The Grand Hospitality Reopening

It’s been a long, cold, lonely, washing up filled winter but friends, hope is on the horizon. Spring is in the air, we’ve bagged ourselves an extra hour of daylight and venues all over the country are getting those new menus written up for a season of spritzes, sushi and long Sunday lunches. Oh hello social life, we see you there!

In case you’ve somehow missed the Magical Road Map To Freedom announcements, here’s the rub for England…

• • April 12th– we’ll be congregating on terraces and in gardens from Brighton to Berwick-Upon-Tweed, come rain or shine (we Brits have been in training for this for years). 
  • May 17th– we’re literally going in as our favourite bar and eateries with no outside space throw open their doors to the world. 
  • June 21st- restrictions are lifted fully and guys, we can even go to nightclubs! Remember those? We could weep with joy. 

If you’re anything like us, your phone has probably been going loco with messages from pals about the grand reopening but the big question is this- with thousands of places to eat and drink yourself back to beautiful normality, where to go first? 

Here for your delectation and to help you with those all-important plans, we got our heads together to bring you a rundown of every amazing steak house, cocktail bar, sandwich shop, Thai restaurant and pint in a pub garden that we’ve spent the last three months dreaming about. It wasn’t easy narrowing it down but we got there in the end. 

Graziella, Digital Strategy Director

‘I definitely miss just sitting in a cafe, ideally drinking Caravan Coffee with some nice baked goods by Pophams or Bread by Bike. I’ll be looking for some immersive dining experiences to get back into- Gingerline is always a favourite!

Of course, the cocktail bars like Bar Swift and the Cocktail Trading Company. I’d love to do a crawl of all the great terraces opening up.  I  also can’t wait for some pasta at Padella, some Thai food at Kiln or SomSaa, Peruvian food in Lima and Senor Ceviche,  a sushi treat & cocktails at Roka– the list doesn’t end…’ 

Egle, Senior Designer

  ‘A good pub English breakfast (any pub), pizza at Vicolo di Napoli in Stoke Newington, sushi at Eat Tokyo, and generally speaking, just sitting in a cafe sipping coffee and eating croissants in the morning.’

Ash, Digital and Social Marketing Manager 

 ‘Bancone in Soho, I absolutely love their cacio e pepe, burrata and tortelli verdi… to die for. Oh, also  BAO in Soho! They have the most delicious bao buns.’

Ruggero, Senior Digital Marketing Manager 

‘The Salvino deli– the poor guys must be suffering my absence. Hawksmoor, Hoppers and Dishoom. Bar Termini because I owe Naomi a Negroni after a superb joke I pulled on her in 2020’

Naomi, Chief Marketing Officer

‘The first thing I had to cancel back in March 2020 was Xu so I need to get there. I’m really craving delicious Asian food in a fancy restaurant.  I recently had Blacklock At Home’s “All In” box and am now keen to have the full Blacklock  restaurant experience – I’ve heard great things about the cocktail trolley.  The fresh pasta, negroni, pistachio souffle at Angela Hartnett’s  Murano aka the perfect Italian. Eating snacks in my kitchen just doesn’t cut it!

Oh, and Sweet Chick for fried chicken and Noble Rot for oysters and wine’

Craig, Senior Digital Designer

‘Brat, Peg, Kudu and Wahaca’ 

Short, sweet and to the point there Craig!

Lorna, COO

‘Cornerstone  (Tom Brown 🔥)  and Darjeeling Express– a takeaway curry is good, but my locals just can’t compare to this place! Going for cocktails in a super swanky hotel bar like Lyaness (formerly Dandelyan) JUST BECAUSE WE CAN.’

Shabby, Organic Social Intern 

‘Firstly, my personal steak game is weak and I need to get back to where the professionals know their way around a piece of beef. It’s got to be a bone-in ribeye from Smith & Wollensky for me with a large vat of Malbec. 

I’ll follow that with some awesome Syrian food from Ayam Zaman, some Colchester Native oysters from Richard Haward’s, Kotteri Hakata Tonkotsu from Shoryu Ramen and espresso martinis overlooking the Thames outside the historic Cutty Sark pub with my pals’

Paul, CEO

‘First, I’d like to meet up with the whole Ignite crew and have a good old session with decent food somewhere like Dinerama.

 Next up is taking some of our lovely clients out for lunch in the likes of Hicce, Coal Office, Lina Stores or Barrafina. Can’t wait, bring it on!’

And lastly, this piece of pure poetry from

Mish, Chief Concepts Officer 

‘I am longing for a pint of Guinness in a pub beer garden, it’s not the same in a can. I even dreamt that Covid had gone so I made for the nearest pub and ordered one. I watched the slow pour like in a Guinness advert. I was so gutted when I woke up like a kid who had dreamt it was Christmas!’

Maybe we forgot some other incredible places in our giddy reopening excitement. Drop us a line over at hello@ignitecreates.com to let us know where you are headed. 

See you out in real life places soon 🔥