THE OWNERS of a new independent cocktail bar serving 200 different gins say they are really excited to be opening in Wokingham’s new Peach Place development next spring.
The Leafy Elephant will also offer locally brewed craft beer, an exclusive wine cellar and locally supplied food.
The building where the bar is to be housed was visited by Claire Perry MP, the Government minister for business, on Friday, November 30. During her visit she met with Duncan Scott, who explain his vision and how the Elephant will see his family join forces to run the business.
Afterwards, he told The Wokingham Paper: “Wokingham was the only place that we were even thinking about launching. We’ve had a great response from people who are interested in us coming to coming to the town and we just can’t wait to get started.”
The 32-year-old is teaming up with Dad Stephen and 34-year-old Stephanie to launch the gin bar.
He said that the bar has been two years in the making, and when Peach Place was announced the family decided to use it as a launch base.
In a statement, he said: “It was felt that the major redevelopment work within the town and huge investment by the council presented a unique opportunity to deliver to Wokingham an establishment of high quality – a trendy venue for working professionals who are used to a London lifestyle to socialise while being treated to an exceptional level of service and knowledge with an extremely popular drinks proposition.”
The name The Leafy Elephant comes from the family’s “strong ties and affiliation to Southern Africa” and the business plans to donate a portion of its profits to a charity that works with elephants.
And the gin bar will have a botanical garden theme, which the Scotts say will pay homage to the botanicals that go into making modern gins.
Mr Scott said that the family were passionate about ensuring The Leafy Elephant would be the best possible venue for the new-look Wokingham town centre.
He said: “For us, it’s all about service.
“We’re going to try to elevate the level of service beyond anything that the town’s already got.”
He promised that the bar would help people who know nothing about gin find their perfect drink while also catering for people who know their botanicals.
“You may not know anything about gin, you might have a good idea about gin, we’ll be able to give you something that you’re guaranteed to like.
“That level of education as well as the ambience, as well as the relaxed setting and being here in Peach Place, which is going to be a beautiful venue, should hopefully mean that people can come here time and time again.”
It will be based in the courtyard area of Peach Place will now be open in the spring of 2019.
Mr Scott said: “Fingers crossed, we aim to be open in the spring around March time.
“When the weather starts getting a little bit better, we may use the outdoor space that we’ve got here.”
