The Food Programme

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The Food Programme: So You Want to Be a Bartender?

So You Want to Be a Bartender?

BBC Radio 4 - The Food Programme, So You Want to Be a Bartender?

Jaega Wise looks at the highs and lows of professional bartending.

Bartenders Monica Berg and Max Hayward, journalists Sandrae Lawrence and Gary Sharpen, and playwrights John Godber and Jane Thornton on the state of professional bartending.

Welcome to the world of cocktails and the people who make them. 

As Jaega Wise discovers in this programme, it's a world of extremes. On one hand, in the past decade, bartending has become a respectable, profitable career for some. International awards and competitions have thrust people like Monica Berg of London bar Tayēr + Elementary, and Max Hayward of Cardiff's Lab 22 into the media spotlight. 

But the other side is darker. Zero hours contracts, long hours, bullying and harassment. And a hospitality industry which is stretched like never before. 

In this programme, Jaega Wise speaks to bartenders, business owners and writers to make sense of where the professional bartending world is, and where it's heading. 
Presented by Jaega Wise.

Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

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