About Nine Lives

A tropical dive bar in a Victorian basement on Bermondsey Street, two minutes from London Bridge. Open since 2017.

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The lounge at Nine Lives in low light, with rattan pendant lamps over the bar, brass table lamps and velvet seating
  • Top 50 Bars in London, 2018–2025
  • Altos & Código 1530 Margarita Masters — London Region Winner, 2026
  • CLASS Bar Awards 2026: Finalist for Bar Business of the Year
  • London Lifestyle Awards 2026: Top 10 shortlist, Neighbourhood Bar of the Year
Nine Lives tally mark logo

The name

Independent bar on Bermondsey Street since 2017

The name refers to an ethos of salvation and the importance of intention. Unveiled treasures, nothing wasted, everything lovingly sourced.

Nine years in, that ethos hasn't changed. We're just a bit older, busier, and wiser to the practicality of such lofty ambitions.

The name has taken on a second meaning too: survival. We've faced a number of challenges beyond our control in recent years, and we're still here — with an unwavering belief in the importance of independent hospitality.

Tropical dive bar, London Bridge

The room

“Tropicalifornication”

It is not a concept.
It is a commitment.

A cocktail, a taco and a cup of fries on a marbled table at Nine Lives

The entrance makes you go oooooo. The lighting is set to golden hour. The temperature is a warm summer evening, all year round. The foliage is lush — some real, some not. The incense is exotic and a little intoxicating. The furniture encourages conversation.

Every seat is designed to feel like the best in the house.

A subterranean paradise in the middle of London. That's the mirage we maintain, every single shift.

A hand resting on a pink cocktail at a marble table in a low-lit Nine Lives booth, with a brass lamp glowing beside it

Custom Wave Research sound system

The music

A Nine Lives speaker hung beside shelves of records, plants and vintage speakers above the DJ decks

Too many great bars have poor sound. They look great, they taste great, but the sound lets them down. Not here.

The Nine Lives sound system is custom built by Wave Research for high-fidelity playback — four WR 322 full-range speakers, quadraphonic.

We only play one genre: good music. Disco, funk, boogie, house, vintage soul, psychedelic, surf rock — whatever feels good.

During the week, people who came for a drink are surprised how good the music is. At the weekend, people who came for the music are surprised how good the drinks are. Everyone's surprised. We're not.

  • Line-up poster: Saturday 15.08, 19:00, G-Scratch (@manlikegscratch) at Nine Lives
  • Line-up poster: Friday 18.04, 19:00, Hal (@that_havelock_guy) at Nine Lives
  • Line-up poster: Saturday 13.06, 19:00, Nat (@nat_marsland) at Nine Lives

Agave cocktails & Mexican spirits

The drinks

A no-nonsense approach: good ingredients, tasty recipes, well made.

A Nine Lives bartender stirring a cocktail at the bar, with the back bar behind him

Our back bar holds nine of each category. Four you know, four you should know, and one that's marmite.

One of the first London bars to champion Mexican spirits, and we've been doing it since 2017. Every house cocktail is available alcohol-free.

A Nine Lives cocktail over ice with a dried pineapple garnish, on a coaster printed with the tally mark A tall highball with a lychee and a tally-mark paper umbrella on a wooden table

Guadalajara tacos & small plates

The food

Tostadas and a ceviche with avocado and totopos, seen from above on a marbled table

Seasonal tacos and small plates from head chef Ramon Ramos, who brought the flavours of Guadalajara, Jalisco to a Bermondsey basement. Sun-soaked, generous, and built for messy eating.

Tostadas topped with a chilli salsa, avocado crema and crispy shallots, with lime wedges on a bronze tray

The team behind Nine Lives

The people

  • Ramon Ramos, Head Chef at Nine Lives, smiling and raising a glass

    Ramon Ramos

    Head Chef

    From Guadalajara, Jalisco, and raised around his family's seafood business in the city's fish market — which is also where the nickname El Tigre came from. He came to London at eighteen and started as a commis chef at the Michelin-starred Zaika. Everything that comes out of the kitchen is his.

    "Genuine soul food that focuses on high-quality ingredients and the care that goes into every dish."

  • Sergio Leanza, General Manager, straining a cocktail into a coupe behind the Nine Lives bar

    Sergio Leanza

    General Manager

    Part of the original Nine Lives bar team when the doors opened in 2017. He and Allan first worked together over a decade ago on the House of Peroni project through Sweet&Chilli. In the years since, Sergio founded Funkidory and Mama Funki in Peckham. He returned as General Manager in August 2026, in time for the bar's ninth year.

    "Nine Lives has a soul that's hard to explain until you've spent a night in it. Coming back now feels like a natural next chapter."

Tom Soden and Allan Gage, co-founders of Nine Lives, laughing and embracing at the bar
Portrait of Emma Hutchison, co-founder of Nine Lives, seated against a wood-panelled wall

Allan Gage, Emma Hutchison & Tom Soden

Owners

Nine Lives is owned by Allan Gage, Emma Hutchison and Tom Soden of the drinks agency Sweet&Chilli. Gage founded the agency in London in 2003 and now runs it across six studios worldwide for clients including Bacardi, Johnnie Walker, Patrón and Red Bull. Hutchison is its Executive Creative Director and designed the Nine Lives room. Soden came up through Match Bar Group and Diageo before joining the agency as consultancy director, and created the bar's concept and drinks offering. They opened Nine Lives on Bermondsey Street in 2017.

Awards & recognition

Credentials

  • Time Out Top 50 Bars in London, 2018–2025Time Out
  • Altos & Código 1530 Margarita Masters — London Region Winner, 2026Olmeca Altos
  • CLASS Bar Awards 2026: Finalist for Bar Business of the YearCLASS
  • London Lifestyle Awards 2026: Named in the Top 10 shortlist for Neighbourhood Bar of the YearLondon Lifestyle Awards
  • Championing Mexican spirits since 2017Hecho en México