#ComeBimbleWithMe to meet four friends, a cocktail bar & a bright yellow brunch
by Keiran Peyton
If the past year has taught us anything, it’s the importance of communities — a core value, perhaps the core value, at the heart of Bimble; and at the centre of Zeus Bars, too. And in becoming a part of Nottingham’s own, in building a family of customers around the sister venues of 31K and yolk., it was their independence which became “the biggest weapon in our armoury”.
Friendship and community are at the heart of this company and where its origins lie. Where Will Chambers, as a student in Nottingham, met his fellow founding directors while working the same part-time bar jobs “thousands of students do up and down the country”. The four of them quickly bonded and, after graduation, began to manage an inner-city pub for its owners — a perfect place to start. Like so many remarkable entrepreneurs across the country, they then took a leap of faith and turned not just their expertise but their friendship, and their passion, into something greater.
I had the good fortune to sit and chat to Will about both the bar, 31K , and the café next door, yolk. and to hear about what guided the inception of each.
“Fiercely independent — that’s something we’re very precious about”, Will told me, before recounting a story about 31K’s founders, who literally built their business from the ground up, toasting with cans of Stella over their newly-constructed bar floor at 1am. “We finally had something physical to toast over, and the makings of a real bar, too! There are countless such anecdotes”, he said: “markers not just of 31K’s progress, but of the commitment and spirit worked into its foundations”. Each and every stage, from construction, to management, to behind the bar service, has been done independently, by the four founders — enveloped in a real passion project. Every nail in the floor — and everything else, for that matter — has a personal connection with the four friends, and it’s their goal to provide that same personal currency for its community of customers. “It’s their bar,” he said, happily.
Despite their young age, the founders have a combined experience of years in hospitality. Knowing the city, its inhabitants, and having been on both sides of the bar, the small team of friends were exceptionally well placed to turn what might have been their greatest limitation, their youth, into something of a superpower. From a “school of venturing out into the world” and trying to see what indie venues had to offer, rather than visiting the same bland chains, developing the personality of a great place was at the forefront of their minds — and it shows.
Both the bar and café feature menus that are ever-changing and build-your-own. Okay, that was definitely an understatement — yolk.’s menu boasts 384 ways to eat brunch! Not only that, but it’s inclusive; for a café named after eggs, where everything from the chairs to the saucers are thematically yellow, they offer vegans a surprising scope : )
31K, meanwhile, boasts a weighty 256 options if you’re hungry, and an extensive 14 page drinks menu — with some of the most competitive cocktail pricing in the city. Elaborately thought out, and simply digested, both the café and bar remain venues that customers want to return to because of their freshness — their constant evolution without the need to reinvent. Innovation is, after all, at the centre of Zeus Bars, and of all independent businesses.
Talking to Will was an enlightening experience — his passion about Zeus Bars was brimming, as was the excitement to get back to what they know and love. He praised Nottingham city council, who have kindly allowed the friends to use their front terrace space to open back up to the community as restrictions ease. And not because it’s a business, but because of its community. The energy that each of the four directors put into it, and which is so well reciprocated by their loyal customers. It could never be a pressured hassle for low reward, Will notes, “but a chance to get back out”.
Places like these — individuals like these — are what Bimble was founded around, and behind each of your own favourite places is a person, or a group of friends, whose life blood is to provide that experience for you. Independent traders who strive to provide us with originality, variety, and a glimpse into their own passion. Will loves that Bimble is focused on people and their places — the people that go to a place are what makes it what it is, as much as anything. If you get the chance, see if you might have a conversation with some of them — having talked to Will, I can’t recommend it enough.
Places like these — individuals like these — are what Bimble was founded around, and behind each of your own favourite places is a person, or a group of friends, whose life blood is to provide that experience for you. Independent traders who strive to provide us with originality, variety, and a glimpse into their own passion. Will loves that Bimble is focused on people and their places — the people that go to a place are what makes it what it is, as much as anything. If you get the chance, see if you might have a conversation with some of them — having talked to Will, I can’t recommend it enough.
