Home to drinks news, comment pieces, features and all things UK cocktail bars, Class’s digital sidecar, Classbarmag.com, had a stellar year, growing its readership by almost a half. But what were the big bar industry stories last year? Hamish Smith reveals the stories you read most.
The big stories of 2024 fell loosely into three camps: punchy comment pieces, head-swivelling news, and our yearly foray into bartender recognition – the Class Bar Awards. But this year, I’ve omitted the Awards results from this highlights article - whatever the weather they tend to dominate our digital front pages. And so, in descending order, here are our top ten most-read stories on Classbarmag.com in 2024.
10/ The Savoy appoints 14th American Bar head bartender
News of a new Savoy head bartender is catnip to any drinks writer – and even though these appointments come around more regularly these days (this is the third in four years), they always pull in the clicks. Taking to the (clearly very) hot seat in March 2024 was Angelo Sparvoli, who - depending on how you categorise drinks-slingers at the American Bar – is the 14th head bartender of the American Bar. Here’s hoping the 15th isn’t any time soon.
9/ Why we need to de-industrialise the guest shift
Having watched the guest shift transition from cultural exchange to an often crude, transactional marketing tool, my summer CLASS column focused on how we can de-escalate and de-industrialise this practice. The piece tapped a rich seam of consensus among the global bar industry, which was soon followed by a lot of guest shifts.
8/ Wacky Wombat temporarily closes
An ever-so-brief news story that covered the closure of Wacky Wombat when its team resigned was one of the bigger stories of Summer 2024. Nico de Soto’s much anticipated Soho bar, the launch of which was announced by Class in 2023, has not reopened.
7/ Cressida Lawlor to open Ego Death
If we were in any doubt that Cressida Lawlor is a rising star of the UK bar scene, the reaction to the announcement of her debut bar was fortifying. News of Ego Death – opened in Manchester in November – took Cressie to number seven in our top ten most read articles.
My Autumn 2024 column asked: shouldn’t the best bars should serve the best spirits? It was a topic on my mind after our inaugural CLASS Report in 2024, which documented what the UK’s best bars were actually selling. Craft brands? Mostly not – the bestselling brands were household names. Bartenders read this piece, small brand owners loved it, bigger ones not so much.
In the summer CLASS revealed that Edinburgh’s Hoot the Redmeemer, which is themed around a New Orleans vintage funfair and famed for its tarot-themed cocktail menu and boozy ice cream brand Señor Scoop, was to close. Shuttering day was supposed to be in Autumn, though the bar had a stay of execution, with owner Iain McPherson closing his venue yesterday.
4/ Maura Milia to leave Connaught Bar
The shock news that UK bar industry grandee Maura Milia was to leave Connaught Bar after a decade, stopped many in their stride. The development was followed by an update on her – and partner Alex Lawrence’s – destination – Mexico City.
3/ Stuart McCluskey opens Little Capo
The industry loves a second coming and the return to bar ownership for the much-loved Stuart Mcluskey with Little Capo, was breaking news with added sentiment. Class went on to review the bar in the most recent issue, with CLASS’s Scotland bar reviewer Natasha Corfield describing the Italian-style restaurant-bar as a “vibrant edition to the Edinburgh bar scene”.
2/ The endangered species: Why batching cocktails is de-skilling our workforce
Of all the comment pieces to have appeared in CLASS, few have hit harder than this column from Kevin Armstrong. The second of a two-parter on the transformative impact of batched cocktails (check out the first article that underpins the arguments in the second), this is one of a handful of Classbarmag.com articles in 2024 to really go viral on social media.
1/ Five Irish whiskey experts choose their five favourite expressions
Top of the list and Classbarmag.com’s Top Story of 2024 was – wait for it – a list. Well, not just a list - our ‘Five’ series is more than just a few lines and numbers. This is Oli Dodd’s regular gig and is more of a category insights feature with bartender recommendations. This time he asked five bartenders in the know to share their top tips on Irish whiskey. It clearly provided some much-needed clarity to a category awash with feverish distilling, bottling and marketing.