Four leading spirits portfolios including Brown-Forman, Diageo, Edrington-Beam Suntory and Moët Hennessy have committed their support alongside 26 individual brands.
All bars across the capital have endured unprecedented circumstances over the past five months due to the impact of COVID-19 and the festival’s founders have changed the format to support the industry.
The Cocktail Village will not run in 2020 and instead the founders will focus all efforts on driving revenue to the partnering venues – the majority of which are small owner-operated businesses.
Therefore in 2020 London Cocktail Week will be underpinned by a number of fresh commitments to bolster consumer confidence, support responsible operators and reignite supply chains through the £6 Cocktail Tours, in-venue brand activations and the addition of an at-home element.
“We’ve worked tirelessly for a decade to put our city firmly on the map as the cocktail capital of the world and we now occupy a unique position as the conduit between drinks brands, bars and thousands and thousands of consumers,” said festival co-owner and organiser Hannah Sharman-Cox.
“As such, we feel it is our duty to use our platform and our voice to provide a solid, trusted foundation to support small businesses within our trade, and help get the London bar scene back where it should be.”
Fellow co-owner and organiser Siobhan Payne added: “We feel hugely grateful for the incredible backing of this mission from our sponsors and believe that London can act as a blueprint to show other major cities around the world what can be achieved when an industry shows a united front in the face of adversity.”
