The immediate thing that sprung to mind when we heard about the fabulous bit of news that hit this week is: sister’s are doing it for themselves. And like parents of said sisters, we couldn’t be prouder. Not that Siobhan Payne and Hannah Sharman-Cox are real siblings you understand but they’re as close as dammit having worked together for almost 20 years and becoming best buddies ever since. But we digress, the big news they announced this week is they have become sole owners of London Cocktail Week.
Okay, we know that most people might have thought it was theirs anyway. Which is hardly surprising given the fact that both HandS have been running the show so brilliantly for the past 16 years. But up to this point there have been other people involved: Simon Difford at Difford’s Guide to start, followed by Speciality Drinks Ltd and The Whisky Exchange. And while Hannah and Siobhan have been very much front and centre of London Cocktail Week, they’ve had people to answer to. Not any more.
What does that mean going forward and why was it important for them to be more than faces behind the event? “We really believe in London Cocktail Week,” Siobhan replies without missing a beat. “We feel the festival has so much to give to London’s bar community, especially now we’re doing work with City Hall and the London Mayor’s office. We’ve always been at the helm and dedicated so much to it, so it feels right that we’re the ones to take it into the next chapter.”
Damned straight. So what’s next? “We plan to talk to our London Cocktail Week community of bars and brands and make sure we’re doing everything we can to support London’s cocktail bar scene in the best possible way,” Hannah picks up. “This process will be taking inspiration from the Consultancy Phase that we undertook when developing The Pinnacle Guide – although obviously over a much shorter period! We’ll be doing that quite soon while this year’s festival is fresh in everyone’s mind.”
Expect big tings.
