Pub Opening
GBPA winners double up as new pub opens
Susie Clarke and Joel Czopor are “soft opening” their latest venture tonight ahead of the official launch on 26 June.
Billed as a ‘traditional pub, beer garden and bottle shop’, the Gipsy Queen in Kentish Town, north London is located close to the Grafton, which was crowned the Sky Great British Pub of the Year at last year’s Great British Pub Awards, run by the Publican’s Morning Advertiser.
The pub, an Enterprise free-of-tie lease, was formally know as the Bluebell, and has undergone an extensive interior and exterior refurbishment.
'Challenge'
Speaking at last month’s MA300 business club, Czopor said: “The new site will be more food-led [than the Grafton] and has a big garden as well, plus there is potential for 10 boutique hotel rooms upstairs. Being a hotel is a new area for us, so that will be an exciting challenge.”
Did some final dish testing today featuring smoked tongue, guinea fowl, Barnsley chop & Gipsy knickerbocker #yumspic.twitter.com/YU8GZDo4pV
— The Gipsy Queen (@gipsyqueennw5) June 15, 2015Talking to the Kentishtowner website, Clarke added: “We’re hoping to bring a little Cuban flavour to the garden with bright colours. Festoon lights will be strung back and forth, with fixed booths and covered areas.”
The Gipsy Queen will be run by experienced general manager Aidan Clarke, brother of Susie, and Tom Humphries, the head chef at the Grafton.
Czopor and Clarke said they have finance and ambition to open another one or two sites in the next two years.
Watch a video of Joel & Susie talking about creating the Sky Great British Pub of the Year
