Vodka Bar farewell events

Tomorrow-July 25, 10pm

You might forgive Pete Gilham a little tear as he goes about his duties at SoHo's V13 Vodka Bar over the next few weeks.

After more than a decade - a venerable age when it comes to bars in Central - the bar is closing its doors at the end of the month, bringing the curtain down on one of the area's great small-time success stories.

'The bar has provided something unique in the area,' says Gilham, who took over as the bar's manager in 2003. 'It's always been independently owned and run and it provides an alternative with its varied music policy rather than just one tape on loop.

'If people ask us to put something on and we think it's what a lot of people might want to hear, we say go ahead.'

It's fitting then that the old girl is going out with a bang. In keeping with the music-themed nights that have made V13 so popular, Gilham has lined up a series of farewell events, ranging from tomorrow's house night and Saturday's focus on independent tunes through to next week's monthly stroll through the iPod lists of staff from Time Out magazine (sometimes a blessing, sometimes a curse).