London Cocktail Week reveals 2022 dates

This year’s London Cocktail Week festival will be held over 11 days in October with immersive pop-ups across the city.

Over the past two years, London Cocktail Week took place for the entire month of October. The organisers have now confirmed the event, now in its 12th year, will run from 13 to 23 October 2022.

The 2021 festival saw the launch of a two-floor hub in Covent Garden, but this year the event will be held in a ‘more inclusive format’.

As such, the 11-day event will host ‘Little Cocktail Villages’ across London, each hosting four or five pop-up experiences to highlight more areas in the capital.

Organisers Hannah Sharman-Cox and Siobhan Payne said in a joint statement: “It was important to us that the festival structure echoes the requirements of our bar partners, brand partners and, of course, our guests.

“We loved showcasing our festival and our city for the full month, but moving to two weekends seems to be the perfect sweet spot for everyone involved.

“We can’t wait to get cracking to make this year’s festival even bigger, even more inclusive and showcasing even more areas of the city.”

Furthermore, the event will continue to offer £7 (US$9) cocktails to wristband holders in participating bars across London. Bars can continue to get involved in the festival without paying any fees.

The organisers of London Cocktail Week said any revenue generated from the event will be put back into the city’s hospitality scene through the sale of wristbands.

This year’s dates have also been chosen to avoid clashing with major trade shows across Europe, such as Bar Convent Berlin (10-12 October), which is held annually in October.

In September 2021, London Cocktail Week was acquired by Pernod Ricard as part of the deal to buy retailer The Whisky Exchange, however the festival’s founders remain at the helm of the business.

Sharman-Cox and Payne recently partnered with Global Bartending’s Dan Dove to create The Pinnacle Guide, a bar rating system ‘equivalent’ to the restaurant industry’s Michelin stars.