been named the World’s Best Bar in front of a home Hong Kong crowd at the ceremony of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 sponsored by Perrier.

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08 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Why bar operators need to fish where the fish are

The struggles of hospitality in its traditional inner-city heartlands may have had a devastating effect but, says Hamish Smith, bars have opportunities in other areas.

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02 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Jack Wakelin on his new Sheffield venue

Hamish Smith is in Sheffield to find out more about Jack Wakelin’s fast-expanding hospitality group.

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02 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Angelos Bafas and Bart & Taylor to open Cato in Covent Garden

Hospitality group Bart & Taylor has partnered with Angelos Bafas (aka Mr.Ungarnished), to open Cato in Covent Garden, London, this November.

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01 October, 2025

Hamish Smith

Review: The Chancery Rosewood at the ex-US Embassy - the latest in hospitality's great repurposing

London has a new hotel bar - and it's set in the iconic former US Embassy. Hamish Smith is at The Chancery Rosewood.

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29 September, 2025

Hamish Smith

10 Tib Lane team to launch Posie at Bloc

The team behind Manchester’s 10 Tib Lane has announced a new wet-led venture coming to the city's Bloc building in November.

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25 September, 2025

Hamish Smith

Bobby Hiddleston to open new Sheraton hotel bar

Bobby Hiddleston, ex-owner of Swift in London, has announced that his new venture will be a cocktail bar named Sally’s, located in the newly renovated Sheraton Stockholm Hotel.

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25 September, 2025