Swift Shoreditch takes over the former Scout site on Great Eastern Street and is due to open late July.
The new venue draws from, and expands on, the upstairs half of the original Swift – a member of the World’s 50 Best Bars 2019-2020 and CLASS magazine’s UK Bar of the Year.
Operated by bar-industry entrepreneurs Edmund Weil & Rosie Stimpson and Mia Johansson & Bobby Hiddleston, the second site is the first step in a longer-term roll-out of the brand across London.
The décor of the new venue captures the essence of the bright and airy upstairs bar of Swift Soho. Stimpson’s vision – executed by designers Daytrip Studio - is inspired by the European Modernism movement, with straight-lines and a palate of contrasting black and white, punctuated by sliver.
The Shoreditch site follows Swift Soho’s “affordable luxury” modus operandi, but will broaden the offering and expand opening hours. Midweek it opens from 8am (11am on weekends), with a focus on coffee through a partnership with ethical roaster SEND.
Breakfast and brunch comes in the form of waffles (wild mushrooms/ tomatoes/ smoked salmon/ peaches) and sourdough toasties, with salads planned to capture the lunchtime trade.
Led by Hiddleston, the cocktail menu takes in spritzes, signatures and classics, with drinks ranging from £8-£13. Favourites of the Soho site – the Sgroppino, Irish Coffee, Bloody Mary and Solstice (pictured) – have been drafted in but the menu is otherwise unique to the new venue.
“Swift is somewhere you can pop into any day of the week, but you can still have a beautiful drink,” Johansson told DI. “We’ve always wanted to offer quality but compete on price – something that didn’t exist [in the industry] five years ago. Swift Shoreditch will be that – it’ll be your coffee in the morning, your salad at lunch and your evening Martini.”
The Swift Soho team has been divided across the two sites with Swift’s “earth mother” Coral Anderson traversing to the East London branch, joined by returning drinksmith Lewis Jenkins. Johansson and Hiddleston will shift to Shoreditch too for the launch period – thereafter straddling both sites - while Max Collins Wolff will manage Swift Soho with head bartender Connor Bloomfield.
|
At full capacity Swift Shoreditch will serve 46 covers but will restrict numbers to 24 to align with social distancing guidelines, alongside a host of other Covid-19-mitigating measures, such as wall-mounted - aesthetically-in-keeping – hand sanitiser. It is also planned for the site to extend the brand's bottle cocktail programme, launched during lockdown.
Asked if opening a cocktail bar during a pandemic was a risky move, co-owner Weil said while the group was no different to other hospitality companies in experiencing a “tough financial time”, he preferred to look to the longer term, arguing this was an investment, not only for now, but for the next 10 years and that the current ailing market redoubled his “focus on quality.”
Weil added: “My optimism has been sorely tested during this period, but let’s not forget the Spanish Flu was followed by the Roaring Twenties.”
