MAX & NOEL VENNING, THREE SHEETS
Max and Noel Venning are enigmatic brothers, with over 30 years combined industry experience. They opened Three Sheets, Dalston in 2018, an award-winning cocktail bar, recognised on lists such as The World’s 50 Best and Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards (six times in a row), and is currently noted as the 7th best bar in the UK (Top 50 Cocktail Bars). In 2018 the duo launched Little Mercies in Crouch End with Alan Sherwood, and in February 2019 they collaborated to launch Top Cuvée, a neighbourhood wine bar in North London which has grown into Shop Cuvée, the UK’s premier natural wine retailer. In March of this year they opened Three Sheets, Soho, which is where we met the pair over a drink or two…
Paul Missing (PM): So who’s the elder brother?
Noel Venning (MV): I’m the elder brother…
Max Venning (NV): I’m offended you even asked.
NV: Works every time.
PM: And Manchester roots – why London?
MV: I was already working down here and the opportunity came up, and rang Noel and asked “Do you want to come down and open a bar?” and he was like “Yeah!”
NV: It was pretty impromptu.
MV: So I’ve been down here twelve years and we’ve been doing this for 8 now.
PM: And has it always been this line of work? I know you’ve worked in bars since uni, but was that more of a job, or was that something you knew you really wanted to do.
NV: Yeah I mean it started when we used to work in pubs together – he was 17 I was 18, I went to uni, but I didn’t work during uni. I started working when I came out, but he worked the whole time. He went straight into cocktails, but I wanted to look at the whole thing, the venue, the food, the drink and the cocktails as well. Eventually I got into this world as I got older.
PM: And Max you were at Colebrooke Row?
MV: Yeah that was my first job when I moved down to London. He’d just opened a bar in Paris so I went there to run it for a bit but they wanted me back in London, so I came back and went from a bartender to the manager, and started running a consultancy around the corner. We were looking for a site near there but we found the Three Sheets site in Dalston, which was too small for what I wanted to do but the rent was really low and the deal was good and everything was falling into place. So I rang Noel and was like “Shall we do it?” And we put the offer in and maybe 3 or 4 months later, it wasn’t very long at all, actually. So Noel moved down from Manchester, we picked up the keys on the Wednesday, cleaned and painted what was there and opened on the Friday night.
PM: Wow. That’s incredible.
MV: So we did that for about 10 weeks and designed all the refurbs, closed for a month, refurbed and then opened in October as Three Sheets.
PM: So what were you doing in Manchester while that was going on Noel?
NV: I was running a few types of venues up there, had to hand my notice in pretty quickly actually and headed down, which was tough but it was so fun!
PM: And were you doing cocktails of the same sort of calibre?
NV: Not to the same sort of high-end level that he was doing, it was more quantity over quality to be fair. They were good, and the team we had were really good, but it was a different offering. It was a daily, high turning, industry kind of venue. It’s hard to explain, moving down, I realised the standards were different and I needed to raise my own standards. There was a friendly banter too, that North and South divide…
PM: Because watching things, you know, I’ve drunk in Dalston with you guys, but I’ve been looking at some of your ‘how to’ videos and your guides, and for me there’s real comparisons with chefs making sauces. The amount of preparation and detail that goes into your tinctures and others, it’s really interesting.
NV: We care a lot about the drinks, we don’t shout about it too much because we believe that, you know, we want to make great drinks but we don’t think that’s the most important thing in the bar. That standard should be the minimum across everything else as well.
PM: Totally, I completely agree.
NV: But we enjoy making them and it is interesting, you know, we like to play with these flavours. People are always like “Oh, you’re like scientists” but it’s much more straightforward than that, it’s just done really well as it should be. It’s not really about science, it’s about levelling the flavours. And we do go into real depth when we’re working on the flavours, but we don’t want to overcomplicate things when it gets to an order. If something is a little sweet, we know there are fifteen ways to make it less sweet, experience is about making it better and making that drink more enjoyable.
PM: Completely, I think there’s an art to it as well. And I think it’s similar to us in that it’s all well and good using this great stuff and not shouting too much, but you’ve got to enjoy wearing it and think “oh this is nice, this fit feels good”, right? And this is like “that tastes good – I really enjoyed drinking that” and then you go from that point and start to research and holy shit, it tastes great, but my god the amount of work that you put in to do that is something else, right?
MV: Yeah totally, it’s the most important thing, right? I mean it tastes great, or it feels great or fits great because the amount of work to get it right has happened. You don’t need to be flashy about that.
PM: No no, I agree entirely. And I agree with your statement of, you don’t think you’re doing anything special, because you feel this is the way you do it; this is just how it should be when you put the amount of care and attention into something that should go in.
MV: He says, messing up the quantities of this drink…
PM: So, City or United?
NV: United.
PM: Tough times. Ten Hag is hanging on by his finger tips! If he wins the FA Cup you might have him next season.
