One of London’s best bars, Nine Lives will launch Nine Lives Alley on Thursday 9th July. Spilling out onto the cobbles of Hollyrood Street near London Bridge station, Nine Lives Alley will follow government guidelines for outdoor drinking and dining, with the team ensuring all necessary safety measures are met.
Spearheaded by global drinks agency, Sweet&Chilli, Nine Lives Alley will serve a selection of the bar’s cocktails, plus tacos from native Mexican chef ‘El Tigre’. The chef, whose family restaurant is a taco institution in Guadalajara, will park his Tigre Taco truck on Nine Lives Alley for the remainder of 2020. The menu will highlight Baja-style sustainable and seasonal fish tacos, “inspired by the free spirit culture and sun-kissed flavours of Southern California in the 70’s”. Elsewhere, grilled shrimp tacos and octopus tostadas will also be served, plus house made fresh salsas and crispy pickles.
As for the drinks, the Nine Lives bar team will be keeping the cocktail menu local, seasonal, and (of course) sustainable with summer spritzes, frozen slushies, and low alcohol highballs. These will be served alongside various chilled local beers and ciders.
Open from Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 10pm, the design of Nine Lives Alley is inspired by modern Mexico city, with bursts of intense colour, terracotta, agaves and desert grasses, plus rattan lampshades dressing the festoon lighting in classic Nine Lives style.
On the launch of Nine Lives Alley, various precautions are being taken to keep customers and staff safe. The venue’s limited capacity will comply with distancing regulations, while all staff will wear gloves and face masks. Guests will be asked to take their own food and drink from trays, rather than being served in the usual way, and all guests will be required to sanitise their hands on arrival using a foot-operated penguin dispenser. Mini penguin dispensers will also be available on each table, for regular sanitising. Contactless-only payments will be taken, and menus will be available directly to guests’ phones via QR codes.
Speaking to The London Economic, Sweet&Chilli & Nine Lives co-owner Allan Gage said: “Nine Lives Alley will be a vibrant new Mexican street food scene just by London Bridge station. With a menu of seafood tacos and killer cocktails, it’ll be the closest we all get to a long haul holiday this summer! This is a rare fully open air space with large planters giving tables the required space, and a limited capacity to ensure we are all distancing, as well as drinking, responsibly.”
Further information can be found here.
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