The Alchemist Archives - Fashion Voyeur

The Alchemist Launches Late Lab

The Alchemist launched in Newcastle earlier this year after what felt like the biggest hype of any new bar offering the city has ever seen. Dark, gothic skull murals hid the space that was to be occupied by this curious new nightspot, only fuelling the anticipation.

When The Alchemist Newcastle finally opened its doors, I was lucky enough to bag a ticket to the VIP launch party and what struck me that night, was that despite the gorgeous copper and black decor and the bar theatrics, it not only takes a long time to get served but once you’ve ordered a drink it can take a good 20 minutes before it crosses your lips. Bo and I found ourselves ordering four drinks at a time to beat the bar line and subsequent wait for drinks.

Initial social media feedback about the brand new venue and it’s darkly gothic interior was awesome with people travelling from all over the North East to grab a piece of that signature alchemy for themselves, but the length of time it took to get a drink in your hand was a sticking point. Rather than sit back and do nothing, the team behind The Alchemist put their uber coiffed heads together and came up with a solution: Late Lab. A suite of drinks packages that you order in advance of your arrival. Sounds simple? It really is. The principle behind the idea is cutting out that wait time at the bar and those repeat visits that eat into your night out.

I was invited to the VIP Preview of Late Lab to get the skinny on what it’s all about and whether it really is worth checking out. Our small group of four was greeted on arrival by our host for the evening and we were shown a specific Late Lab menu which ranges in price from £90 to £270. Now don’t disappear just yet, yes it sounds pricey but consider what that gets you, each package varies dramatically, from party size to the selection of drinks included, we’re here to check out the Hip Flasks package, priced at £90. For that we get a large booth reserved for our exclusive use all night (The Alchemist have, up to now, never allowed reservations on tables for drinks only), a host for the evening who will make sure we’re never without a drink until we’ve drunk our package dry, a ginormous Zombie Apocalypse sharing cocktail, and 4 smaller cocktails. It might not sound like much but if you’re a cocktail drinker then you’ll know you can rack up a serious bill pretty quickly, especially when they average £10 each.

It’s a pretty neat package for four peeps, bundled up with a chrome hip flask bearing that Deathly Hallows-esque logo for each of your party. A quick calculation tells us that if you were to rock up without Late Lab, £88 would buy you all of the drinks in the package, minus the table, add on the time taken for trips to the bar and the wait for drinks to be prepared, carry the one, you get my drift…. If you’ve visited The Alchemist before, then you’ll know that this is a nice and very necessary idea and if you do the math you’ll know that it’s super easy to spend way more than that on a night out in Newcastle. There’s also a sneaky little secret you’ll definitely thank me for sharing; if you book online, you get a pretty sweet 25% off and if there are cocktails in the package that you and your squad aren’t keen on (step forward Little Miss Awkward Elle Blonde) then you can switch them out for something you prefer. Princess equilibrium restored.

The Alchemist is famed for it’s exotic cocktails and attention to detail, you probably already know that the menu is pretty extensive. The spectacle is a big part of a visit any branch of The Alchemist throughout the UK, with copper pans and bunsen burners in their arsenal these mighty mixologists know how to put on a show. If you have your designated driver in tow then there’s a selection of non-alcoholic cocktails that are given just as much thought and flair as the alcoholic version, ‘Kaleing Me Softly’ and ‘Mango Shake’ are my personal favourites and they look pretty dramatic so you don’t feel left out.

Considering it? In terms of monetary value, the cost of the cocktails with or without the package is very similar. What you gain is time, and a table which comes with table service – something that’s hard to come by on an evening at The Alchemist. If you’re intending on consuming multiple cocktails at The Alchemist then the benefit of cutting out the wait is worth it, add to that the discount you get for booking online and you’ve got yourself a tidy little saving whilst still looking like a total baller.

Pixie xo

Categories: Lifestyle, North East, Uncategorized

The Alchemist Newcastle Launch Party

Ok Voyeurs, this is the big one, the one you’ve been waiting for. For months you’ve been reading the pre-launch hype about the latest bar / restaurant offering to take up residence in the brand new Grey’s Quarter at Intu Eldon Square and now The Alchemist is finally here. I was lucky enough to get pre-launch VIP access so got a chance to have a little nosey round the huge ground floor unit but the official launch party went down on Thursday March 30th.

A truly magical invite landed on our doorstep inviting Bo and I to the VIP launch party, accompanied by a box of matches, all was revealed when a lit match was run over the invite, which promised a night of adventure and alchemy. I planned my outfit weeks in advance but obviously didn’t wear it because I’m a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ type of gal. I did however, enlist the help of MAC at House of Fraser, Intu Metrocentre to help me create a negative space eyeliner effect as a nod toward The Alchemist’s flair for the dramatic. So, when the night rolled around, Bo and I made our way to The Alchemist fashionably late, natch.

