Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London is delighted to announce Yann Bouvignies as their new Head Bartender. With extensive experience in some of London’s most exclusive hotel bars, Yann’s dedication to quality service and a fervent passion and creativity for making cocktails puts him at the forefront of cocktail culture in London. This, accompanied by two years of service behind the bar at Scarfes, lays him in good stead to take the reins and continue Scarfes Bar’s rising successes in the industry.
After growing up in the South of France, close to Montpellier, Yann spent his first few years in hospitality working at the opening of Hotel Le Kaïla in Meribel (the first 5* hotel in Alpine town). He was also a Bartender at La Résidence de la Pinède Hotel, a luxury property with a 3 Michelin Star restaurant. Here he worked under chef Arnaud Donckele and in close collaboration with the restaurant, offering a similarly high quality of service in the bar. In 2014, he returned to Meribel as Assistant Bar Manager at The Savoy Hotel, Meribel, a 5* property with a trendy, high volume and refined cocktail bar. This gave him the background needed for the service and ways of working in London, acquiring extensive new skills and techniques.
In 2015, he moved to London and worked at renowned cocktail bar Purl. Here, his natural creative flare earned him a swift promotion to Bartender after three weeks. He remained there for a year, which was his first experience in an independent bar, focusing on theatrical and molecular cocktails which educated him on London trends and the art of classical cocktails. In June 2016, Yann joined the Coburg Bar at The Connaught Hotel for several months, giving him first-hand experience of the workings of a luxury hotel bar. On 1st August 2016, he joined Scarfes Bar as a Bartender, which offered him the perfect balance between a contemporary cocktail bar and a high-end luxury hotel bar.
Over the past two years, Yann has worked closely with predecessor Greg Almeida and Bar Manager Martin Siska to create two distinct cocktail menus that have gained global recognition and two consecutive nominations at The Spirited Awards at Tales of the Cocktail. Under Martin and Greg’s tutelage, Yann has developed a meticulous attention to detail and creative originality, resulting in innovative cocktails which will be showcased in a new menu to be launched in 2019. The menu development will see Yann again work closely with the dynamic bar team, with whom he has now worked for a number of years, to produce high quality drinks and service that both the hotel’s guests and Scarfes Bar customers have enjoyed from the bar’s inception.
Rosewood London’s Scarfes Bar is inspired by the atmosphere of a drawing room and features a roaring fire, a collection of cosy velvet armchairs and over 1,000 antique books hand-picked by a Portobello antique dealer. Adorning the walls are canvases by renowned artist and caricaturist Gerald Scarfe, most famous for his political cartoons that have been featured in newspapers from The Sunday Times through to The New Yorker. There are over 70 caricatures in the bar, all of which paint a picture of modern political and pop culture life in Britain, with politicians such as David Cameron and Boris Johnson through to the Queen and her corgis and David Beckham on show. In an area of the bar dubbed ‘current affairs corner’, Gerald Scarfe regularly updates his artwork based on current political events. The overall atmosphere is one of eclectic and witty sophistication, with complimentary live music seven nights a week.