Will you be mine,

Two years down the line,

Hinge was fine,

But I’m over it. This time

I baked bae quenelle

We Rock’t & Rih

Dabbed in Chanel

I’d lockdown with you,

And lie with you fu-

Be my valentine

Twenty twenty two

December’s schedule looks like this:

From now until Christmas we’ve teamed up with our good friends at WhistlePig (check our previous feature on the late, great Dave Pickerell here) to run a Friday special that, quite frankly, is too good to miss!

Tonight we’re celebrating 10 years of The Diggers - a collectors collective headed by the inimitable Mr. Chris Airplays. For our first ever event back in the heady summer of 2012, Chris starred on our open deck sound-system. Since then we’ve been intertwined as star-crossed nerds, confidants and collaborators with The Diggers contributing, consulting and mostly being solid mates to all of us at BTW over the years.

With the pandemic raging last Spring and so much uncertainty in the water, it woulda took some real chutzpah to see it as a chance to start up a business from zilch. Better yet, one that focused on helping and pooling struggling local businesses and serving the community. Max Fishman started The Quarter Store in May 2020 as a ‘dark store’ on Bohemia Place (the sunset strip of arches down by Hackney Central station). What began as a pitch to provide much needed aid to shuttered businesses (including - lately - yours truly) quickly evolved into a bricks & mortar, mom & pop neighbourhood convenience store on the Narrow Way.

Max chatted with Alex last week about the genesis of the store, the perks of becoming an overnight household shop-keep and how Saturday jobs should never be sniffed at.

This time a year ago we were sprucing up the space, setting the turntables and winding up for the passage of one year to the next. With all the hope, goodwill and optimism that this night brings. Eager to be in the clinking, chattering company of dear friends, colleagues and neighbours.

You don’t need me to say that business has been hard, that this years celebration will be muted and we’re all missing that fundamental feeling of community.

After a month subsisting like Junior Soprano under house-arrest we were all really looking forward to opening again on December 3rd. Last week, this seemed workable, the guidance was thin (no surprises) and we tentatively teamed up with Yard Sale to re-think our spot as a subsidiary pizza parlour.

However, over the weekend, we did a lot of soul-searching and came to the sad conclusion that we won’t be able to open under Tier 2 restrictions.

And so it was — the bar on the Narrow Way is closed again for the next 4 weeks at least. This is a fuzzy little pic I took last night of our ticket spike. On it is every order that’s gone out since the curfew was called; at which point, we genuinely felt that’d be curtains for us! No support on offer and four plus years of stats showing that 80% of our trade occurred after 10pm.

For Halloween this weekend we’ll be open Thursday through to SUNDAY.

We've always preferred the notion of Aperitivo over the bastardised Happy Hour. Stealing from Italian bar/cafe culture, why not while away a whole afternoon and evening up to dinner with lower ABV drinks and good, neighbourly conversation? It's communal and life-affirming.

The shifting sands of the dune-scape that is COVID Britain 2020 have forced us to tweak our quarterly/seasonal menu programme. One of the biggest challenges has been to draw up a reactive weekly offering (see what we got a lot of and make it into something) to best manage back-of-house operations. Because, when you live in constant fear of being closed again, the last thing you want is a load of literal liquid assets.

In response to yesterdays’ briefing from Downing Street, here’s our statement on where we go from here (again)…

Now following the Rule of Six.

We’ve gone bonkers for bubbles of late, with our new carbonation rig purring away behind the scenes and range of Hard Seltzers flying out the door. Here’s a little Bubble 101 laying down the science to the the zing in your drink!

#HardSeltzerSummer is here, an empirical ‘White Claw’ shaped tidal wave is rolling across the Atlantic; we’ve got a toe in the water, so here’s a little pocket guide to your new go to RTD.

July 4th - the pubs are open! A Nation Rejoices! Throw up the bunting! Re-coronate the queen!

Not quite.

feat special guest Michael Kill

Norm was supposed to play the bar this month but due to obvious reasons we had to reschedule a later date.
As a consolation he's been kind enough to record and send over a vinyl only set full of summer heaters and some air tight mixing.

Episode 2 of our minted, (seminal), bar-talk podcast: If These Walls Could Talk!

In this edition Alex dialled up Paul Hayes of VIVIR tequila for a chat about launching and importing his fantastic range of tequilas. The conversation covers the full arc from inception to trading in the current COVID-quashed climate, Paul’s personal odyssey with agave, and how his and his team’s integrity, patience and passion can proof a business against seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Tune in, turn on and sip on VIVIR ;)

Full time family, part time bottle shop