Liverpool’s Bold Street, long a corridor of culinary and cultural experiment, is about to gain a new subterranean bar with pedigree. Slowpour, the creation of Carey Hanlon and Caitlin Waugh, will open in the first week of September in the basement of Ropes & Twines, the specialty wine and coffee shop that has already become something of a local anchor.
Hanlon and Waugh are names that carry weight in the UK bar world. Hanlon honed her craft at Callooh Callay and Swift in London before joining the opening team at Super Lyan in Amsterdam, a bar synonymous with boundary-pushing cocktail design. Waugh, meanwhile, has made her mark closer to home in Liverpool, working at respected venues like Sister Ray and the much-loved but now shuttered Present Company. Together, they’re setting out to build something that feels less like a business venture and more like a philosophy rendered in glass and wood.
“We called it Slowpour because we’re not about rushing anything — not the drinks, not the service, not the experience,” Hanlon explains. “Every moment matters to us, and we’re putting care into the creation of the drinks, the space, and the experience for every guest.”
That attention to detail extends beyond cocktails. The bar will feature a bespoke sound system from Manchester-based manufacturer Turn End Audio, signaling a devotion to sensory atmosphere that extends to the acoustics. Partnerships will also play a role in shaping the program, including collaborations with London distillery 58 and Co., known for its sustainably made spirits.
For Waugh, the opening is about more than curated playlists and meticulous garnishes.
“Slowpour is about creating a space for people to feel genuinely appreciated,” she says. “From those who create the liquid, those who pour it, and those who drink it.”
Slowpour will open Wednesday through Sunday from 3pm to midnight, operating at a pace intentionally set against the quick-service current of modern nightlife. It’s an antidote to the transactional, an embrace of lingering — a place where the emphasis is less on volume and more on presence.
In a city already alive with cocktail culture, Slowpour seems designed to slow the heartbeat of the room, to make Bold Street stop and listen.
