The World's Best Cocktail Bar Is Closing... Right After Being Named #1

Apparently, reputation alone won't pay the rent.

Days before it was crowned Number 1 on the World's 50 Best Bars list for 2018, botany-inspired cocktail bar, Dandelyan, located inside London's Mondrian Hotel, announced via Instagram that it would be shutting its doors.

The gilded space, looking out onto London’s South Bank and St Paul’s Cathedral, opened just four years ago, and quickly gained accolades for its innovative drink program helmed by Ryan Chetiyawardana and Iain Griffiths. 

But alas, you win some, you lose some.

On October 1st, the bar's 4th anniversary, Chetiyawardana broke the news that it would be closing.

In an Instagram post, he said, "We were so glad it was relevant when it was around. But to me, what makes this bar great is these people (and there’s more of them)... It would be a disservice to these amazing people, and to what we have created together to continue when we think the landscape, and the conversation, has shifted. There’s so much I think we can do, and so much we want to challenge, discuss and create in this industry that... it makes sense to burn it down, start afresh, and rise again as something brighter, shinier and more fitting of where we’re (all) now at."

According to the post, however, the team is holding onto the space, so keep your eyes peeled the next time you're in London. It just may be the world's next best bar.

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BIG OL’ ANNOUNCEMENT 1/3 Happy Birthday Dandelyan – AND GOODBYE! It feels fitting on our 4th birthday to kill off our now-eldest venue. The idea for Dandelyan is way older than 4 – it has its roots in White Lyan (itself an old idea I had waaaay back. The echos are apt!) and my old biology days. We were so glad it was relevant when it was around. But to me, what makes this bar great is these people (and there’s more of them). And fuck am I proud of what we’ve achieved together – World’s Best Menu (twice yo!), World’s Best Bar Team (duh) and WORLD’S BEST MO FUCKING BAR +++ – but that actually misses what I think we’re great at. It would be a disservice to these amazing people, and to what we have created together to continue when we think the landscape, and the conversation, has shifted. There’s so much I think we can do, and so much we want to challenge, discuss and create in this industry that, like with White Lyan, it makes sense to burn it down, start afresh, and rise again as something brighter, shinier and more fitting of where we’re (all) now at. Happy Birthday you big green beast, it’ll be great to see you different again. And goddamn I wasn’t joking when I said we have a lot on! I really think we’re just hitting our stride, and now it’s time to pull out the real weird stuff. Here’s to keeping it weird. Don’t ask what’s next (although we are keeping the space), please sit tight, and help us usher out the bar we know so many of you love as much as us. BIG LYAN LOVE! 🙀🦁🍸✨😿🙌🤘
A post shared by Ryan Chetiyawardana/Mr Lyan 🦁 (@mrlyan) on Sep 30, 2018 at 11:01pm PDT

[Photo via Dandelyan]