The charming waterfront-terraced bar/restaurant under Schwartz Wharf has been through various short-lived iterations in recent years, despite its enviable setting. But the latest operator looks to have arrived at a perfect time, with a dream team of locals behind it.
Gwenda is a craft cocktail bar and community hangout, which will also soon be serving Italian small plates and Sunday roasts, all in the capable hands of Gigi, formerly behind nearby Fish Island’s Pirate’s Hub. He’s already built quite the following for his Italian hospitality and next-level porchetta paninis, (a staple lunchtime treat here at The Wick), and this move allows him to spread his wings from the atmospheric but tiny venue he created previously.
“I always wanted to do something on a bigger scale, an upgrade, but still for the same community from the Pirate’s Hub,” he tells us. “There’s a bigger kitchen here, so we can increase the menu. We’ll be open as a free workspace in the daytimes, and then things will revolve around craft cocktails in the evenings.”
With a fantastic terrace under mature olive trees and a conspiratorial low-lit interior, Gwenda becomes the first pitstop on what promises to be a new food and drink ‘Riviera’ along the Hertford Union Canal, as the big neighbouring Wickside development prepares to open up soon, too.
The name is a heartfelt nod to a legendary outdoor Salento nightclub that was a big part of Gigi’s youth, in Southern Italy. “It was a place where everybody met in the summer,” he remembers, “a real community place. Friends always say they remember the nights in Guenda (Guendalina), so I hope one day people will be saying that about this place, too.”
Making sure local feel not only welcome, but part of the furniture is key to the plan here, as his business partner and local resident Simone tells us. “I met Gigi the first week he opened the Pirate’s Hub, and basically never left,” he laughs. “What Gigi created there revolved around the local community, and now we want to expand what we can do with that, so if there’s a DJ playing, more often than not it’s going to be a local DJ, and if there’s art on the walls, it will be by a local. If people have ideas for events they’d like to run, we want to keep weeknights lively, too.”
So with an enthusiastic bunch of locals at the helm and masses of goodwill from their crowd, this could be one of the most exciting new spots in East London in the months ahead. If you’re an artist, DJ, event organiser or anyone else with something to show or put on, this may we’ll be your place.
Reach out to to them, and we’ll see you at the bar.
Gwenda launches with a party this Sat 1st Aug. More info: gwenda.co.uk
