Bradsell, Dick (1959–2016), is widely regarded as the godfather of London’s cocktail renaissance. Born in Bishop’s Stortford, northeast of London, and raised on the Isle of Wight, Dick was a delinquent adolescent. His mother sent the eighteen-year-old Bradsell off to London in 1977 to live under the watchful eye of his ex-RAF uncle, who managed London’s Naval & Military Club (aka the “In and Out Club”) at Cambridge House. But working as a chef trainee did not suit hm.
Three years later, his flatmate Sophie Parkin offered to train Bradsell as a barman at the new members’ club the Zanzibar. He discovered David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks and felt that he found his true calling. See Embury, David A. Bradsell became a fixture in London’s emerging bar scene, with stints at the Groucho Club, Fred’s Club, Café de Paris, Detroit, the Moscow Club, the Flamingo, the Pharmacy, the Player, Match Bar, and, of course, Dick’s Bar at the Atlantic Bar & Grill. Every place he presided over felt his passion for drink. See Atlantic Bar & Grill. His creations such as the Detroit Martini, the Bramble, the Wibble, Vodka Espresso (also known as Pharmaceutical Stimulant and Espresso Martini), and Raspberry Martini have circumnavigated the world’s bar menus. See Bramble and Espresso Martini.
In the 2000s, Bradsell held court at the legendary avant-garde members’ club the Colony Rooms, a miniature Soho hideaway filled with artwork contributed by its members in exchange for drinks, including Lucian Freud, Damien Hirst, and Tracy Emin. Bradsell eventually found himself at the helm of another members’ club—the Pink Chihuahua—secreted in the cellar of El Camion, a Mexican eatery in his beloved Soho. Bradsell died of brain cancer at his London home in April 2016.
See also cocktail renaissance.
Bradsell, Dick. Personal interview, January 15, 2011, and June 6, 2015.
Parkin Vink, Sophie, Personal interview, January 25, 2016.
By: Anistatia R. Miller and Jared M. Brown