Cocktail bar to open in public toilets

The owner of a vodka brand has won an 18-month battle with residents to open a cocktail bar in abandoned public toilets in London.

William Borrell, founder of Vestal Vodka, is to open his cocktail bar, named Ladies and Gentlemen, in underground loos in Kentish Town after securing a 15-year lease.

Despite complaints from local residents and businesses, who had been campaigning to turn the site back into public toilets, Borrell is now set to open Ladies and Gentlemen this Friday.

The bar will still make its toilets available for public use.

Borrell told the Evening Standard: “We’ve put a lot of money into a derelict building that would otherwise have been left to decay. “It has 1920s or 1930s style scallop structural beams running through it and a green patterned marble mosaic on the floor. It really is incredible.”

As well as operating the Vestal Vodka business, Borrell also runs Vestal Voyages, a boat trip service giving passengers the opportunity to drink cocktails while enjoying a sail on the Thames.