Global Village's first ‘Witch Bar' attracts hundreds of visitors to try spooky themed drinks and other unusual beverages

Dubai, UAE - January 26, 2016: Abd AlKareem and his business partner Abdullah Al Hazri use special effects to create unique drinks and potions at their ‘witch’ inspired bar at Global Village. 

Global Village, the leading family cultural, shopping and entertainment destination in the region has seen its most quirky concept yet – a spooky themed bar that serves a medley of eerie spluttering and smoking beverages.

Draped in black and green, the bar creates a spooky vibe with ambient music interspersed with voices of cackling witches and other special effects. The decoration, from the dim lights to the pointy witches hats and the overall creepy vibe – have made it a hugely popular attraction for visitors this season.

Abd AlKareem Khamees, who conceptualised the theme along with his business partner Abdullah Al Hazri said that the idea was born from the need for more innovative food concepts in the market. Currently, the Witch Bar serves only beverages, but there are plans to introduce snacks to accompany the outlandish drinks.

“This is a new era for food; people are looking for new experiences and more importantly, they are looking to capture these experiences through social media platforms especially Instagram. We wanted to create something special that was founded on two things – creativity and good quality beverages.”

The Witch Bar has a variety of soft beverages and the most popular are the virgin mojitos and ‘Godzilla’ an original drink which contains Oronamin C, flavoured soda and a secret syrup recipe, mixed by the Witch Bar’s skilled bartenders. Other unusual drinks include Poison Ivy, Sparkling Witch, Black Widow and Dracula.

Says Abd: “We wanted to create a ‘non-alcoholic bar’ concept that would appeal to people of all ages.  The concept is already very popular with visitors of all ages at Global Village and all our guests’ rushes to take pictures with their drinks to share it with their friends through social media.”

Drinks cost around AED22 and contain the Witch Bar’s own secret recipe that took Abd and Abdullah a few months to develop. Encouraged by the popularity of the concept, the duo plan to roll out a permanent non-alcoholic bar in Dubai and are currently conducting a feasibility study. 

“We are very grateful to Global Village and Dubai SME for incentivising entrepreneurs to showcase their concepts here at Global Village. We would not have been able to participate without their support. If you are a local Business to Consumer (B2C) enterprise, this is the best place to get started.” says Abd.

Dubai SME and Global Village have come together to support local talent by offering a 50% discount to selected kiosks to encourage local entrepreneurship. Other popular food kiosks that have benefited from the incentives are Hugs, Fnyal Sweets, Balqees Kunafa and Sun Churros.      

“Global Village has grown to become one of the best winter attractions in the GCC and the MENA region. The festival has one of the largest number of visitors compared with other themed attractions in the region. The added entertainment and shopping options make it the best family attraction in the MENA region and we are quite delighted to be a part of it,” Abd concluded.