Simo Simpson: Men must step up to support women in whisky
London Bar entrepreneur Simo Simpson is one of whisky’s most outspoken feminist male allies. He explains how he thinks the industry has changed in the 15 years since he started – and the small changes he’s made to make his businesses more inclusive.
Being an ally to women and other marginalised groups in whisky was an immediate impulse for me. Whisky bars back when I first started in the industry, nearly 15 years ago, were for a certain type of person. Even when I, a white, straight man, was going into bars in London with tattoos and dressed like a hipster, those people turned their noses up at me.
It was shocking to me that even someone like me, at the top of the perceived hierarchy in whisky, was experiencing barriers to entry – that was a really eye-opening experience. I realised, if that was how I was getting treated, what must it be like for minority and unrepresented groups?
So, when I opened Milroy’s in 2015, I designed it in a way that was more akin to the old-style pubs that you get up north. If you go to Ireland or Scotland, and you go drinking in the bars there, it’s a much more welcoming experience. I remember going to Islay and being surprised at the split of men and women in this small pub, which was about 60:40. You didn't find that in London, so I wanted to democratise whisky. The scene had to change – and we’ve gone even further at my current bar, Dram.
“It was shocking to me that even someone like me, at the top of the perceived hierarchy in whisky, was experiencing barriers to entry.”
Before we can actually make whisky a safe space for women though, we need to change the view of what whisky is. I do think that collectively we’re going down the right route. We’ve started calling people out for misogynistic language and advertising around whisky, and what we're seeing now is a lot of (mainly male) bar owners waking up to the fact that whisky isn’t just a drink that you go to a very fancy bar for.
We’re seeing whisky in more low-key bars in London, like here at Dram, as well as Satan's Whiskers, The Sun Tavern, and more. But now that has to have a drip down effect, because we're selling a product, and people will sell a product based on what they think that product is and who wants to buy it.
I’m a small business owner, so I can move on a hairpin and quickly adapt to make sure my bars are inclusive spaces. When Kelsey Smith started working for me at Milroy’s, she approached me about wanting to set up the Women’s+ Whisky night. All I did was provide a space, free stock and my black book, and organise orders in the back end to make sure they didn't have to pay for anything. Doing something as simple as that is a good place to start.
Women’s+ Whisky Night: A safe space for women to gather while chatting and tasting whisky.
It’s also important to trust and back the women on your team when it comes to confrontation. I dealt with a guy about a year ago (the follow-up exchange is still on Google Reviews) about smoking cigars on our terrace, which we don’t allow. The women on my staff told him two times that he wasn’t allowed to smoke them, but it wasn’t until I went and told him that he stopped.
I called him out on it and told him not to bother coming back to the bar. It’s an easy step to support the women who work with you. It can make a huge difference to not only them, but also the community, if more male bar owners take the same approach rather than just brushing off the incident.
“One man doing a massive thing won’t make a big difference, but 100 men each doing little things will.”
I don’t feel alone as a man talking about these issues in the industry, but at the end of the day, they are often just words. I was brought up in a matriarchal family, and my wife has taught me that one man doing a massive thing won’t make a big difference, but 100 men each doing little things will.
I’m sure a lot of men do feel unsure about the changes beginning to happen in whisky. I always frame it as: imagine someone has told you that the sky is blue for 20 years, and then suddenly turns around and tells you it’s green. My experience 20 years ago around sex and gender is different to what I experience and know to be true today. You have to realise that society is changing for the better, so just try and keep up. It’s nothing against you, it's just the right thing to do.
I’d never ever say I’m pioneering in this area; I just create safe spaces for women where I can. I’ve not done much, but I’ve done what I can in the world around me. And as well as it just being the right thing to do, it’s also good for business. At Milroy’s and Dram my staff retention was and is very high - I’m really proud of that.
I've always been a big believer that you'll never change the world, but you can change your world. Whatever I can do inside the four walls of my bar, and anything that is connected to it that can make a real positive change, I will.
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