NV: Oh yeah, we were watching the game at the weekend and were sat there going ‘Kind of want Coventry to win so it’ll be a reset. He’ll go and then they can bring their own team in and start afresh. But I mean, it is what it is…
Reader, this goes on… Bringing it back on track…
PM: So when did this spot (in Soho) open?
NV: About a month now, we opened mid March.
PM: Going well?
NV: Really well. We’re only open five days a week at the moment, we want to gauge how busy it’s going to be, how much staff we’ll need, and we’re about to hire a whole rafter of new staff, so we’ll be open on Sundays from May. We don’t want to overstretch the bar and the team straight away, so many do and it’s just not sustainable.
MV: It’s about keeping control for us too. If we’re open for 7 days we need to be here for those 7 days, with more staff. So we get the staff, get things nailed, get a set up for outside, go to six and then seven, and do it step by step.
PM: It makes such sense. And it’s a great area and a great spot.
I’ve not been around here for a while but I used to be in the art world and you’ve got Lazarides, Banksy, so many great galleries…
MV: Oh yeah, it was a little moodier a while ago. I think this street was like the moodiest street in Soho!
PM: Oh it really was! But it’s such a good spot.
MV: Yeah, I mean we saw the site and saw what was going on, and wanted to get involved.
PM: And there aren’t that many spots in Soho that are hidden and are hard to find if you don’t know, so fun to know if you do, and this is one of those bits, which is good.
MV: Yeah it’s good for us. There’s still a good footfall from Tottenham Court Road, so the footfall’s always good really.
PM: And what are the kitchen offering?
MV: Oysters, Mustard Chips and Salt Beef Buns.
PM: Nice, good drinking food.
MV: Yeah, we wanted to keep it quite London and we wanted to keep it simple. One thing, salt beef buns, and do it really well.
NV: And oysters and martinis and chips just go so well.
PM: Oh totally! So do you boys live East then?
MV: Yeah I live around the corner from the Dalston bar, we’ve always been that way. Also, it’s like a 20 minute bike ride from here, so it’s really easy.
PM: East is the Central of London now, it has been for a while but thankfully, the Shoreditch thing has subsided a little bit, but it’s a great spot, I love it.
The ‘drowning duck’ cocktail comes out in a fitting glass…
NV: This is called the “Sazzaquack” – a slightly more boozy affair…
MV: The classic is a Saserac, so this is a play, with duck spices.
PM: Where is the glass from??
NV: Italy.
PM: Do you pick up details like the glass and decide to bring them back to elevate a cocktail, or does it start with something like that and the inspiration follows?
MV: Quite often, we’ll see something like that and things follow. I spotted one in Shoreditch once, buying a present for my Mum, and was bending over trying to find them after that.
NV: You see them all over and then spend weeks trying to find them when you want them, it’s always the way.
MV: And my friend has a brandy called Seven Sails and the logo is a fox, so we got this for him, and I don’t know if you know the Picante boys, but we got these for them for when they come in. But I took a video of the glasses and sent it to the group WhatsApp and said “Is this too kitsch??” and they were like “No, that’s awesome.”
NV: And there a few things like that, it’s not just the serveware. So these bar spoons we use are necessary because they’re short and they fit in the station, but the come from Japan. How long did it take for you to find them?
MV: It’s one of those things, we’re like magpies. But I had one of them in my kitchen drawer and it did take about six months to find them. There’s Japanese on the side so I was trying to translate that and eventually found them. It’s like a specific set custard spoon, but they’re perfect for here. But you pick up these little things along the way and coming from Colebrooke Row, you see what a difference it makes.
PM: I’ve been to Colebrooke Row many a time, I thought these glasses looked familiar.
MV: Yeah, the attention to detail is amazing. So whilst we were waiting for the paperwork to go through, and before that when we were looking for the right location, it was about 9 months before Noel was getting ready to move down and I was just looking through every single detail, so glassware, speakers, artwork… So all the artwork here was shot in Soho, like the old Windmill and the Coal Room, with the girls getting ready and showing the old Soho. So we might change the art at some point, but it will always be Soho related. We really want the different locations to be in keeping with their locations, you know, it just feels like it would be lazy to have them the same, we want to respond to the area.
PM: Does the menu change?
MV: Yeah, we have one drink the same, our Signature French 75 on both but that’s the only one.
NV: Eventually the menu here will change the way the Dalston one does.
PM: How long does it take to develop?
MV: Some can take a week, some can take a year. We don’t rush it. But when something works we’ll add it.
PM: And is that something you decide upon together?
MV: So it’s both of us and two of our team members that have been with us for seven years and that’s our development team really. Obviously we’ll get the team to try but we normally know when something’s going to work well. We have high standards you know, but we like trying to be quite relaxed about it, to have fun, you know? If we wanted to just make money we’d be doing something else in a different way. And this works well, which is really nice.
