The obvious place to interview Howard Raymond is Soho. The obvious place to take Raymond’s picture is outside the Raymond Review Bar, the famous Soho institution founded by his late father, Paul. However, for Raymond this is all a little too obvious. He’d prefer to have his picture taken near a Soho vodka bar he’s just bought.
While the photographer sets up for the shoot I’m curious as to why Raymond decided to splash out on a vodka bar when earlier he’d told me he thought vodka was dead. “I haven’t bought the bar,” he clarifies. “I’ve bought the whole block.”
Welcome to wonderful - and slightly surreal world - of the new king of Soho.
His father was given the moniker in the 1950s after establishing a business empire that encompassed the Review Bar, magazines and vast swathes of central London.
Raymond junior is a worthy successor to the crown and not just because he has added a piece of prime Soho real estate to his burgeoning property portfolio. Last month, Raymond branched out in a new direction, alcohol - more specifically gin, his father’s favourite tipple.
It took Raymond three years to develop the London dry gin, which is bottled and sold under his newly established The King of Soho label (rsp: £35). “That’s because we did everything in reverse,” he explains. “We didn’t say ‘what do people like about gin?’ We asked ‘what do people not like about gin?’ and then we worked backwards from there.”
“We asked ‘what do people not like about gin?’ and then we worked backwards from there”
Howard Raymond
Having established that the harsh flavour associated with many gins is what put people off, he set about developing a clean tasting, easy drinking gin, appointing Charles Maxwell, of Clapham-based Thames Distillers, to help develop the right botanical mix.
With the taste profile established, the next task was to create a product that would stand out on a back bar or on a retailer’s shelf. The resulting eye-catching blue bottle design, created by branding agency 1HQ, aims to encompass the historic spirit of Soho and its ‘anything goes’ attitude, with a detailed ‘Spirit of Soho’ character embodying different elements of Soho’s history.
“The fox’s tail signifies Soho’s place as a historical hunting ground, the trumpet harks back to Soho’s jazz history and the book is a tribute to the great writers in the area,” says Raymond.
So far, industry reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, according to Raymond, who has big plans for the gin both in the on and off-trade. However, for the time being, his strategy is to establish The King of Soho in bars throughout London followed by full on-trade rollout nationwide and eventually overseas.
“The great thing about the word Soho is that it signifies fun all around the world so half the job is done really [in terms of exporting]. And if you’re The King of Soho it’s even better.”
The London dry gin is just the first in a range of drinks Raymond intends to release under The King of Soho label, though he’s coy about the details. “You can’t be a one-trick pony, so we have other things lined up. Vodka is not top of the list at the moment because it’s fallen off a cliff. However, you couldn’t really have a range and not have vodka in it.”
Any further launches will have to get the seal of approval not just from Raymond, but his son, who works for the new drinks business - and whose involvement suggest the name Raymond is going to be associated with the King of Soho moniker for many years to come.
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