Meet our Bar Manager, Alba Vazquez

Backstory of Alba

Alba is our Bar Manager at Beast – but you might also know her from her days at Burger & Lobster and Goodman City. What you might not know is the role Julie Andrews played in bringing her from Spain to London. If you’re buying, she’ll have a ribeye, thanks, either the Belted Galloway or the Galician, to drink, well, that depends on mood but very possibly a Margarita.

“When I was little I watched Mary Poppins and said ‘ooh I want to be there.’” There are many reasons to come to London, and several that might convince you to give up Spain for England. It’s not often though that the reason is Julie Andrews and a dancing chimney sweep with a terrible accent but that was definitely the case for Beast Bar Manager Alba Vazquez. And, as if to prove it’s not just a story, Alba has marked the inspiration with a tattoo. “Yes, a Mary Poppins tattoo,” she admits. “It’s a bit questionable; sometimes pathetic but sometimes hilarious.”

Alba moved to London in 2006, doing a variety of bar jobs but really found her feet with the Goodman Group. “I started work at Burger & Lobster, the Bread Street one, and it was amazing and crazy busy. It was in the days of doing 300, 400 covers a day and that was great for making your shift go quickly, but it also makes you think about your set-up, how to become more efficient and, well, cover your arse.”

After two, three years there, Alba moved to a Goodman City where even, though there was less volume of cocktails, she started to focus more on high end service for a different type of clientele. “It wasn’t so much about the cocktails, it was the more regular drinks, the pints, and a lot of wine. But then I learned a lot about wine there.”

After a year there, the vacancy at Beast came around and that is definitely home. “The moment I stepped in I thought ‘yeah, I like this place,’ says Alba. “When I arrived, Giovanni told me ‘the bar is yours, do what you want with it.’ I mean, not destroy it, obviously. I think they trust me not to… And I’ve been trying to move with the trends. We change the menu twice a year, with some tweaks in-between, and we’re working towards very little waste, working with seasonal products that don’t come from the other side of the world.”