Silverleaf: The independent luxury bar

19 January, 2022

By Shay Waterworth

The team behind Milroy’s of London have opened a new high-end venue called Silverleaf at Pan Pacific London near Liverpool Street.

The 128-cover bar has been created by Chris Tanner and Martyn ‘Simo’ Simpson, also director of bars and managing director of Milroy’s respectively along with Liam Broom, who will take up the role of bar manager at Silverleaf.

“We’re definitely under the luxury bracket,” says Broom. “But because we’re actually located in a different building to the hotel and employing people from independent bars we’re marketing ourselves as an independent bar within a luxury setting. We’ve got the best of both worlds.”

Pan Pacific London also collaborated with Design Research Studio for the lighting, furniture and accessories of the bar while Silverleaf’s collection of rare sprits have been curated by Simo through his extensive relationships with premium distilleries and distributors around the world.

Simo adds: “Of course we have an amazing whisky collection but by no means is this a whisky bar, it’s a cocktail bar. And because I buy direct it means Silverleaf will have one of the best speed rails in London.”

Tanner, who heads up Milroy’s Spitafields site and The Vault in Soho, says: “When the opportunity arose to open a cocktail bar in partnership with Pan Pacific London, we leapt at the chance, as it has allowed us a new channel for creativity. We’ve taken the elements that we know work - curation, hospitality, and training - and applied them to a diverse cocktail offering, opening up the possibilities of what we’re able to do away from whisky."

Silverleaf, which has a 2am license, also has an invite-only 12-person bar called Alba which is designed to offer personal drinking experiences within the luxury venue.

Broom adds: “Because we’ll have such a wide range of demographics coming to the bar we wanted to keep it fun and light-hearted but also make top-end drinks with amazing service and maintain that luxury feel.”

Simo, who’s known for his anti-establishment style, concludes: “We’ve always tried to break down the barriers between ourselves and the customers so while we’ll be in a luxury setting, we won’t be in waistcoats and bowties.

“We're also very lucky because the team from Pan Pacific London were very impressed with how we run Milroy’s so they’ve been really trusting and patient with us throughout the process.”