Laurie Howells on adapting to London’s new late-night culture
Archive & Myth’s head bartender talks Google mishaps, zebra striping, busy Thursdays and more from the bar’s first year, plus plans for 2026.
Located below the Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square, Archive & Myth celebrated its first anniversary over the summer. The venue has big plans for the future, something Howells believes is not always a given for new bars in the capital.
“It is such a tough time in our community right now for hospitality. There are so many bars that are closing, which is such a scary thought,” she says.
Howells adds that the team have been fortunate to work with the casino. “I’d be ignorant if I didn’t say so, with the opportunities it’s given us, the flexibility with the hours and the space. We managed to find a great place, and it’s all looking incredibly optimistic here.”
Although the response to the bar has been “incredible”, and it’s received industry recognition such as a nomination at this year’s Spirited Awards, the team has had to adapt many times since opening to navigate London’s shifting nightlife culture.
Adapting to the climate
Howells notes the cost-of-living crisis has prompted the bar to drop its prices twice. “People, including myself, just don’t have the money to go out these days. We reflected on that and now our minor cocktails are £9 [US$12, previously £11], and our majors are £16 [previously £19]. The non-alc drinks are now £12.”
“It’s very reflective of bars that are in our area,” she says. “It was hard to start with, but we’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to lower them. It just needs to be more accessible. Everyone needs to feel welcome.”
The team also initially launched with late-night intentions, with a 4am closing time. However, they had to eventually accept that London is shutting down earlier these days. “We have that luxury of being in a casino and having a 24-hour license where we can really just decide our hours. Originally, we used to go till 4am – but we found out that no one really wanted that.”
A Bar with Shapes for a Name is a popular late-night haunt for East Londoners, and Howells says the feeling was that Archive & Myth could fill that space more centrally and around West London, where there are fewer options.
“There were only a couple of nights where we were truly packed after 2am, and that was when we were doing our Suntory evenings,” she says. “Otherwise, everyone has naturally left at 2am, which was a bit of a shock. We gave it a good eight to nine months of trying the late nights, but we had to adapt.”
Pinpointing the popular hours in general is unpredictable, as Howells says: “Every week it changes. There’ll be some weeks when everyone comes in at 6pm, which very much reflects the theatres and what’s on. You’ll have steady waves of five or six groups, then a quiet down; then 9pm and 10pm, it’s packed again, then quietening down. Then, midnight to 1am, it packs out again.”
Meanwhile, Wednesday and Thursday are rivalling the weekend for the bar’s busiest nights. Howells thinks this could be down to the bar’s proximity to Covent Garden and people leaving the office. “Thursdays are the new Friday,” she says. “We just started a promotion on Wednesdays: bottomless dumplings for an hour and half-price Champagne. I am literally running on a Wednesday, it’s been that busy.”
An actual secret bar
Another challenge has been helping people to find the bar, courtesy of its concealed location in the basement below the Hippodrome.
“We definitely took the secret bar thing too seriously,” Howells says in jest. “Up to the third month, I kept getting phone calls from people going: ‘Where are you?’ And I would reply: ‘Well, where are you? I’ll come find you’. They were always in Burger King.”
The culprit was Google Maps. “Everything on our website was completely accurate. For some reason, Google had put our location in Burger King across the road,” Howells says. “For the first few months, I was constantly looking over the street, finding guests there and bringing them over. That was quite an adventure.”
Although the navigation issues have subsided (with outside signage and a general awareness that Archive & Myth is definitely in the building), the bar’s password-protected door has also given punters something to think about.
“The amount of guests convinced the door’s not real is crazy,” she says. “Essentially, the top half of the door has little sensor panels behind each of the symbols, so we can just change the password [given daily on the bar’s Instagram] as needed.
“A lot of guests think I’m lying and that I’m watching them on the camera downstairs,” she laughs. “I’m really not. I don’t have time to do cocktails and watch all the cameras. It is funny to see their reactions when they see it’s actually an electronic door, though. It’s a good laugh.”
