A former Scotland international cricket player will be opening a female-focused bar in Putney next year.
Matt Machan, 30, and his business partner and brother, George Machan, 28, will be opening the second branch of their ultra-instagrammable bar, Peachy Queen, in March 2022.
The original Peachy Queen opened in Bournemouth in July this year and is inspired by Victorian ‘It girl’ Lillie Langtry who was infamous for her illicit love affairs with society’s most eligible men, including Edward VII.
The upcoming South West London site will be on 12 Putney High Street, in the unit that currently houses Tequila Mockingbird.
The bar will be split over three floors, with a ground floor, mezzanine level and basement.
Matt Machan said: “A lot of females come to our venue because they feel it’s a safe space before they go clubbing.
“We have the groups that come for their birthdays, hen-dos, special occasions. And during the week, we see a lot of date nights as well.”
The brothers describe Peachy Queen as a “female focussed day to night venue for cocktails, brunch and good times”, explaining that they wanted to create bars that appeal to young women after seeing how men appear to be the focus in the industry currently.
Speaking on the success of Peachy Queen, which has enabled the brothers to open a second branch so soon, Matt added: “So far it’s done really well down in Bournemouth, we have bottomless brunches on Saturday that are fully booked and a lot of people are booking in the evenings too.
“We’re getting requests in Bournemouth for April next year, which seems miles off but people are really responding well to it.”
Explaining why they decided to bring Peachy Queen to London, George Machan said that he had previously lived in Clapham for two years and Fulham for a year.
He said: “It has always been an area where we’ve wanted to open a site but we just waited for the right venue to come along.
“We had a viewing and loved the site and thought it would be perfect for Peachy Queen.”
Matt also explained that his shift into hospitality after retiring from international cricket has been influenced and aided by his younger brother, George.
George said: “I’ve got a background in hospitality and since I was 17,18, I’ve always wanted to open up my own venue but had to get experience by doing other things within the industry.
“When we were looking at what sort of concept to bring into the market, we thought, how can we push the boundaries further? So we worked with a great team, great interior designers, and put a really good team together during COVID.
“And between all of us and industry experts we came up with this new concept.”
