Airline-themed bar to open in Southampton

The venue, named Mile High, will have real aircraft seats, cabin crew and overhead lockers and claims to offer the “UK’s First Airline Bar Experience.”

Decorated in the style of retro airliners such as PanAm, the bar hopes to recreate “The Golden Age of Flight.”

Mile High will open October 16 on a permanent basis in the city centre’s Bedford Place.

It is hoped the bar will offer customers “more of an experience than a cocktail bar.”

Guests will be given a passport on arrival, which will be stamped with every drink purchase. The passport acts as a menu for a selection of destination themed cocktails and will invite guests to travel around the world by tasting “a variety of exotic alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks” inspired by each destination.

Deputy manager Reiss Stanford said the bar’s original launch was cancelled when business ground to a halt due to trading restrictions aiming to curb the spread of coronavirus.

He said: “We originally launched [the bar] in February. Obviously COVID then shut us down.

“We thought we’d wait until the right time to re-launch, obviously with the government guidelines going through."

He said he hopes the timing of the bar’s re-launch will be a welcome experience for people that may have had holiday plans cancelled as a result of the pandemic.

“Right now we’re hoping to give people the opportunity to “fly” to places that they can’t go to” he said.