New bar in town gets ‘krafty’

Wednesday 20 February 2019

A former DJ's new bar specialising in craft beers and artisan gins is hoping to bring a taste of Shoreditch to Jersey’s high street.

Krafty J’s, the brain child of John O’Connell, officially opened its doors in West’s Centre after a launch party over the weekend – bringing craft beer and a range of over 35 different gins to St. Helier.

John, who has been living in Jersey for almost 13 years, is no stranger to the local hospitality scene. Originally from Manchester and with plenty of experience as a DJ, John brought his love of music and nightlife to the island as one of the co-founders of ‘Reasons’ festival, as well as organising Streetlife – a craft beer and gin festival which takes place at the Parade every year.

Now, John’s partnered up with ex-nightclub owner Martin Hodson to open Krafty J’s. 

Pictured: John O'Connell is drawing on his experience in hospitality and nightlife to set up his own bar, Krafty J's.

It was this background and his passion for mixology which got John interested in setting up his own bar and when the former owners of 40 Bath Street were looking for someone to take over the lease, John told Express that he “fell in love with the building".

John told Express that he saw an opportunity to bring the “massive movement” surrounding craft beer and gin which is sweeping the UK to Jersey.

“I thought it would be perfect to open up a gin house and craft beer bar,” he said.

Among Krafty J’s extensive line of gins and craft beers, there are some familiar labels as the bar is looking to support locally distilled and brewed drinks, including Suma’s Sippin’ gin, and beers from Bliss and Stinky Bay Brewing Co. John hopes that stocking these drinks will help “promote Jersey and put it on the map” for locally-sourced alcohols.

Pictured: Krafty J's stocks over 35 different gins as well as a range of craft beers.

As well as these local drinks, Krafty J’s have their own brand of craft beers, which are brewed in the UK.

The bar had a soft launch party two weeks ago, but since securing his al fresco licence in the Royal Court last Friday, Krafty J’s officially launched over the weekend with an event in collaboration with Pizza Projekt. 

Speaking about the soft launch earlier this year, John said: “We got a really good response. The opening night was pretty chaotic, but we handled it... It was a wonderful night.

“Then I’ve been building up to try and get my al fresco licence, which I managed to achieve... so the licensed premise has been extended to outside... I’ve got a nice little area for 20-30 people outside.” 

Pictured: John has recently managed to get the license for an al fresco area outside the bar which was launched over the weekend.

As for the weekend’s official launch, John said that it “couldn’t have gone any better".

John said that customers that have visited so far “really enjoyed the laid-back quirkiness of the venue", adding: "We’ve had nothing but positive feedback on social media and in person.” 

John hopes that his bar will help invigorate this part of town, following in the footsteps of other start-ups that have set up shop nearby.

“We’ve got our lovely little centre called West’s Centre which, I think, potentially could [have] our own New York feel to it... I want to create the same vibes that I see when you go to places like Shoreditch.

"Everywhere in the UK there’s a huge, huge movement with beer and we’re behind, but we need to catch up... Hopefully people will see what I’ve done and they might do the same.”