Wed 16th Apr 2014 - Breaking News - Former Fat Cat site to become distillery pub Former Fat Cat site to become distillery pub: A bar with its own distillery, producing gin, vodka and whisky on the premises, is due to open in the former Fat Cat Cafe Bar in Bow Wharf, East London at the end of the month. A lease on the site has been taken by Barworks, which operates ten bars and seven diners in and around central London, and it is due to reopen under the name East London Liquor Ltd. The bar will feature a distillery which will produce handcrafted spirits from two copper stills, 450 to 650 litres at a time. There will be two premium gins, a London dry gin, an artisanal vodka and a whisky that will be aged on site for at least three years – the minimum legal requirement. Alex Wolpert, the former operations manager at Barworks, who is behind the new venture, said: “We want to revive east London’s rich legacy of spirits manufacturing. The craft spirits trade went through a huge and successful resurgence in the US and now the UK is experiencing a similar renaissance, with several city distilleries popping up across the capital over the past ten years.” The Fat Cat Group, which ran nine cafe/bars, went into administration in April 2013. The lease on the Bow Wharf premises was arranged through Christie + Co, which acted on behalf of the landlord, the Canal & River Trust. Christie’s also acted on behalf of the Midlands operator Edward & Moore, which has taken the leases on former Fat Cat units in Derby and Nottingham.