Cocktail observations
Drinks-wise, Howells has also seen a lot of traction for non-alcoholic serves over the past six months. “There’s been a lot more guests who weren’t necessarily alcohol-free swapping between the menus,” she says.
“They’ll start with, say, the alcoholic Soixante-Quinze [a French 75 twist with Roku Gin, elderflower, torrontés, white chocolate and lemon, served with a bump of caviar], move to the non-alcoholic version, and then they’ll go back to the alcoholic one. That was something we did expect to see – they call it zebra striping.
“We’re having a lot of guests come in specifically for the alcohol-free programme, and that has been wonderful.”
The team also came up with a list of miniature cocktails right off the bat when the bar first opened, another concept trending of late, and one that Howells feels helps guests ease into the night. “It’s just a great way when guests come in to break the ice. They have a little minor to begin, something immediately so they can look through the menu and not feel pressured.”
A cocktail flight for these serves was then launched earlier in the summer, which has been well received by customers, she says. “There are eight cocktails you can choose from, with three or five options. With that, you can try more on the menu without having to spend more or get too intoxicated. Guests get lots of little bites of the drinks, which have been really popular.”
As for what people go for, the Soixante-Quinze is said to be the best seller, with the Daisy (Lost Explorer Tequila, guava, black cardamom, lime and toasted coconut) following behind. “You can’t really go wrong there – fruity, sweet, sour, tropical, it hits all of those marks,” she says.
The Soixante-Quinze, meanwhile, was based on Heston Blumenthal. The chef studied the common volatile compounds that you can find in caviar, white chocolate and elderflower. “It makes sense, the science backs it up, he’s a well-respected chef, so it definitely worked out,” Howells says.
The drama of taking a bump of caviar also helps, especially since, as Howells notes, they have many guests coming in from the theatre. “They want to feel special, and they want something that they can’t make at home.”
“I do think we’re gonna hopefully go back to maximalism cocktails. I think it might be the end of the minimalism trend in London,” she adds.
Keen-eyed guests will also spot a selection of rare spirits on the shelf behind the bar, which have added to the fun. Howells says this was the work of co-founder and bar manager Jack Sotti. “Just before we opened, somebody let Jack go on an auction site, which is hilarious.
“He got excited and found an absolutely wonderful range of spirits. We’ve got a really beautiful Japanese collection from Suntory, and then just some really random liqueurs you wouldn’t expect. There was a blue Curaçao from 1975. It’s actually cheaper than buying it today, which makes no sense. There was a vintage Aperol and some very old vermouths.”
The bar keeps these spirits out in the open for good reason. “We didn’t want to lock them away in a cupboard. We wanted them to feel accessible to everybody, so we really reflected that on the prices and did some classics with them. Everyone can see them, try a few and find what they’re like.”
New arrivals for next year
For 2026, the bar has big plans, including the addition of a new lab space. “We’ve acquired another room next to us that was originally a kitchen for a cafe,” Howells says. “We’re going to turn it into a much larger lab and possibly set up an omakase experience where you have a chef’s table.
“We’re gonna go weird and eclectic and work our way through like a set menu.”
In the current lab space, a prep area that the team calls their ‘ice lab’ will be removed. “There’s going to be a big booth, or a little mini stage, and we might have some live music,” Howells shares. “We’re also putting a DJ booth in, as we had such amazing feedback from our listening bar nights and vinyl sessions. We’re gonna bring that in more regularly.”
She says the new musical additions are inspired by her visits to Nightjar back in the day. “There’s nothing better than just going in there, listening to an amazing jazz band, being able to hear the people you’re with and just relaxing. A lot of people like live music. We’re in Soho and it’s bringing every element of theatre – great drinks, food, music. It’s got it all at that point.”
In addition, the team will be launching a new menu next year – but don’t worry, some of the bar’s classics will be staying put. Howells says we can expect this in spring, but no official date has been set yet.
On a personal level, Howells says she’s in her ‘competition era’. “I have an addiction to entering competitions. My personal goals are just to expand more, travel more and see how many more competitions I can enter before people tell me to stop.”
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