Pneumatic tube firm installs unique drinks delivery service in London cocktail bar

A Nottingham firm has parcelled up a unique cocktail delivery method at a ‘top-secret’ 1940s postal service-inspired bar in one of London’s trendy suburbs.

The bespoke in-bar cocktail delivery method, which sees drinks orders whizzing over customers’ heads in tubes between bar and table, is believed to be a UK first.

The pneumatic tube system has been created by Aerocom (UK) Ltd on behalf of pub chain Cahoots for its latest venture, Postal Office, in Borough Market, London. Cahoots is part of the Inception Group.

Shaking up the concept of delivering customer drinks orders from mixologist to table, Aerocom (UK) Ltd managing director, Tom Hughes said: “We are innovators and always excited to create something unique for clients.

“Cahoots has certainly put its stamp on Borough Market with its latest bar and we are proud to be a part of its success.”

Cahoots is designed to give the impression of being a ‘secret’ London network of 1940s-themed cocktail bars and pubs.

The concept for the Borough Market bar’s theme was inspired by the postal service, which is where the very first pneumatic tube systems were used in the 19th Century.

The result is a two-floored venue billed as the most immersive and interactive of Cahoots’ network to date.

Entering the venue through a life-size ‘postbox’, guests are transported into the cocktail bar hideout, which has a similar atmosphere to an underground New York speakeasy.

Alongside props like overflowing lost post, some suspicious rattling parcels and stacks of undelivered mail, there’s the special ‘Air Mail’ pneumatic tube system.

Almost 100 metres of 110mm diameter tube has been installed in the venue, enabling cocktails to whizz overhead as they are delivered to guests from the bar to the tables.

Customers place their order using a QR code scanned from their table then watch the drinks fly through a series of air-powered tubes.

Over the sound of trains going overhead, and with flickering lights and moving carrier pigeons adding to the atmosphere, Tom said: “This wasn’t our usual call out but, when we learned what was needed here, we knew our designers would step up and deliver.”

The Cahoots bar system, which is described as a ‘first-of-its-kind’ installation, was delivered just in time for the Stoney Street bar’s October launch.

Aerocom (UK) was originally approached by Cahoots specialist project manager Olly Draper who was searching for a unique way to deliver cocktails from the venue’s team of mixologists to customer tables that would align with the post office delivery theme.

Aerocom (UK) Ltd is one of the UK’s largest suppliers and installers of pneumatic tube systems. However, its clients are usually organisations like hospital trusts and large logistics centres.

Despite the unusual nature of the Cahoots project, Aerocom (UK) is no stranger to adapting its products to unique situations. Past projects using the pneumatic tube delivery system have included creating the ‘Diverter Dilemma’, a puzzle challenge at the National Explorium in Dublin, installing a snack, drink and prop delivery system for BBCs’ One Show, and individual projects for the Great Exhibition of the North, London Design Biennale and Jock Campbell Interactive in Milton Keynes.

The firm also supplies automated guided vehicles (AVGs) for a similar client base as well as a unique fire suppression device, the MAUS Pro Stixx.