Within the second cease of our interview tour of the UK we converse to Tommy Matthews, proprietor of Passing Fancies, who provides us the news on the Birmingham bar scene
BarLifeUK’s final correct Birmingham bar tour was means again in 2014 and our data of the town’s cocktail scene is criminally outdated, which explains why Simon Webster’s first phrases to me upon coming back from a Whistlepig judging session final 12 months have been: “Blimey, Birmingham has modified.” Thankfully, Tommy Matthews volunteered his time to teach us about Birmingham’s blossoming bar group…
BLUK: Inform us your bartending backstory – how did you get into the business and the place have you ever labored?
TM: I got here to bartending fairly late, my background is in accounting once I was at college, after which I went travelling once I was 21, I went to Australia which is the place I picked up bartending. I began working in Perth on the West Coast, in a bar referred to as Flower Manufacturing unit and a bar referred to as Lafayette. They have been each great unbiased bars… I’d say that was 2015. So I began bartending once I was 24 and simply beloved the group component of it, the fixed human interplay, as a result of I’d spent years behind a pc which was driving me a bit loopy. I’m from Hull, and once I got here residence, there isn’t actually a food and drinks scene in Hull sadly, so I had a buddy who lived in Birmingham and I got here and stayed on his couch, and for the primary six months I used to be again within the UK I labored for the Botanist group, after which noticed the chance to work at The Edgebaston… Then I went on to open Sofa (Stirchley) with Katie Rouse and Jacob Clarke. I labored for them by way of the pandemic, and I opened my very own place which is named Passing Fancies, in September 2022.
BLUK: What sort of joint is Passing Fancies?
TM: It’s a community-led house. It doesn’t matter what your aim is for the night, we would like folks to return to Passing Fancies and have the ability to get pleasure from each component of being out, whether or not you need an important beer, nice wine, or nice cocktail. We really feel typically you go to bars and the expertise is simply too centered on one ingredient or expertise. We’re tremendous cocktail nerds, now we have a rotovap and a centrifuge, however on the finish of the day we would like folks to return to Passing Fancies whether or not it’s for a glass of wine or a cocktail. We even have a full kitchen so the thought is you may come to us for a night and get no matter you need, and will probably be good high quality.
BLUK: For somebody who hasn’t been to Birmingham for some time, are you able to describe the town and the way the cocktail scene sits inside it.
TM: It’s super-vibrant in the intervening time. There may be such a very good providing. I believe after Covid a number of cities have struggled, however we’ve come out of it with a bunch of recent nice bars. Folks have to grasp that Birmingham is a large metropolis, it’s not like Cardiff or Bristol or Leeds, the place every little thing might be discovered fairly central, it’s a sprawling metropolis. You may have the town heart which has great bars like Fox and Likelihood, which is a superb unbiased bar, however you even have locations like Albert’s Schloss and Dishoom. After which you have got suburbs across the metropolis that are actually vibrant like Digbeth, which is the place Passing Fancies is, which is named the Artistic Quarter. There’s a number of experience-led stuff there, my subsequent door neighbour is Loopy Pedro’s, and we’ve received a Gold Fang down there, and Roxy Ballroom. It’s this lovely industrial space 10 minutes stroll from New Road Station… After which on the opposite facet of the town however nonetheless 10 minutes from New Road is the Jewelry Quarter which is popping off in the intervening time, it’s the place 40 St Pauls is, which gained greatest gin bar on the earth a few years in the past, after which we’ve received Rob Wooden’s new place, Atelier, which is a ravishing curated expertise. And there are many depraved restaurant bars, there’s a spot referred to as Tierra Tacos which do an important blended drink record. You’ll be able to sit there and drink Tommy’s all night time and have some tacos.
BLUK: The final time we did a bar tour in Birmingham was about ten years in the past, it sounds as if rather a lot has modified since then.
TM: It’s actually beginning to flourish. It struck me once I first moved right here that it was a scene that was about to begin rising… We’ve had an important meals scene for a few years. There are 6 Michelin stars in Birmingham, which is greater than any (UK) metropolis outdoors of London, and during the last seven years I been right here, I’ve seen the bartenders who have been on the come-up at the moment are of the age, I’ve simply turned 32, the place we are able to begin interested by enterprise plans and proposals. We’re maturing as bartenders and operators to the purpose the expertise that was within the metropolis 5, 7 years in the past is now capable of open their very own bars and the scene is simply exploding in the intervening time.
BLUK: Does this enlargement of the cocktail scene make it simpler to retain good bartenders who would in any other case have left to develop their profession in a special metropolis?
TM: I’d 100% say that, yeah. Even taking a look at my group of seven folks, I’ve one bartender from Romania, however everybody else is a UK Brummie. You’ll be able to’t say that in a number of London bars. It was irritating at occasions, you’d get nice bartenders and they’d find yourself going to London in 2017, 2018, as a result of there weren’t that many unbiased locations to work, whereas now there may be a lot motion across the metropolis.
BLUK: In Digbeth, your patch because it have been, are there any apparent drink developments? Are the folks ordering issues they’ve seen on social media, or are different issues driving the developments there?
