London Inc. Fall 2022 - 20

Upfront Food & Beverage
BOOSTING THE VIBE
Launched as a classic speakeasy, a popular OEV cocktail bar looks
to expand its footprint while keeping its laid-back ways
WHEN HE FIRST opened The MockingBird Cocktail Bar
& Lounge (www.themockingbird.ca) in 2019, tucked in a
backroom of what was then Whistling Dick's Barber Shop,
John Parlow wanted the bar to be a bit of a secret - a classic
speakeasy, lively on the inside yet invisible from the street.
There was even talk of a password system; if you were there
at all, you were in the know.
Now, as the bar expands and takes over the street-facing
space that the barber shop once occupied, exclusivity is off
the menu, so to speak.
" We don't want the secrecy or the
exclusivity anymore, " says Parlow with
a laugh. " When the barbershop was
there it made sense to have that, for
sure - but now we want to be visible. "
A speakeasy no more, The
Rob Campbell and John Parlow, co-owners of The MockingBird Coctail Bar
& Lounge PHOTOS: RACHEL LINCOLN
continues. " It's pretty important that we remain true to
what was originally created, that it remains that very intimate
cocktail bar experience. "
With the barber shop no longer occupying the space,
Parlow says expanding the bar - as opposed to finding
another tenant - was a natural move to make use of the
" IT'S PRETTY IMPORTANT THAT WE REMAIN
TRUE TO WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED,
THAT IT REMAINS THAT VERY INTIMATE
COCKTAIL BAR EXPERIENCE " -John Parlow
MockingBird is in the finishing stages
of building out a more lounge-like room in the front of the
bar that will be able to host up to 52 more people.
" Dark, intimate, " is how Parlow describes the atmosphere
they are going for, though he's more apt to describe
it in contrast to the existing bar. " The bar is all high-top
tables; the lounge has regular seating, round white quartz
tabletops, club chairs, dark and dimmable lighting, and we'll
be bringing in red velvet drapes.
" We certainly do not want to change the vibe at all, " he
20|londonincmagazine.ca|FALL 2022
unit, on which they were still paying rent but not generating
revenue after Whistling Dick's closed. Something had to go
in there, he thought.
" Let's put it this way, it was either going to be a lounge or
something completely unrelated to the bar. At first, I thought
maybe we put in a really cool general store, " he recalls, but
says the hassle of inventory turned him off the idea. So,
lounge it was.
" It was just a natural fit. And with the growth that's
http://www.themockingbird.ca
London Inc. Fall 2022

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