From major bar launches in Liverpool to cocktail culture debates and high-profile closures, these were the stories that captured the attention of the UK bar industry on Classbarmag.com this year.
Our usual policy of not covering pop-up venues here on Classbarmag.com was not entirely vindicated by the revelation that your favourite thing to read this year was news of a pop up. It should be said, though, Joe Wild, Kate Meehan, Sally Jo Whitlow and Danny Murphy’s Mexican cantina, Picante, is a pop up that pops down only over winter, when temperatures drop and Liverpool’s Baltic neighbourhood earns its name. This energetic restaurant-bar rouses from its slumber in March, when, no doubt, the people of Liverpool will be ready for its signature birria taco, Picantes and Raspberry Woo Woos.
2 Class Bar Awards 2025 finalists revelaed
Our traditional big splash of the year is the unveiling of the finalists of the CLASS Bar Awards, and this year it continued to draw the eyeballs.
3 Why do cocktails look the same?
Satan’s Whiskers’ Kevin Armstrong has become one of the most influential voices in the UK bar scene. His incisive analysis in CLASS magazine and Classbarmag.com has has consistently sparked debate across the industry over the last couple of years. This article —his most-read to date—explored the growing homogeneity of cocktail presentation and asked why drinks across the world’s best bars are starting to look increasingly alike.
4 The milk punch: the story of a very English drink
Not unrelated to Kevin Armstrong’s musings on the proliferation of clarified drinks in squat glasses, Jane Ryan’s history of the Milk Punch is evergreen content that proved as relevant and readable now as it did when she wrote it in 2022. And why not, as the headline says, the milk punch is one of our own contributions to the cocktail world – both the trend in the 2000s and its beginnings some three hundred years before.
5 Silverleaf to permanently close
Covering bar closures is one of the less cheery elements of daily industry reporting, and 2025 saw many as the combined impact of Brexit, Covid and the cost-of-living crisis took its toll. Silverleaf’s closure was particularly significant. As an outbuilding of Pan Pacific London, its story was more complex than most—and its leadership team were, and remain, among the most influential bartenders and operators in London.
6 The Top 50 Cocktails in the UK’s best bars
Published in June and drawn from the 2025 CLASS Report, our list of most-served classics in the UK’s Best Bars has quickly become an industry reference point. While favourites Margarita, Negroni and Old Fashioned dominated a predictable top three, the list also revealed renewed interest in neo-classics and long-forgotten recipes from the cocktail canon.
7 The hunt for grapefruit soda
With the Paloma now firmly established as one of the UK's most popular cocktails, Laura Foster’s one-time investigation into grapefruit soda struck a chord last year. Featuring an impromptu tasting with soft drinks guru Jake Burger, the article tackled the challenge of finding balanced, sugar-forward grapefruit sodas in an increasingly low-sugar soft drinks market. Also: the headline was excellent (if you're of a certain age).
8 Carey Hanlon and Caitlin Waugh to open Slowpour in Liverpool
Oli Dodd’s report on the launch of Slowpour became the second-biggest bar launch story of the year. Opening in autumn, the Liverpool bar has quickly established itself as a must-visit in the north. Owners Carey Hanlon and Caitlin Waugh—formerly of Present Company and Sister Ray—found success early with their welcoming, low-key basement format.
9 Bea Bradsell on the real story of the Espresso Martini
Dick Bradsell’s Espresso Martini is one of the most famous cocktails to come out of the UK, complete with a story that has been retold countless times. But how much of it is true? In this widely read article, Bradsell’s daughter Bea set the record straight—making it essential reading for bartenders and cocktail drinkers alike.
10 Manchester’s Ego Death to close within a week
The sudden closure of Ego Death just six months after opening shocked the UK bar scene. Cressie Lawlor’s debut venue had recently been shortlisted for New Bar of the Year at the CLASS Bar Awards. Though the original Northern Quarter basement site is gone, this doesn’t feel like certain death. A resurrection of the Ego Death brand could yet be on the cards in 2026.
Also popular this year was news of Stuart McCluskey’s Little Capo in Edinburgh, Sophie Bratt’s new bars manager role, Dan Berger’s launch of The Morris, Hoot Redeemer’s closure and Waltz’s opening.