Filthy XIII took the title of Best Bar in the West at this year’s Class Bar Awards. Hamish Smith shoots the breeze with owner Ben Alcock. Photos by Leonardo Filippini
When Ben Alcock rode into town it was, slightly disappointingly, in a car, not on a horse. His wandering had taken him to the west country, looking for a place to call his own. Bristol was unfamiliar to him – he’d only passed through once before – but the day of his return was destiny. He saw a site and immediately made it his own. Alcock had a good feeling about Bristol – from the outset the small but friendly community had made him feel welcome. It was a town big enough for the both of them.
That first site became what would be known as Her Majesty’s Secret Service – Alcock’s breakthrough bar in 2015 and one of the best-known cocktail bars in the city. In 2019 came his second venue, Filthy XIII, which this year went on to win Best Bar in the West at the Class Bar Awards. And hopefully about now, the cowboy theme makes a little more sense.
But let’s haul you back up river, because Alcock’s journey doesn’t start here. It begins in Worcester where, as fortune would have it, his future boss’s did too. He’d left the Midlands city for London at 18, with little plan, and even less bar experience. “My understanding of cocktails was almost zero,” recalls Alcock. “I’d done two months at a Pitcher & Piano, which was mostly layered shots and Woo Woos. I knew what an Amaretto Sour was. I remember making it for my friends and blowing them away.”
Before long he’d hooked up with JJ Goodman and London Cocktail Club (now The Cocktail Club) Goodge Street. “Looking back, there was no better experience to prepare you for opening your own bar,” says Alcock. Goodman, who it turns out had gone to school with Alcocks’ cousins, was a force to be reckoned with. “JJ could run a shift. Everyone loved him. You knew when he came in to the bar.”
It was here that Alcock would also meet his future friends and partners. Andy Mil was the bar manager at LCC Goodge Street. Oli Brading then joined the LCC group too and Elliot Ball became his flatmate. You might know the trio better these days for Cocktail Trading Company, Murder Inc and The Royal Cocktail Exchange.
Two years in London can be like three or four elsewhere. The learning is fast and life is even faster. “London wore me down,” says Alcock. “I felt like I was on the doorstep of everything but I didn’t have the time or the money to do any of it.”
When he left, it was Worcester that came calling, and when Goodman opened up cocktail bar Keystones there, he had a man on the ground to help him with it. “It was a full start-to-finish opening of a business – it was a really important experience.” Alcock loves this side of the business – the build, the DIY and the solving problems yourself. “I still want to build houses when I grow up,” he jokes. The experience planted the seed that grew – Alcock, even in his early 20s, knew what he wanted next.
“I thought I knew everything about opening a bar and was ready for it,” says Alcock, his eyebrows suggesting otherwise. But where would he go? “I didn’t want to be in London, but I also didn’t want to be in Worcester either – I’d outgrown it.” The middle ground was a larger city that had a cocktail community but wasn’t at saturation. His search took him to cities across the south, then to Bristol, which he’d visited once during its cocktail week. He had a lasting impression of Red Light and how welcoming its bartenders were.
So when he returned – and unexpectedly signed on a site in a day – it was time to quickly get down to business. First, what kind of bar would it be? Alcock is a son of LCC and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But, equally, there would be an element of diversion. “I’d come from party bars so I wanted to do table service and operate different hours. I wanted stability and longevity with the team. I wanted the bar to be service-focused, hence the name, Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”
“HMSS was a dream opening, so we thought we’d roll the dice again,” says Alcock. “The idea was to create something different.” He wanted something less night-out, more casual drinking and in terms of vibe, that bit more unbuttoned.
“The inspiration for Filthy XIII came from the famed army unit (which inspired The Dirty Dozen and Inglourious Basterds) – a mismatch of people with very particular skillsets, who lived outside of the rules and were very results focused,” says Alcock. “That’s what we try to do at Filthy – deliver the best quality in terms of service and drink, we just didn’t want any of the other bullshit around it. We don’t want to be fancy or stiff. HMSS is a bit more flamboyant, but Filthy is more stripped back.”
