This October, Inception Group, who operate a collection of 15 immersive bars across London will launch Cahoots: Postal Office. The second venue within the Cahoots Network will be unveiled inside an old railway arch within the Borough Yards development, on the edge of the world-famous Borough Market.
Modelled on a vintage post office, the new opening will transport guests back to 1946, where The Cahoots Scoundrels have commandeered the mail depot transforming it into a raucous high spirits hub for distributing pilfered rations, home-brewed hooch, and cocktails featuring exotic smuggled ingredients.
Entering through the post office shopfront, Cahoots guests will be greeted at the overflowing mail counter, by a Postie keeping watch for suspicious coppers looking to bust the Cahoots Scoundrels and their latest illicit Borough cocktail operation.
Guests will be directed through a postbox into an immersive sorting area where a whole new Cahoots world awaits. In stark contrast to the façade of the post office , the two-floor sorting area will be a hive of bustling activity, with a capacity for 80 seated guests or 120 standing guests for private events.
Repurposing the latest in 1940s mail delivery technology, the focal point will be a pneumatic tube system. A world first installation, that will see cocktails whizzing overhead as they are delivered to guests from the bar to tables, through a series of air-powered tubes. Cocktails available from the pneumatic system will include:
- This Way Up with Patrón Silver tequila
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered with Bombay Sapphire gin
- Par Avion Grey Goose L’ Original vodka
The dynamic space will be fully flexible, accommodating all group sizes with a mélange of seating arrangements including repurposed mail sack chairs and even seats within a converted mail train cart. In typical Inception Group style, immersive and interactive elements will feature throughout the venue. From hidden mechanical controls to functional buttons that will impact the sound, lighting and general operation of the space. Decorative elements will include suspicious rattling parcels, carrier pigeons and even an exotic airmail freight from Cuba containing Winston Churchill’s favourite cigars. Maurice, the beloved post office cat, will be keeping a watchful eye over the sorting area ensuring that nothing is above board.
On the mezzanine level, guests will find The Dead Letter Depot: a treasure trove of precious mail that never reached its intended destination. Undelivered parcels and packages will wrap the curved walls of the old rail arch, and anyone who dares to lay hands on the most highly valued loot will trigger the Cahoots anti-theft deterrent alarm system! Nestled amongst forgotten cargo and eclectic artefacts, guests can take a break in the Tea Corner, where repurposed telephone switchboards can be used to listen in on tantalising 1946 gossip and top secret dispatches.
Charlie Gilkes, co-founder of Inception Group says “After the enormous success of the original Cahoots in Soho, which imagined the scoundrels had occupied a 1940s underground tube station and ticket hall we are very excited to be expanding the network. Borough market feels like the perfect location for our second opening and we are very excited to be exploring another great British institution; the post office, and have created our most immersive venue to date.”
