Coffee, cocktails, cicchetti and creativity are on the menu at The Thin White Duke
David Bowie has inspired many things. Musicians. Artists. The 2012 Great Britain Olympics Team.
And now he’s inspired an all-day bar / restaurant / recording studio in Soho. And, indeed, why not?
Created by production designer Sasha and musician Giovanni Almonte, The Thin White Duke arrives this month (March ’22) on Great Windmill Street. There’s an all-day cicchetti menu, cocktails created by Dav Eames, and coffee by Girls Who Grind. There are also recording studio suites for members.
Design-wise, the layout reflects two of Bowie’s many sides. Upstairs, the “industrial aesthetic” is very 1970s Berlin – the city Bowie moved to as the antidote to living in LA – while elsewhere, the inspiration is Bowie’s love of oriental fashion and design, from the Irezumi tiger mural, painted by tattoo artist Claudia de Sabe, that leads to the recording studios, to the first studio, The Kyoto Room, which reflects Bowie’s fascination with Japan. The second – The Seminary – features a “high church aesthetic” with a stained glass mural of Bowie surrounded by adoring saints. The linking vocal booth features floor-to-ceiling designs from Christian Lacroix because, frankly, they can.
“David Bowie was a lover of culture,” explains Almonte. “We really want our guests to feel like they are entering not just another bar, but an immersive space – an inviting realm of surprise and inspiration.”
For more information, take a look at their website.
Neil Davey
Neil Davey is a freelance writer specialising in things you can do sitting down, but mostly eating, drinking, travelling and interviewing the odd famous person. The author of The Bluffer's Guide To Chocolate, Neil also writes for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Metro, Delicious Magazine, Sainsbury's Magazine, Escapism, Foodism and Hello!. Thanks to a karaoke machine in Montana, he once told a billionaire that he loved his sweet little pussycat nose and sang I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For with a Hollywood star, in the space of 15 minutes. He now generally stays away from karaoke machines in Montana.