Bar owners tend to open bars that represent where they are in life, and Ben Alcock’s bars are no different. In his early 20s he created one of Bristol’s most famous spots – a destination bar with show-stopping drinks. And as he approached his 30s, a more quietly confident space appealed – that is Filthy’s. They too reflect where the industry was and is now. In 2015 we were emerging from bow ties, taxidermy, speakeasies and devout classicism. There was a counter movement to fun led by the likes of CTC – and wondrous cocktail aesthetics, such as at Nightjar and Artesian. By 2019 drinks at trendsetting bars tracked in the opposite direction, with minimalist serves prevailing and garnishes becoming an endangered species. It was the age of Tayer + Elementary, Scout, Swift and Coupette that Filthy was born into.
Alcock says he took inspiration from these high-end everyday bars that put liquid over looks – his favourites being Satan’s Whiskers and Coupette. You could see Filthy XIII’s Cocktail of the Year-nominated drink, the Absinthe Frappe, alongside the Champagne Piña Colada at Coupette in its heyday.
So, what about a third? “No,” says Alcock, quick off the draw. “The world is very different right now.” Filthy is a point of pride for him – a bartender’s bar if ever there was – but it was the child that nearly killed him. “Filthy drained my energy and my money. The fit-out was really adventurous – we went for 10/10 with everything. We had troubles with licensing – we had to close – and faced legal bills. There were floods. The roof fell in. The pandemic happened. I don’t know how it’s still there. But it is.”
Just like its namesake, it found a way. And its recent gong at the Class Bar Awards makes Filthy XIII not only Bristol’s favourite bar but the Best in the West. And that really is something to hang your hat on.
“HMSS was a dream opening, so we thought we’d roll the dice again,” says Alcock. “The idea was to create something different.” He wanted something less night-out, more casual drinking and in terms of vibe, that bit more unbuttoned.
“The inspiration for Filthy XIII came from the famed army unit (which inspired The Dirty Dozen and Inglourious Basterds) – a mismatch of people with very particular skillsets, who lived outside of the rules and were very results focused,” says Alcock. “That’s what we try to do at Filthy – deliver the best quality in terms of service and drink, we just didn’t want any of the other bullshit around it. We don’t want to be fancy or stiff. HMSS is a bit more flamboyant, but Filthy is more stripped back.”
Bar owners tend to open bars that represent where they are in life, and Ben Alcock’s bars are no different. In his early 20s he created one of Bristol’s most famous spots – a destination bar with show-stopping drinks. And as he approached his 30s, a more quietly confident space appealed – that is Filthy’s. They too reflect where the industry was and is now. In 2015 we were emerging from bow ties, taxidermy, speakeasies and devout classicism. There was a counter movement to fun led by the likes of CTC – and wondrous cocktail aesthetics, such as at Nightjar and Artesian. By 2019 drinks at trendsetting bars tracked in the opposite direction, with minimalist serves prevailing and garnishes becoming an endangered species. It was the age of Tayer + Elementary, Scout, Swift and Coupette that Filthy was born into.
Alcock says he took inspiration from these high-end everyday bars that put liquid over looks – his favourites being Satan’s Whiskers and Coupette. You could see Filthy XIII’s Cocktail of the Year-nominated drink, the Absinthe Frappe, alongside the Champagne Piña Colada at Coupette in its heyday.
So, what about a third? “No,” says Alcock, quick off the draw. “The world is very different right now.” Filthy is a point of pride for him – a bartender’s bar if ever there was – but it was the child that nearly killed him. “Filthy drained my energy and my money. The fit-out was really adventurous – we went for 10/10 with everything. We had troubles with licensing – we had to close – and faced legal bills. There were floods. The roof fell in. The pandemic happened. I don’t know how it’s still there. But it is.”
Just like its namesake, it found a way. And its recent gong at the Class Bar Awards makes Filthy XIII not only Bristol’s favourite bar but the Best in the West. And that really is something to hang your hat on.