TM: I’d personally say a very good chunk of persons are transferring away from consuming drinks based mostly on social media. Pre-pandemic we used the assertion ‘Instagrammable’ quite a bit when have been going by way of the artistic course of of creating drinks, whereas I believe we’re transferring away from that a little bit bit… After a tough time within the pandemic I believe persons are placing their telephones down and coming collectively and having fun with the expertise of being out in a bar and ingesting with their associates… Accessible luxurious is the opposite factor, getting good cocktails into folks’s palms, from £9 to £11 helps get extra into the business. The barrier to entry is getting decrease, no-one needs to talk to conceited, condescending cocktail bartenders, they need to are available and have a very good time. I believe persons are placing their telephones down, speaking to folks, and so they need that accessible luxurious.
BLUK: Occasions are tight in the intervening time, do you suppose prospects at the moment are extra fascinated with going out simply a few times a month and going for high quality, over a number of low-cost nights?
TM: 100%. Individuals are not going out 3 times per week to at least one place, they may exit as soon as a fortnight now. So the best way now we have constructed the programme at Passing Fancies, when our company are available, if cash is tight, after they come once more in 4 weeks time there will likely be new issues for them to get entangled with. These bars which have six-monthly or yearly menus would possibly begin to endure as a result of folks need to return to a spot the place they love the setting and the service, however come again with one thing new to attempt. We try to lean into the truth that persons are being extra choosy about the place they go, we would like them to be excited when they give thought to coming again. I genuinely suppose company are extra educated now, and they’re going to drink in manufacturers and bars that they align with. Individuals are shopping for into ethos an increasing number of lately, I believe.
BLUK: What are your ideas on low and no ABV drinks? Are you seeing extra company ordering them?
TM: Birmingham is a tricky place to get a learn on that. Exterior of London I believe now we have the second largest Muslim inhabitants and now we have 4 universities within the metropolis and a number of college students aren’t ingesting lately, so we do a number of non-alcoholics. An irregular quantity once I discuss to folks from different cities, who say ‘we do non-alchs and no-one buys them’. However we might be trucking by way of dozens and dozens in a night as a result of now we have a demographic that fits it… However then alternatively, I do suppose the non-alcoholic manufacturers are milking it rather a lot. Particularly after they promote these manufacturers which might be so costly… We don’t essentially use the non-alcoholic spirits due to the value. We are able to create a mix of teas, clear juices, acid options, working with salt or completely different sorts of sugars. We are able to create scrumptious non-alcoholic drinks which might be a bit cheaper for us to supply, and we are able to go that worth for cash on to the visitor.
BLUK: Say you have got a bartender buddy coming into Birmingham for one night time, and so they need to expertise the complete vary of venues on provide, the place would you are taking them?
TM: To start with I’d go to Tierra Tacos for some meals and Margaritas to line the abdomen, I really like the meals, and the restaurant-bar vibe they’ve received there. Then I’d hop in an Uber and go all the way down to Sofa, as a result of even thought it’s a little bit bit on the outskirts of Birmingham, it’s such a beautiful bar and expertise, and their drinks are scrumptious. Then I’d soar in one other Uber and head again into city and go to Fox and Likelihood for positive. They’re unimaginable, owned by three of the nicest folks within the Birmingham business, and their drinks programme goes from energy to energy. Then we might go to see Rob at Atelier, and after that go to Passing Fancies for extra drinks and some plates, and we might find yourself at an iconic Birmingham pub referred to as The Church. They’ve a blended drinks record, their wine is nice. Their beer is native, scrumptious, chilly, and fizzy.
BLUK: Birmingham is legendary for its curry eating places, which one among them will get your vote?
TM: I’ve to say Hen and Chickens by a rustic mile. We’ve this phrase in Birmingham, Desi Pubs. It’s this concept that you just have a look at it and it’s only a boozer. There’s the soccer on the telly, there’s lads in there in high-vis after work, there’s Carling on draft. There may be nothing fancy about it. However you then stroll in to Hen and Chickens and also you simply get this waft of blended grills, butter rooster, the vindaloo. It’s phenomenal.
BLUK: Is there something about Birmingham as a bartending group you want to describe that my questions have missed?
TM: I really feel like Birmingham, in each competitors I’ve ever been to, has at all times been the butt of jokes. It’s at all times been ‘there’s nothing in Birmingham’. However now we have this lovely, blossoming scene in the intervening time, folks have gotten to go to Birmingham. I genuinely suppose there may be extra attention-grabbing stuff occurring with food and drinks in Birmingham than anyplace else. We’re a good group, I don’t care the place you’re employed, in case you have a tendency bar you’re a part of the group. You might be one among us. We’re inclusive, we share coaching, we’re a community-led metropolis and we don’t need that to vary. We push ahead as one metropolis, one group, one business and one group.
For those who work in a city, metropolis, or neighborhood that doesn’t get sufficient protection want to do a ‘What’s Occurring In…?’ interview, ship us an e mail: editorial@barlifeuk.com
