Peg & Patriot bartender to open Scout cocktail bar in London’s Hoxton
The Great Eastern Street site will focus on original cocktails using produce from the British Isles, and will aim to produce minimal waste.
The cocktail recipes – which Whiley himself will create – will change with the seasons, as well as the sustainability and availability of ingredients.
The team will also ferment, brew, distil and preserve many ingredients in-house.
The drinks menu will offer ten cocktails, five house ferments, five beers – including one brewed in-house ‒ and a small selection of natural wines, such as strawberry wine, gin lemon balm and whey; carrot, hemp seed and liquorice; and burnt beetroot, horseradish, apple and hay vermouth with herb oil.
A short snacks menu will use many of the same ingredients as the cocktails, to help reduce waste further. Typical dishes will include toasted sourdough with house kohlrabi sauerkraut and London coppa; fried vegetable skins with house seasoning; and pickled celeriac with truffle.
The site will also feature a 10-seat, private basement area, named Laboratory, which will offer a daily-changing cocktail menu that will act as a testing ground for future main bar drinks. Guests in the private space will have chance to watch the team at work, and there will also be mixology masterclasses and tastings available to book.
If it’s not in season in the UK, we won’t buy it,” Whiley says of Scout’s ethos. “We have such amazing produce in this country that I really wanted to celebrate what’s local, native and seasonal to the British Isles. There’s really no need to fly produce all over the world when we have an incredible bounty of fresh ingredients on our doorstep.”
Design-wise the interior is aiming to appear comfortable, modern and minimalist, and will use natural materials such as wood and rendered walls.
Whiley, who is also the co-founder of bars Purl, and Worship Street Whistling Shop, has worked at an array of top London restaurants, including Restaurant Story, Hoppers, Rök, Bone Daddies, and Fera at Claridge's.