The building has two entrances, one inside the shopping mall and one street entrance – it’s way more impressive from the street entrance and feels less like a mall restaurant from that side. Once inside, the first thing I notice is that The Alchemist is an entirely different beast when it’s packed to the rafters with thirsty peeps. When it’s empty, its eye level curiosities and wall murals seduce you with their gothic magic but when the place is full, these become invisible leaving the bar and it’s residents Alchemists to do the work.

Launch night meant a free bar, at least until 21.30 (which meant the bar area was five deep until exactly 21.30) so whilst it took around 15 minutes to get our first drink, everyone seemed to be in the same boat. Obviously staff at The Alchemist were keen to show off their (b)artistic flair and cocktail making skills so a live Zoltar machine was on hand to assess your personality and assign a matching cocktail which would then be made for you at the bar.

If you’re a fan of spectacular and peculiar cocktails then The Alchemist should be on your radar. With an array of tools including copper pans and Bunsen burners in order to brew your chosen drink to perfection, bar staff are encouraged to ‘prepare with flair’ so you can expect foot high flames, sparks, and seemingly eternally foaming potions. Prepare to wait a little longer for the magic though, it’s not something that’s knocked up in the time it takes to pull a pint of Amstel or pour a simple Amaretto and cranberry. Waiting times for drinks at The Alchemist have faced criticism on social media, however if you’re ordering two or three of their more exotic cocktails, then you just have to suck that up – especially when it’s packed out at its 400 capacity.

We took up residency at a table that gave us a great view of other people’s cocktails being prepared meaning we got to experience the theatre of The Alchemist without the wait – nice. Once the place quietened off a little and the masses moved on, the personality of The Alchemist comes out, you start to notice the nods to Geordie tradition, like the stuffed magpie sitting proudly atop a shelf.

Personally I haven’t sampled the food available at The Alchemist but they do offer menus from brunch right through to dinner and have an extended seating area outside for days when the sun is shining and you want to trade the darkness for sunshine.

So, is it worth a visit? Yes. The Alchemist is somewhere you should visit if only to make up your own mind, it’s definitely a hot ticket and certainly for months to come it’s going to be THE place to be seen. The cocktails aren’t your usual run of the mill Cosmopolitans or Porn Star Martinis, they really are something special, and they’re worth waiting for. The interior decor is cool and the touches of copper sing out through the gothic colour scheme, so go, order something awesome and revel in the theatre that The Alchemist brings to the Newcastle bar scene.

Pixie xo

Categories: Lifestyle, North East, Uncategorized

The Alchemist comes to Newcastle

It’s been a long time coming but The Alchemist is finally ready to open its doors to the people of Newcastle. Taking up residence in the newly revamped Grey’s Quarter of Intu Eldon Square, The Alchemist has certainly had a buzz about it for what feels like a very long time.

I got the chance to have a snoop inside of this gorgeous (very dark) venue to find out exactly what you can expect from Newcastle’s latest, and most hotly anticipated bar….

The dark, gothic surroundings are par for the course with The Alchemist, the Newcastle opening marks the ninth Alchemist in the UK and each follows the same design plan. The Alchemist’s strong selling point is the magical cocktails its molecular mixologists create. Claiming to be masters in the dark arts of mixology and demons in the kitchen, each cocktail is prepared with presentation in mind and a devilish dash of theatre.

The 6600 square foot space will operate as an all day venue offering food, drink and their famous alchemy cocktails to visitors to the city of Newcastle. You’ll already know that The Botanist has seen huge success since its opening in the city and Living Ventures Group, the former parent holding company of The Botanist and current parent holding company of The Alchemist, are hoping the new addition can capitalise and improve on that success.

Inside theres a nod to the secrecy of the prohibition era, but not like a traditional speakeasy, more like a den of iniquity. The Alchemist explores everything that is dark and mysterious and invites guests to relish in this enchantment. With its Deathly Hallows-like logo hanging above the door on the external entrance, it certainly looks magical.

Inside it’s much the same, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve stepped inside the Ministry of Magic with its huge skull and butterfly mural and floor to ceiling back bar filled with curiosities. It’s a huge space divided in to zones; there are booths for cosy dining and tall bar tables for cocktail nights. Swathed in dark walnut wood and gold all bathed in soft, dim light, The Alchemist is certainly a destination bar for the city.

Ahead of The Alchemist’s official launch, magical invites were sent out with a secret panel which had to be heated with fire to reveal details of the launch event – a great indication of what’s to come no doubt. Capitalising on the unknown, the people behind the Alchemist have generated a buzz only seen in Newcastle before the launch of The Botanist. I have no doubt that the Alchemist will be inundated with visitors from the city and further afield – I’ll be at the official launch event next week to bring you more from the place when it’s in full swing!

With so many awesome bars and restaurants opening in Newcastle, it looks like this already awesome city just got better……. and a little more magical.

Pixie xo

Internal images by Head Photography.

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