![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/e15f5a35-8010-4ed4-b314-12012f78c150.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSpencer James doesn\u2019t work in the drinks industry, he\u2019s not a minor celebrity or an influencer sharing his bar favourites with followers and he doesn\u2019t even have an Instagram feed.<\/p>\n
For 44 years, James worked in building and construction, starting as an apprentice, qualifying as a quantity surveyor before spending 20 happy years as a senior director for Gleeds, a property firm headquartered in London.<\/p>\n
But when it comes to London\u2019s cocktail scene, this recently retired 60-year-old knows more than most. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s on first-name terms with some of London\u2019s best mixologists. And three of the capital\u2019s top hotel cocktail bars \u2014 the Goring hotel, Refuel at the Soho hotel and the Green Bar at the hotel Caf\u00e9 Royal \u2014 have created drinks with his name on them.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
James has got to know lots or bartenders over the years<\/p>\n
CIRCE HAMILTON FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m absolutely nothing special,\u201d James says. \u201cI\u2019ve owned a modest townhouse in Bow for 30 years. Most of my relatives were born in the East End. I used to duck when I passed my local and pray that none of the furniture would come flying out the window. Now, you can go into the Morgan Arms and enjoy a piece of turbot and a glass of Puligny-Montrachet.\u201d<\/p>\n
He adds: \u201cMy only standout quality is I\u2019m a frequent flyer. I go to cocktail bars four or five nights a week, sit at the bar, order a Last Word and a club sandwich and chat to the staff. So, Bow is a great location for me because it\u2019s only 30 minutes from my door to the door of the Ritz.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Your guide to life in London: what\u2019s new in culture, food and property<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOver the years, I\u2019ve also got to know a lot of talented bartenders and they\u2019ve got to know me,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that rapport has led to some fantastic drinks being named after me, which I\u2019m secretly very pleased about.\u201d<\/p>\n So good they named him thrice\u00a0Mister Spencer (<\/b>The Goring Hotel<\/b><\/a>) <\/b>Nicholson gin, Lillet Blanc, juniper, wild berries, grapefruit and ginger <\/p>\n James\u2019s love of cocktails began 25 years ago. \u201cMy first proper cocktail experience was at Aurora, which was the bar and restaurant within the Great Eastern hotel. I was looking for a posh venue for my mum\u2019s birthday. I had always walked past and wanted to venture in and Mum\u2019s 60th was the perfect excuse for a test drive.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been a glugger. I don\u2019t like the volumes of beer, so I was cocktail curious.\u201d <\/p>\n He had quite the host. At the time, the Aurora\u2019s bar manager was Alessandro Palazzi, who has found fame as the finest martini maker in London, at Dukes. <\/p>\n \u201cHe crafted me a perfect French 75, and I was hooked. From then on, I visited regularly. Alessandro and his team introduced me to all the classics,\u201d he says. \u201cI loved the theatricality that went into preparing each drink, the clink-clink of the cocktail shaker and the obvious care and attention.<\/p>\n \u201cPlus,\u201d he adds, \u201ccocktails are made to be sipped. And because they\u2019re handcrafted, they\u2019re all slightly different. It sounds trite, but if a mixologist is any good, they\u2019ll add an extra ingredient and that\u2019s love.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first started drinking cocktails, it was more unusual for a man to order one because they came in fancy glasses with fancy ingredients,\u201d says James<\/p>\n CIRCE HAMILTON FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n If he\u2019s trying somewhere new, instead of ordering his regular Last Word, Spencer will test a bartender\u2019s skill by asking for a Corpse Reviver No 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was created by Harry Craddock, the dean of cocktail shakers<\/a>,\u201d James says. \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be drunk before 11am, because it\u2019ll wake the dead. If the bartender is grounded in the classics, they\u2019ll grab a bottle of absinthe. You\u2019re in trouble if they reach for their phones to search for it.\u201d<\/p>\n James often visits bars solo. \u201cI\u2019m alone, but I\u2019m never lonely. I\u2019ll do some work, dine or snack, play on my phone and people watch. The scene is ever changing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first started drinking cocktails, it was more unusual for a man to order one because they came in fancy glasses with fancy ingredients. Now, bars are more inclusive and drinking cocktails is more commonplace, plus people have disposable income and are happy to pay for premium ingredients and innovative experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n So where is this cocktail barfly\u2019s favourite?<\/p>\n \u201cFor luxury, I\u2019d go to the Rivoli Bar at the Ritz hotel<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cAmazing drinks curated by the head mixologist Michele Saladino, and the bartenders Massimo, Bruno, Jurgan and Marcin. Their Biodynamic Forces cocktail menu is hugely innovative, and four of the cocktails are alcohol-free. My personal favourite is named after the planet Uranus. It\u2019s made with silver tequila, prickly pear water and liqueur, caramelised yoghurt and saline solution. It tastes sublime and is served in bespoke glassware.<\/p>\n \u201cFor funky, go to Refuel at the Soho hotel<\/a>. It\u2019s a discreet hangout for A-list celebrities and has fantastic cocktails crafted by the head bartender Lucas and bartender Chai. My cocktail of choice here is a French 75<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cFor a hidden gem, go to Bar Termini<\/a>, in Soho. It\u2019s small, so if you can\u2019t get in, you can\u2019t get in. If you\u2019re lucky, order negroni<\/a>. With Marco Mussi\u2019s team, there is no lalala \u2014 they pick up the bottles, add a slice of orange and serve you a perfect drink. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd if none of the cocktails takes your fancy,\u201d James says, \u201ctell the bartender what you like. It\u2019s a conversation starter, you might try some wonderful drinks, and if you alternate them with a glass of water, you\u2019ll still walk in a straight line home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spencer James doesn\u2019t work in the drinks industry, he\u2019s not a minor celebrity or an influencer sharing his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-411552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115176710700852065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Cocktail](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/c3fb6973-260e-42cf-82d7-8f16d59c8f46.jpg\")
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