PM: And I think that carries through to your customer as well too. You come into a bar to have a nice time and to hopefully have some form of engagement with the people who work here, because that just heightens the experience.
MV: This whole world is there to have a good time, right?
PM: Exactly, so if your team are happy that’s just going to emanate.
PM: So do you have a favourite bar at the moment apart from your own?
MV: Not Three Sheets Soho?? That’s tough…
I really like Ten Cases, I’m going there a lot at the moment, it’s a lovely wine bar, it’s just had a really lovely little refurb. The Dover’s great. Coach and Horses at the bottom of Greek Street – The French House, LOVE the French House.
PM: Funnily enough we just shot Neil at The French House, so nice – the restaurant upstairs is so good.
(You can read our conversation with Neil Borthwick, head chef of The French House here -LINK)
MV: On nice! Yeah, love it there. Scarfe’s Bar is really nice too. As hotel bars go it’s got to be a favourite. We live a lucky life, out and about in restaurants a lot.
PM: Committed to the research, it’s perfect.
MV: Exactly.
PM: Any overseas plans?
MV: We want to, we’d like to do Paris next, but it’s just a very different place to run a business. The costs are completely different. The taxation is higher, the rent is a little bit cheaper but the licences are expensive. We’ve got good friends who have a few places out there and went for lunch to hear their advice and experiences. So we do want to do it, I think we’ll do it, but we’ll take our time. It feels a little arrogant to just go over there and do it straight away. We need to understand, to go in informed.
NV: You know, also, the wages are higher, the employment laws are different as well, so there are all sorts of things to consider, but we’ll get there.
PM: Paris will be so perfect though, they understand and appreciate the bar life and drink culture, taking your time and doing it right there will make so much sense.
MV: It’s not like what we do is completely unique, but what we do sits nicely between a small cocktail bar, but it’s also a little bit more comfortable and the service is a little bit more engaged and a little bit more prompt, and I don’t think there are many bars that sit between the two like we do, and I think when it came to opening this in Soho, I just didn’t think there was anywhere that did exactly this here.
PM: It’s like a serious bar without the affectation.
MV: Yeah, you know, the fast-paced, high energy, loud music, you know fun, with service that’s still on point and professional and the drinks are great. So I think we’d work well to open in other cities as long as we understand the business side of it as well. Paris would be great, New York would be, you know, but the rates… We’d probably partner with someone to start I think, and then we’ll do a pub. We’d love to do a pub. They’re always part of British culture and they’re always there.
PM: And there’s such a total ambivalence in a pub. Once you get in there, you really could be anyone, it’s a real leveller.
MV: Completely. So we want all those things, but one at a time. Now we need to get this rolling, but it’s hit the ground running so that’s good. We need to make sure we maintain the high standards and then hope the rest will follow on. That’s the plan on paper at least!
But at the end of the day we’ve always said the same thing – the geeky bit is for us, but at the end of the day, does it taste nice? Could you drink a whole one? Would you order a second one? If it doesn’t tick those boxes it’s not going on the menu. And our customers are really open, we’ve got 9 cocktails on the menu in Dalston and 80-90% of our sales are from those cocktails, and we find London customers are so open to trying new things, elsewhere that’s not always the case. But we’ve built up this lovely customer base where they will trust us, and it’s working well for us at the moment.
PM: That’s the great thing about a local bar, or a local restaurant or a local pub, you’re building that relationship, it’s why you go back.
MV: Yeah exactly. I mean, we were empty for the first nine months, but then these regulars customers started telling their friends about it, some guys started a WhatsApp group putting about sixteen people in it telling people to come down to the bar.
PM: Oh wow!
MV: Yeah, we’re still mates with them now! It’s good, it’s a nice network.
PM: I think it’s the same thing in any industry really, if the product and the service are good, you’ll earn loyalty. But with MISSING, there’s a huge amount of sustainability and detail that goes into what we do but ultimately, it’s the product that people really want and the way we care about what we do and our customers just certifies that.
MV: Yeah, we definitely have some great customers. They used to do credit card roulette with this lot, where they’d sit for three hours, put their credit cards in, we’d pick on and whoever we picked would pay the bill, so for the first three or four years they did that, and then they all moved away, and then they come back every now and then for a night out as a group, and we’ll chuck the business card in now… I think we lose every time though!! But yeah, it’s fun and it’s nice to have built that up. It’s been so fun.
PM: Congratulations guys, it’s really great.
Noel and Max both wear the M01 Jet 2 Pocket Jacket.
Max wears the M01 Teal 2 Pocket Jacket, Noel Wears the M04 Emerald Short Sleeve Shirt and the M01 Klein 2 Pocket Jacket.
April 23rd, 2024
THREE SHEETS SOHO
13 Manette Street, London, W1D 4AP
Opening Times
Tuesday – Thursday: 12:00 – 11:30pm
Friday & Saturday: 12:00 – 12:00am
Photos Izy Dixon