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The Bar in Front of the Bar

Athens

Congenial street-side drinking with a zero-waste focus

There's something uniquely Athenian about The Bar in Front of the Bar. This is a city where people spend a lot of time drinking al fresco, sitting on the sidewalks listening to the buzzing music of loud sound systems – and that's exactly what you'll find here. But many other things make this place unique.

The brainchild of Alexandros Tselepis, Konstantinos Theodorakopoulos and Simeon Papanikolaou, The Bar in Front of the Bar was initially a quirky pop-up that covered up work being done on a more traditional bar behind it, in short, a scaffold made interesting. Rumble in the Jungle, the bar behind the bar, is now open and operated by the same team. The Bar in Front of the Bar remains as the first layer of a unique concept. The street bar (with zero indoor seating) is instantly recognisable by its minimalist design and a large, ever-changing digital sign that delivers humorous messages to passersby; "We serve humans too" is probably the most famous.

While this is a bar that doesn't take itself too seriously, the cocktails are well thought-out and follow a philosophy of zero waste and constant reinvention. The eight signature drinks change daily and are produced from scratch using the leftovers from the Rumble in the Jungle prep process. The focus is on classical structures and fresh, seasonal ingredients. A vibrant bar in one of the world's most vibrant cocktail cities, The Bar in Front of the Bar offers something new with every visit.

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