Top London Bartenders Built a Bar in 24 Hours

As Eater's Cocktail Week begins, London Cocktail Week has come to a close and a winner of the 24-Hour Bar Build competition has been announced. According to the Evening Standard, the competition asked teams from the "world's best cocktail cities" — London, New York, Singapore, and Paris — to create a bar in just one day. The bars not only had to feature creative cocktails that showcased each team's booze sponsor, but the aesthetics of the bar were also important to judges.

Team London, which was led by Richard Woods — the head of cocktail development at Duck and Waffle, the highest restaurant in London, located on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower — took first place. The Spirits Business writes that the bar featured "distressed walls and cacti" for an "authentic Mexican feel," and a negroni made with tequila. Woods tells the trade publication: "It's amazing and a relief. Ultimately we're the best cocktail city in the world - we were given a brief and we delivered. The best bar won."

THAT MOMENT! When the idea of building a bar from scratch, to a tight budget, in 24hrs was worth it. #24HRBarBuild pic.twitter.com/j9ROrVY2QP

— Rich Woods (@the_cocktailguy) October 11, 2015

The Paris team — which was sponsored by Bombay Sapphire — came in second for its "Grand Bleu" bar which featured a disco ball hanging above a bath tub filled with ice cubes. New York City, which worked with Grey Goose vodka, came in third for its "hip-hop style club," and Singapore — which was paired up with Bacardi rum — went for a Cuban boxing ring motif. The London Team won flights to next year's Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans.

Perhaps it's not surprising that the London team won the competition. After all, the city loves a pop-up, especially a pop-up bar. Over the years, London has played host to a number of pop-up concepts, including one themed around Breaking Bad and another that involved live owls. Watch a video about the competition below: