They ran the underground world in Birmingham in the late 1800s, dressed in tailored jackets, button waistcoats and peaked flat caps. The Shelby family and its gang became known as the Peaky Blinders, their adventures inspiring the hugely popular TV show of the same name. In turn that has inspired the owners of a Nicosia bar that opened a few months ago.
In the series, the Peaky Blinders, with their silk scarves and bell-bottom trousers, also run a distillery and hold their family meetings at a regular pub, The Garrison. The original Shelby gang notoriously gathered there, an old pub on Garrison Lane. It shut down in 2013 but was sold at auction.
A new restaurant-bar aims to bring a taste of the Garrison experience to Nicosia – hopefully without stirring trouble!
The Garrison Bar & Grill in Engomi was opened in early November by five partners who are all, of course, Peaky Blinders fans. It doesn’t ooze that British pub vibe like the Birmingham original, but that’s not what it’s going for. Nicosia’s Garrison is a blend of a sports bar and restaurant that plays old-school music in a rather modern venue serving all kinds of dishes, signature cocktails and up to 270 spirits and 75 beers.
When you reach the bar, a large display of spirits welcomes you and, in the corner, sits the Peaky Blinders cocktail book, with 40 cocktails inspired by the world of the Shelby Family. Birmingham Sours, Derby, Easy Dizzy, whiskey cocktails and more, some of which you will find at the Garrison Bar & Grill along with its own cocktail twists.
The menu at Garrison Bar & Grill specialises in burgers, most of which are named after characters of the Peaky Blinders series or refer to scenes from episodes. Thomas Shelby features as an American-style burger with queso, bacon, egg and caramelised onions. The Lizzie Starke burger, named after a prostitute Thomas Shelby regularly visited in the series, is a chicken burger with homemade paprika sauce. For the full experience – both of the food and the Shelby fandom – there’s the F****n Peaky Blinders burger. A double beef burger with halloumi, bacon, caramelised onions and a peaky blinder rum sauce.
Of course, the menu has more items to choose from which are not all inspired by the British crime family and their shenanigans. Nonetheless, this blend of the Shelby family adventure and a modern, sophisticated service is what Dimitris is aiming for. And it seems to be finding its crowd.
Before the lockdown, in just the two months it was open, the restaurant-bar gathered burger fans, sports lovers, students, businessmen and curious Peaky Blinders fans. Perhaps one of the biggest attractions of the bar is a large wall mural of Tommy Shelby, the head of the family, on the side of the venue by street artist Paparazzi. It catches your attention whether you’re a fan of the series or not, and regardless of if you know who the Shelby gangsters are.
Garrison Bar & Grill
16 Porfyriou Dikaiou street, Engomi, Nicosia. 22-489999. For now, the selections are available through food delivery apps
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