General Manager – Doghouse Distillery Bar, Clapham

Salary - £38,000 to £48,000 (depending on experience) plus a quarterly performance bonus.

Doghouse Distillery Bar in Clapham is the bar arm of our Battersea distillery, London's only full multi-category grain-to-bottle craft distillery, making gin, vodka, aperitivo and whisky.

The bar opened very recently in May 2026. The ground floor is a cocktail bar with a pub feel, barrels and wood throughout, tap beer and wine alongside the cocktails, including London's largest Old Fashioned menu. Downstairs is a low-lit speakeasy fitted out like a Nashville honky tonk, and is our live music and function space. We are metres from Clapham Common tube.

There is live music every Friday and Saturday and both nights are busy and run late. The rest of the week is a neighbourhood bar and there is lots of opportunity to build trade.

Venue Opening Hours

• Monday: Closed
• Tuesday to Thursday: 5pm to Midnight
• Friday + Saturday: 2pm to 2am
• Sunday: 2pm - Midnight

The Role

We are looking for someone to run the venue day to day, working closely with us as owners and with the Bar Manager.

The role is open to people already working as a GM. We also think it could be a good opportunity for an Assistant Manager looking to step up and take on a venue of their own. We are happy to train on the job, provided you have the attributes we are looking for.

This is a hands-on role, but it is more of an overall floor and venue role than a bar one. We have a Bar Manager who runs the bar and creates our cocktail menu. On busy nights you are making sure the venue runs seamlessly, looking after guests, managing the music and the licensing, and supporting, motivating and leading the bar team.

We want the venue to be busy and we also want it run properly. Keeping on top of noise, the licence conditions and our relationship with neighbours and local residents is a key part of the role.

We are a cocktail bar and that is a big part of our identity, so strong cocktail knowledge and a real interest in drinks are preferred.

The kitchen currently serves bar snacks, toasted sandwiches, charcuterie, cheeseboards and salads. We are planning to extend the kitchen and build the menu out from there, so there is scope to be part of shaping the food offer as it grows.

Three things matter most to us:

Attention to detail - Noticing the chair in the wrong place, the menus that are not straight, the glass that is not clean, the lighting or music that is wrong for the time of night. Setting that standard and making sure the team keeps to it.

People - Getting to know regulars, remembering names and drinks, and building a customer base. There is a lot of scope to put on activity that brings people in, and we are open to ideas of your own.

Leading a team. Being firm, fair and caring, and getting the most out of people. Developing the team on service, standards and their careers, so they are better for having worked here.

Stock management, ordering, rotas, reporting and P&Ls are either already in place or can be trained. We are mainly hiring on detail, people and leadership skills.

Working With Us

We are hands-on owners and we are in the venue regularly. You would be working alongside us rather than running the bar in isolation, so we are involved and we have input. We are also supportive, we back good ideas and we give people room to run things properly. Doghouse is growing. This venue is our flagship and the blueprint for the sites that follow. The right person will have real opportunities as we become a multi-site operator and grow the distillery business over the next 12 to 24 months. We want someone who sees this as a springboard, not a ceiling.

Responsibilities

• Run the venue day to day, including stock, ordering and scheduling
• Manage the venue's costs and budgets, including labour cost, gross profit and the monthly P&L, and report on performance
• Set and hold standards across the venue, and make sure the team works to them
• Run the floor during service, own the atmosphere and look after guests
• Lead and develop the team on service, standards and their careers, with the Bar Manager covering bar skills and the drinks offer
• Build a regular customer base and an events programme, from masterclasses and trade nights to quizzes and themed music nights
• Book and manage the live music, and run private hire and events in the basement
• Manage the venue's licence and its conditions, including noise and relations with neighbours and local residents

What We Are Looking For

• Experience in a busy bar or hospitality venue, either as a GM or as an Assistant Manager ready to step up
• A strong eye for detail and the discipline to act on it
• Someone who enjoys talking to guests and building relationships with regulars
• Strong leadership, and enjoyment in training and developing a team
• Ideas for events and activity, and the organisation to actually run them
• Strong cocktail knowledge and a passion for drinks, including whisky and craft spirits
• Happy to work the floor on late Friday and Saturday nights, with a feel for how music, lighting and pacing shape a guest's night
• Experience of busy late night venues, booking live music or a personal licence are all a plus rather than essential

Note: If you meet most of this but not all of it, please still apply. We are hiring on attention to detail, people skills and leadership, and we will train the rest.

Benefits

• Salary of £38,000 to £48,000 depending on experience
• Quarterly performance-based bonus
• Progression as Doghouse grows, including senior roles across new venues and the wider distillery business
• Work directly with London's only multi-category craft distillery
• Two days off a week, rotating between Sunday and Monday and Monday and Tuesday, so you get two consecutive days off
• Admin time during the week rather than paperwork at the end of a late shift
• Staff discounts across the bar and distillery products
• Training and development

Late Nights and Getting Home

The GM never closes alone, and will not always be the one closing. We are metres from Clapham Common tube, which runs a night tube at weekends, and there is a bus stop close by, so nobody is walking any distance on their own after a late finish.

Katherine, one of our co-founders, co-founded the Women+ in Hospitality Brunch Club, a quarterly networking series for women and minority gender professionals in hospitality. How people are treated at work matters to us at Doghouse and we take behaviour in the venue seriously. Everyone deserves to feel safe and included at work, and we will take action if that is not the case.

The Process

• Successful applicants will be invited for a short phone interview. Those who progress will then meet us, the founders, at the venue. The final stage is a trial shift, so you can meet the team and the Bar Manager and see how the venue runs before either of us commits.