Thirsty Bear self-service pub opens in London

Punters are invited to pull their own pints at a new self service pub, which opened in London last week.

The Thirsty Bear has opened in the refurbished site of the Stamford Arms in Blackfriars and gives guests the power to order food and drinks without leaving their seats, through a bespoke system using Apple iPads.

The venue, capable of accommodating around 80 people, features 19 built-in iPads at tables with self-service beer pumps, allowing customers to exactly control how much or how little they have without the need to queue.

Alistair Rees, director at the Thirsty Bear, explained how the concept came about: "It's an idea that we've been floating around for a couple of years. We've been prototyping it and getting a working model up and running, which led us to looking for a venue to put it into.

"We came across the Stamford Arms. Southwark is a good area in terms of natural fit because it has a lot of digital marketing and PR companies around there. It's also an area that is being hugely regenerated."

Rees also explained that the main premise behind the concept pub is that it is a showcase for the technology they've designed.

He said: "We've had loads of interest. The whole point was to open the pub as a marketing concept more than anything else. We want our numbers to speak for themselves, so that we can say 'here's a heavily loss-making pub that we've managed to turn around - look what it can do for your business'."

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By Janie Stamford

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