Her Majesty’s Secret Service (HMSS) is a new cocktail bar and punch house, opening in the former home of Charlie’s Bar on 24th July 2015. Expect “highly creative, fun and experiential cocktails at an exceptionally reasonable price”.
HMSS comes from the talented team behind London’s Cocktail Trading Co, with Ben Alcock, Andy Mil, Olly Brading and Elliot Ball joining forces to create a fresh experience for Bristol. All highly awarded bartenders themselves, and with the freedom and skill to try out new concepts, HMSS will be a creative hub in which to sample new creations day-to-day as well as at tastings, masterclasses and cocktail events.
The cocktail menu at HMSS will be presented in the style of a passport, offering a continually-changing assortment of highly interactive, humorous and impeccably presented cocktails, sharing punches and ‘Faux-tails’: non-alcoholic options that have been carefully thought out so that non-drinkers can enjoy their visit just as much as those going for boozier options.
With a “classy but quirky” interior, the design has combined themes of industrial, gin-palace and espionage to create a regal drinking parlour, humorously described as ‘where Bond would hide from his associates’. Expect vintage upholstered Chesterfields, polished oak and gun cabinets. There will also be plenty of feel-good music, from old school hip hip through 70s and 80s funk to the occasional cheesy track.
HMSS’ founders have all been in the drinks industry for a long time – Alcock, Mil, Brading & Ball have spent the past six years operating and consulting with some of the biggest and most innovative drinks companies around the world, from Diageo Reserve to Pernod Ricard, and the London Cocktail Clubs to Kelly Brooks’ Steam & Rye.
With the goal of taking all they’ve learned and loved in the drinks industry and pouring it into HMSS, this bar will be a real labour of love. As the team say, expect “lots of fun little touches, a solid core, oodles of humour and absolutely no pretence”.