On Sunday 29th The Roadhouse World Flair Finals will be taking place, the world’s best will be showing off their skills, trying to win the coverted 1st place.

For those of you who don’t know, Roadhouse is a flair bar in Covent Garden. When it comes to flairing and flair competitions, Roadhouse is the Mecca. Throughout the year, on a monthly basis, heats are held to find flair bartenders worthy of competing in the world finals. People from all round the globe enter and take part in these competitions, for the chance to win £10,000!

It all started in 1999 when some of the Roadhouse bartenders decided it would be good fun to get on stage and start competing with each other.

A few months later it had become official and was attracting local bartenders to prove their talent to themselves and others. It wasn’t long before the competition was spread out, on a monthly basis, over a year.

Each month’s qualifier was aimed at different areas of the world so that everyone had a chance at the finals. Awesome qualification routine by Siya Mafia Bar from South Korea.

In previous years the Roadhouse World Final has seen its fair share of the greats, from Steve “Nitro” Smith who won the 1st finals to Tom “Dangerous” Dyer who won last year’s finals. This is the sick finale to his winning routine!

Some of the other winners from the finals include Nicolas St. Jean, Christian Delpeche, Diego Dillon, and Rodrigo Delpeche. There have been many other competitors whose names you will probably recognise, however the full list would be too great!

Check out this, to see the high standards of Roadhouse, reviewed by Neil Garner and Andy Collinson.

Each year the competitions are filled with new moves previously thought impossible or too hard to pull off.

Nicolas St Jean, a former Roadhouse champion, is known for constantly pushing the boundaries of flair.

The rate that skill is increasing in flair is incredible and makes every competition a treat to watch! This combined with a great atmosphere, brilliant drinks and that party feeling you get on an amazing night out, make the Roadhouse World Finals something very special, and I have no doubt that the 2009 finals will raise the bar yet again.

This is a couple of guys to watch, Sebastien Oguic and Alex Searle

If I still haven’t managed to persuade you to go and see it, watch these videos, and then think what these guys will be like with another year’s experience under the belt… wicked! Enjoy and hope to see you there!

Cheers

Sam Martin