FLIPDOG: WHERE METHOD BECOMES MEMORY

There is a moment, somewhere between the first sip and the second, when a cocktail at FlipDog stops being a drink and becomes something closer to a memory. That is the whole point. This is not a bar that leads with ingredients or trends. It leads with method. And in a city drowning in concept venues, that distinction matters more than it sounds.

Opened in March 2026 inside Imperial Hall on Old Street, FlipDog is the brainchild of Ukrainian founders Artem Skapenko and Alex Kostenyuk, with a drinks programme led by Head Bartender Igor Brovko. The space is split across two floors: a 12-seat ground-floor Drinkery serving highballs from 3pm, and an 80-capacity basement cocktail bar where the real theatre happens. It is, by every measure, one of the most ambitious bar openings London has seen this year.

Method Over Everything

At the heart of FlipDog is a deceptively simple idea: cocktails should be understood through technique, not just taste. "We want guests to experience cocktails not only through ingredients and flavours, but through the techniques used to create them," says Skapenko. The centrepiece of that philosophy is the Loggerhead, one of the earliest techniques in cocktail history, predating the modern bar by roughly 250 years.

FlipDog has recreated this method in a dedicated three-square-metre space behind the bar. A Loggerhead is heated to around 1,000 degrees Celsius, then immersed directly into the drink. The intense heat caramelises sugars in the cocktail, fundamentally transforming its flavour and aroma. "It creates this deep, rich and very distinctive character that is almost impossible to reproduce with a conventional technique," Skapenko explains. "For our guests, it is not only something spectacular to watch. It genuinely changes the drinking experience."

But the Loggerhead is only the starting point. For autumn, the team is developing an Energize Series, including a Nitro Cherry Espresso Martini and matcha-based cocktails that respond to FlipDog's strong Asian audience. They are experimenting with ageing cocktails in clay vessels, which alters texture and flavour in ways that surprise even experienced palates. And then there is the cold Loggerhead, cooled to around minus 79 degrees Celsius, which creates an intense aromatic vapour above the drink. "The idea is that before the guest even takes the first sip, they already experience the cocktail through aroma," says Skapenko. One major new method is planned every quarter.

Sensory Experience

The soul of the cocktail programme is a category called Sensory Experience. Where other bars recreate the flavours of dishes, FlipDog recreates moments. Morning on the Platform captures that specific feeling of standing on a London railway station at dawn, the metal tang in the air, the smoke, the half-remembered smell of coffee and pastry. The Loggerhead method and a touch of Laphroaig whisky deliver smoky notes, while filter coffee and pastry flavours complete the picture. "The idea is that you take a sip, close your eyes, and suddenly it connects you with a memory of your own morning journey through London," says Skapenko.

Walking in Hyde Park is its opposite number: fresh, elegant, intensely floral, served with seasonal edible flowers. The Night Cab draws from perfumery, using a leather-inspired extract to build something dark, sensual and unexpected. And then there is Sunday Roast, inspired by one of the most recognisable British traditions, served with a miniature Yorkshire pudding and a vegetable gravy gel, so the garnish becomes part of the sensory experience.

"We don't want a cocktail to be only about whether it is sweet, sour, bitter or strong," says Skapenko. "We want it to create an association. For us, the best cocktail is one that makes you taste something, smell something, and then remember something."

One Product, One Experience

Walk into FlipDog and the first thing you notice is not the drinks. It is the design. Around 80 per cent of everything visible was custom-made for the space: the wall finishes, the bar counter, the furniture, almost every decorative element. The interior was created with YOD Group, an internationally awarded Ukrainian design studio whose portfolio includes IIDA Interior Design Competition awards, Prix Versailles and Architecture MasterPrize recognition. Skapenko jokes that the space was designed by world champions in hospitality design.

Lighting was a separate project entirely. FlipDog worked with Expolight, the Ukrainian lighting design company behind Buddha-Bar New York, which won both a LIT Lighting Design Award and an IES Illumination Award of Excellence. "Lighting is not simply about making the bar darker in the evening," says Skapenko. "It is part of the architecture and part of how the mood changes throughout the night."

Sound was developed with Pi-Sound, one of Kyiv's leading sound-design teams, who worked on the technology for Closer, recognised as one of the 10 best nightclubs in the world. The interior materials, heavy on wood, fabric and leather, create a warmer acoustic environment. "Great drinks, great design, beautiful lighting, proper sound, amazing people and great artists," Skapenko says, "all of this becomes one product and one experience." He pauses. "Usually you choose: you go somewhere for great cocktails, somewhere else for music, somewhere else for design, and then to a club for the energy. We want all of these things to happen in one place."

A Place Where You Belong

FlipDog was never supposed to be just a cocktail bar. It was supposed to be a place where different communities meet and where people feel they belong. Founded by Ukrainians in London, the bar carries its roots with pride but refuses to be defined by them. "We are a Ukrainian-founded bar, and of course our Ukrainian roots are very important to us," says Skapenko. "But we never wanted to become a bar only for Ukrainians. London is one of the most international cities in the world, and Shoreditch especially is a place where completely different cultures, industries and creative communities cross every day."

Since opening, the team has been building connections with the hospitality community, bartenders, restaurant owners, the tech scene, local Shoreditch regulars, creatives, DJs and entrepreneurs. Industry Nights offer 50 per cent off the entire menu. Guest shifts and collaborations bring different crowds through the same space on different nights, and the crossover is where things get interesting. "A great bar shouldn't only give you a good cocktail," says Skapenko. "It should introduce you to people, create conversations, give you new connections and make you want to come back because you feel comfortable there."

Only Getting Started

One thing about FlipDog is that it never feels static. Monthly seasonal updates keep the menu fresh for regulars. But the events programme is where the ambition really shows. On 14 August, a pop-up with chef Jay Morjaria pairs finger food specifically designed around FlipDog's cocktails. On 15 August, the first major party in collaboration with Jimo Fi and Telepathi promises what Skapenko calls "complete, beautiful chaos." On 18 August, a month-long collaboration with Florio Marsala includes a cocktail masterclass exploring Marsala through contemporary cocktail culture.

On 22 August, Coffee Rave starts at 1pm with coffee and matcha cocktails and a DJ playing in the middle of the cocktail laboratory. "There's a really interesting movement happening globally right now around parties in unexpected spaces," says Skapenko. "We thought: we've seen a lot of unusual locations, but we've never seen a rave inside a cocktail laboratory." Instead of hiding the production space, FlipDog turns it inside out, putting the DJ where the drinks are created and inviting guests into the process.

And then Industry Night, the evening that matters most personally to the team. "We invite bartenders and hospitality people and offer them 50 per cent off the entire menu," says Skapenko. "It's our small gesture back to the industry because all of us came from behind the bar ourselves. Before becoming restaurateurs and opening our own venues, we were bartenders, and every one of us has a story about the bar where we started. So Industry Night is our way of saying: this place is yours too."

That is basically one month at FlipDog. New drinks, food collaborations, masterclasses, big parties, Coffee Raves and nights dedicated to the industry. And they are only getting started.