Are “dry bars” the latest fad in pub retailing?

If “vegan” is the new organic, are “alcohol-free bars” the new speakeasies? People’s relationship with alcohol has changed and the pub operators of the future will need to adapt their businesses to cater for it, said Catherine Salway, founder of the dry “gastro-bar” concept Redemption, at the Future Pub conference in London on 24 February 2015.

Ms Salway, who set up Redemption in 2013 and is about to open a permanent outlet in London, following a number of successful pop-ups and residencies, claims that people will always want somewhere to meet face to face, but “that doesn’t always have to happen around alcohol”.

Speaking at the Future Pub conference in London, she defended her concept by saying that “I don’t just see Redemption as a dry bar – it’s a bigger idea than that. It’s about recognition that when you socialise it doesn’t always have to be at the expense of your health. […] We are not saying everyone should give up booze but if we can make it cool not to drink then we have done society a favour.”

Redemption offers a range of alcohol-free cocktails (mocktails), plus a menu designed by a nutritional therapist, which allows customers to “spoil yourself without spoiling yourself”. The bar also sells an alcohol-free beer.

Good grief! Is this the beginning of a new Temperance movement? Or why is her bar called “Redemption” as in “deliverance from sin”? Are we missing out on irony here?

While it may be the case that one in five adults in the UK is now a teetotaller, with young people under the age of 25 primarily responsible for the change, it’s hard to see the need for a dry bar.

If people want to mingle in an alcohol-free environment, there is no shortage of options: they can go to a coffee shop or a juice bar or any number of New Age joints where they sell green and blue liquids at extravagant prices.

Why make it such an issue that there is no booze available on the premises unless there is an – in my eyes – most unpleasant ideology behind it all?

A blogger summed up the concept succinctly: “Frozen yoghurt bars, platform shoes, Blue Nun wine, cup cakes. Another fad that will fade.” Well, hopefully.