Lewisham pub owners open ‘experimental’ bar in Hackney

Tom Rees and Ben Martin are co-owners of The Fellowship Inn on Randlesdown Road, which opened at the end of last year, and are now in search of a new challenge after opening this community pub in Bellingham. 

In November, the pair opened a wine bar in Hackney - which they hope will become as popular with Londoners as The Fellowship Inn has been over the years. 

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Their new wine bar, Deep Cuts, is situated at 171 Mare Street and the owners are hoping to entice customers with the venue's food and drink inspired by their travels.

Tom said: "We ended up opening the Lewisham pub and Deep Cuts in Hackney at the same time and it was a bit of a manic period but that's just how the deal fell.

"Pubs are great but you are limited in some aspects in a pub environment.

"You can't push the boundaries and offer an extensive wine lists.

"We wanted to open something close to our hearts offering the wines of Spain and Italy, particularly focusing on Vermouth.

Lewisham pub owners want to ‘push the boundaries’ with new ‘experimental’ wine bar (Image: Deep Cuts)

"It's a category I think is underappreciated.

"We both spend some time in Italy and Spain and we loved the environment of bars in Barcelona and Milan and their aperitivo style.

"So, we wanted to blend that with some ideas of our own and open a bar where we could experiment more with extensive wine and cocktail lists."

The Fellowship Inn was a very different project for the pair compared to Deep Cuts, being a community pub based in a historic building.

When speaking about The Fellowship Inn, Tom said: "The building is grade 2 listed and was restored a few years ago by the Phoenix Community Trust who are a big charitable housing trust.

"It was pretty run down and dilapidated and they restored it to what it is today.

"We're not from the area so we have had to work really hard to understand the community there and really embed ourselves.

"We hired all local team and we are a real community pub there.

Lewisham pub owners want to ‘push the boundaries’ with new ‘experimental’ wine bar (Image: Deep Cuts)

"It's kind of the only pub in that immediate area and the area is in a moment of change with a really long-standing community."

They added: "I don't want to moan and groan and be negative because there's too much of it around at the moment, but, we are suffering lots of challenges.

“For example, lots of cost inflation, energy prices hikes and its putting businesses like ours under significant strain.

"Continuing to offer a real community-minded business and offer really good value is increasingly challenging but it's a challenge we're up for and we think we're doing okay at the moment."