#YelptoberFeast: The Well’s Pop-Up Launch Party!

A fun evening catching up with some lovely familiar Unilocalers and the old friend I’d brought along to experience the Unilocaly love.
As events go, I’m not sure this one gave my mate a true picture of how awesome they can be. It was a little disappointing to arrive 10mins earlier than the start time we’d been given only to find the downstairs bar already too full to sit down and be told we’d just missed a food sweep.
Luckily though they made it up to us with a free bar! Soon enough I’d found a pillar to lean against and thanks to the lovely lady on front-​of-​house I had one of the tastiest mojitos I’ve ever tried in my hand. I think it was the rum, as usually I find places don’t use enough mint for my liking but this one just didn’t need it. Delicious and worth a star to itself!
My mate and I managed to get a second round, which were the last 2 mojitos before the rum pop-​up apparently ran out of rum. Woops. On to the beer and wine then, and soon the crowd thinned out and we managed to nab a cosy sofa spot to chat. Food-​wise I managed to get one mushroom risotto ball but it was a bit too crowded for the food to make it very far otherwise. Luckily the rum-​then-​IPA diet was working just fine for us!
Have to say it wasn’t quite up to the standard of Unilocaler-​only events and sadly difficult to mingle, but it’s still a cool basement space that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise, so thanks Unilocal for getting us involved! The Well staff were also lovely and special mention to the clipboard-​bearing lady who greeted us — she came back later to chat to us about their boozy brunch bingo which is something I’ll be back to try for sure!

Such a fun evening over at the well. The food was excellent, sadly not so much of it. But from tasters I tried I’d love to go back and check out the pop up again. Highlights food wise was the squid fries, halloumi slider and the giant prawns.
Drink wise it was a rum pop up, so quite disappointing that they run out of rum so early in the night, but they was plenty of wine and beer to keep us going. The espresso martini I did try at the beginning of the night, was definitely a reason to go back. Super strong and delicious.
Really good to meet so many new people and catch up with a few old Unilocal friends. I really loved the fish tank, certainly made for some funny pictures.

This was a great launch party for The Well’s Don Papa Rum Shack.
The room downstairs is a cosy space with some cool lighting and great fish tanks! I agree that it was a little snug for the number of people there — it may have been better to take away the tables and chairs so everyone could stand and mingle more comfortably. I brought a +1 and it was her first Unilocal event, it was a little hard to squeeze through the room and introduce her to people. That said I think the room would be great for a (smaller) private event.
The rum mojito was one of the nicest I’ve had. It was a shame the rum ran out early on, but they did offer great alternatives! I had the white wine, and the others I was talking to had the beer which seemed to go down well. I didn’t get to any of the nibbles in time so I can’t comment on those.
All in all I had a great night and met some lovely Unilocalers! Thanks to Alex & The Well.

I got here a little early and was one of the lucky few who got to try a mojito which was one of the better ones I’ve had in London. As it wasn’t too busy when I arrived I spent a bit of time chatting to Sean who organised the event and got to find out a lot more about the space, the rum and what they have been trying to do. That more that anything else would give me reason to go back and check out The Well properly.
The space was used quite well but was just a bit too busy and as a result it started to get warm and a little uncomfortable which persuaded me to leave without trying any of the food so I can’t comment on that. Their in house beers were better than the wines, especially the Birdie Flipper and I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing that available in the shops some day soon.

I arrived just after 7pm, thinking I would be one of the first to arrive. How wrong, the place was already rammed!
We were here with fellow Unilocalers for the launch of a pop – up basement bar in the basement of The Well pub in Farringdon. It was fitted out like a corny film set that would probably be set in the 1950’s to depict Hawaii. The event was promoting cocktails featuring rum. Not just any rum, but one called Don Papa rum imported from the Philippines (I had no idea that they produced rum). We were about to enjoy an evening at the ‘Don Papa Rum Shack’!).
We were given a really good mojito on arrival, which is one of the best ones that I’ve had in a while. They bad news was, that due to the popularity of this event, the rum ran out, so ended the cocktail choices. To my pleasure though the Long Arm Brewing Company were represented here, so I was able to enjoy a bottle of Long Arm, Birdie Flipper. I had tried this red ale for the first time at another Unilocal event, and loved it! It is still not widely available outside the brewery’s Ealing origins, but I’m sure it will be a great success when it’s fully launched.
One of the disadvantages of propping up the bar was that very little of the nibbles made it that far, but who cares! This event had such a party atmosphere to it, and was more of a social event. It was a real fun evening!
I find it is always useful to come to a Unilocal event with an open mind. That way you’ll get the most out of it. Thanks to Alex, The Well, Don Papa Rum, and the Long Arm brewery for laying on such a fun evening. I really want to come back to The Well, as I want to try their ‘Boozy Bingo Bottomless Brunch’.

Great wine, great attendees, and a super cool venue!
We will be returning for sure!
Sadly we only got to try the squid, but that was good!
We didn’t try any rum as that had run out but the wine was fab!

What a great night full of bubbly people! I am one of you now, wooooooooo!
A shame that rumshack had run out of rum when I got there. I was just 15 minutes late, standard Italian polite timing ;-) However the atmosphere was great and the sunglasses rock!

A solid 3* for this event.
Although we were totally plied with alcohol — rum cocktails (including a delicious espresso martini) to wine and beer, the space downstairs wasn’t all I had it cracked up to be. It was a dark area, where there wasn’t enough seating for the number of people there. I also know it was advertised as nibbles only, and the olives, nuts and one veggie slider I got were nice, but I honestly couldn’t properly review the food and tbh wouldn’t go back on the basis of what was offered.
Nice drinks though, a really great atmosphere with friendly staff and a nice evening had meeting new people!

Free bar who can complain? Shame there wasn’t a bit more food, but I’ve become accustomed to events with more drink than food and had eaten a snack beforehand. I was in the nearby from 6 and if I’d known would have headed down to the event.
Shame I only got to try one cocktail, but then there was plenty of wine after that. The area was a bit too small, dark and crowded to be comfortable and have easy conversations. As it thinned out it got better and lots of fun pretending to be a fish with Alex, one even managed to slip into my drink!

Sorry to rate this event this low. It started off well when I entered at 7:00 and I managed to try a pulled pork slider and a mushroom risotto flattened arancini kind of starter while waiting near the steps for my sister to arrive. That was the last that I saw of any nibbles.
We headed to the bar to grab some cocktails and for a mojito type drink after a 15 minute wait. The wait wasn’t too bad, but when I went back at 7:25 to try one of the other cocktails, I was told that they had run out of rum! For a rum shack pop-​up event. They did provide some beer and wine, but I had gone there expressly to drink rum cocktails.
I was told by someone from management, that this downstairs space could comfortably fit 70people. But honestly, 30 would be a comfortable fit at the most and even then, not everyone could have a seat.
The staff seemed pleasant and tried to help, but they also seemed woefully unprepared for the group that had assembled.
The starters that I did manage to try were not bad, but I wouldn’t trust them with handling an event on my behalf.