This January, Common Counter will launch in Brick Lane, bringing a carefully-curated bar menu and an ever-changing schedule of creative events to a community-focused, LGBTQ+ driven east London space.
Based within Brick Lane’s Glass House creative space, Common Counter will provide a safe space for creativity to flourish and like-minded people to collaborate. Its ethos of serving the neighbourhood means that it will focus on serving locally-brewed beers and spirits distilled on its doorstep.
A vibrant events schedule will run alongside the bar, featuring events including weekly ‘Voguing’ dance classes, LGBTQ+ fundraisers, book club-style discussions, Bollywood dance classes, and poetry nights. Common Counter’s beer and cocktail menu will be committed to affordability, accessibility and inclusivity, with 0.0% beer, a selection of mocktails and locally-roasted brews, as well as freshly baked goods on the counter.
The bar menu has been designed by Oliver Tomlinson as a celebration of queer history. Each cocktail served within the multidisciplinary venue has been carefully designed to to share stories of iconic queer figures, events, or folklore. Launching with six rotating cocktails, each inspired by the community, designed in-house and priced at £9.50, alongside an alcohol-free drinks offering, and a selection of classics.
From the in-house cocktails, revellers can expect the likes of the ‘Dance of the Forty One’, made with Ilegal mezcal, Sacred Sweet vermouth, nitro cold brew, xocolatl syrup and mole bitters.
The drink’s name is in reference to a 1901 police raid in Mexico City, where 42 high society men were arrested for wearing lavish ballgowns and engaging in what was seen to be an illicit, opulent affair - much like the drink. The event has become a symbol of defiance and defining moment in the culture of queer Mexicans, and its inclusion on the menu reflects Common Counter’s core message.
A rotating beer bottle bar will work with The Queer Brewing project, who focus on small, ethical, queer-led brewers in the UK, and wines will be provided by GRAFT, which holds a selection of sustainable keg wines which have a fraction of the environmental impact of typical glass bottled wine. Spirits are locally-sourced, from Cold & Blac Coffee Liqueur Dalston, East London Liquor, Victory London Distillery, with the exception of Ilegal Mezcal, which is from Oaxaca, Mexico.
For those looking for something alcohol-free, there will be a 0% menu as carefully curated as its boozy iteration, and its offering will also be on rotation, priced at £7.50. It will feature drinks such as the ‘Failure may be your style’ Seedlip Spice-based creation made with grapefruit juice and nitro cold brew. It is inspired by writer and raconteur Quentin Crisp, who had a conventional, suburban upbringing and shocked the public in the 1940s by being openly, unapologetically queer.