MY PUB: The Punch Bowl, Mayfair, London

The Butcombe pub, owned by Liberation Group, has been a pub under the same moniker since about 1750 and was once owned by film director Guy Ritchie.

Here, general manager Kyra Roberts tells The Morning Advertiser about the pub.

The pub

The Punch Bowl has been owned by Butcombe for just over two years, when it was bought as one of the group’s first five London sites.

It offers a casual pub on the ground floor, a lavish formal dining room on the first, and an exquisite private dining on the second floor.

The Punch Bowl is a quintessentially British pub, steeped in history, nestled in the heart of Mayfair. Once owned by Guy Ritchie, it comes with an eclectic past and continues to maintain a reputation of over-indulgence and fun.

The publican

My name is Kyra Roberts, I have been a part of the Butcombe family for almost two years, having started my journey down in Surrey and then moving up to London to run the Punch Bowl a year ago.

I was originally brought over from South Africa as part of the company’s ‘Project Bok’ programme as a skilled worker.

While I had been in hospitality for more than 10 years before moving over, I have most certainly found that my heart belongs in British pubs and hope one day to own one (or a few) of my own.

The trade

Our customers range from our regular community neighbours to tourists seeking out this iconic pub.

We cater to a lot of corporate clients who make use of our private dining area and often book out space in the bar area to host drink parties, social mixers and year-end events.

There is a truly diverse range of guests who visit us at the Punch Bowl and we do our best to cater for them all.

The team

Our team is made up of 16 front-of-house and 13 back-of-house team members.

We are extremely proud of the diversity within the team and through regular team building and coffee chats, we encourage everyone to be proud of who they are and what they contribute.

I am lucky to have two phenomenal assistant managers alongside me front of house as well as a strong team in the back who consistently push for excellence. As a pub we are also get a massive amount of support for our head office.

The drink

Our drinks menu, just like our customer base, is diverse and offers something for everyone.

Of course, owned by a brewery, we have some incredible beers and are very proud of Burcombe’s award-winning range.

We pride ourselves on having a wine list that offers options for the layman as well as some sexy signature bottles for the connoisseur.

We also offer an extensive range of whiskeys and a seasonally changing cocktail menu.

At the Punch Bowl, we do intrinsically want our customers to feel at home and ease too. It’s too often the case that restaurants can intimidate their customers. We try our best to make sure every customer who walks through our doors finds something they love.

The food

Our food gives a nod to the British classics with little twist to the luxurious and indulgent.

We are extremely focused on only sourcing ingredients from suppliers with the best quality and best practices.

From our meats to our cheeses, we are proud to boast about the British ingredients we use. The Punch Bowl also offers a selection of vegan options – often hard to do as a pub but we do realise our customer’s needs.

Our star dish is definitely our famed Tiramichoix Bun – a puffy choix pastry bun, stuffed with tiramisu mousse, served with a decadent hot chocolate sauce poured table-side – it truly doesn’t get any better.

The events

We have live music every Wednesday and host a variety of events throughout the year such as our cocktail masterclass in late September.

We urge all customers to keep a keen eye on our socials and our What’s On page to stay in the loop.

With our multifunctional spaces, we host all sorts of functions such as weddings, receptions, wakes, corporate mixers, birthday and anniversary celebrations, and much more.

With our events we try tailor them to exactly what the guest is after, keeping each event unique.

The future

In terms of expansion, this would be down to Butcombe, however, the Punch Bowl is looking at expanding the offer of types of events it offers.

There may even be a members’ club on the way. Our guests will have to keep their eyes peeled.