Perennials: Adam Symonds

To celebrate this year’s Perennials collection, we travelled from New York to London to Paris, spending a few days with friends whose style we admire to find out how they wear Drake’s, and to see how these clothes have become trusted companions in their everyday lives.

On a bright morning before service starts, Adam Symonds welcomes us into his restaurant, The Baring, in Islington. It’s a beautifully stripped-back space, but one overflowing with warmth and casual charm. Opening in 2022, it's grown into a well-loved local haunt, famed for its ever-changing lunch menu and plates full of robust flavour.

Adam's journey in the world of restaurants began inconspicuously enough working behind the bar of his local pub in the downtime between playing in bands. It grew organically from there, working his way through some of London’s most interesting restaurants, until he met chef Rob Tecwyn, and together they launched The Baring.

They’ve also just opened a new space down in Camberwell called The Kerfield, a welcome addition to the neighborhood. If The Baring is a restaurant housed in an old pub interior, The Kerfield leans more into being a pub as well, though both are infinitely welcoming, whether you’d like to pop in for a quick drink and a snack or a decadent three course dinner.

How are you finding the new space in Camberwell? Do you see a lot of difference in the crowd between there and De Beauvoir?

Camberwell is a really interesting part of London. There’s a huge amount of goodwill for the area and for independent businesses — people really want their part of town to be good. North London, around De Beauvoir and Islington, is much more heavily served when it comes to pubs and restaurants; there’s a stronger, more established food identity. South London is more spread out, so when something good opens, people really get behind it.

We had an incredible amount of support when we first opened, and that’s continued. Like anywhere in London, it’s incredibly diverse. The crowd is probably a bit younger than at The Baring, but there are also lots of families, people who’ve moved there to have kids, and people who’ve lived there for years, old money alongside new energy.

Crowd-wise, it’s not drastically different from The Baring, but Camberwell definitely has an energy to it. It feels exciting, fun, and very supportive of independent restaurants.

What have you taken from The Baring to The Kerfield? What have you left behind? What have you learned?

The strongest thing we’ve taken across is the cooking. Jay, who’s part of the business with Rob and me at Kerfield, cooked with Rob for a long time at The Baring, so there’s a very similar style of cooking. The dishes are different, but the approach is the same. The menu format and size are similar too, as is the service — attentive, friendly, but relaxed. That’s the kind of service I like when I go out.

Atmosphere-wise, there are similarities as well: low lighting, candles, a good vibe. What’s different is that with Kerfield, we really wanted it to function properly as a pub. At The Baring, we always imagined people would come in just for a drink, but it never really happened, it became more of a restaurant in a pub. At Kerfield, you can come in any time we’re open just for a drink. The bar is mostly unbooked, there are lots of stools, lots of space, and plenty of outdoor seating in the summer.

We’ve learned a lot being in Camberwell. It’s different to Islington. We do more bar snacks, pies, specials, and more approachable, pubby food. We want Kerfield to be for everyone — not just people who’ve booked in for dinner. That flexibility is probably the biggest thing we’ve learned.

Tell us about The Baring. For anyone who has not been before, how would you describe it?

The Baring is technically a pub, but it definitely sits on the fringes of that. It’s always been known for its food. We were very lucky when we opened in 2022 to get three really strong reviews early on, and it quickly became a food destination.

It’s a lovely room. Very simple: whitewashed walls, simple lighting, but it really comes into its own in the evening. Lights down low, candles out, the open fire lit. It’s warm, comfortable, and it doesn’t need to be full to feel good or have an atmosphere, which I think does a lot of the work for the place.

The food is incredible, the service is great, but there’s something about the room itself that’s really special. Three things — food, service, and ambience — makes it what it is.

You were a musician for a time. How did you end up running two restaurants?

I started working in pubs the day after my 18th birthday, in the village I grew up in in Hertfordshire. At the time, it was just a job to earn some money. Alongside that, I was playing music in metal and hardcore bands right through into my mid-twenties.

When you’re touring, you come back and you need money, so pubs were always there. When my first proper band split up in my mid-twenties, I ended up working in a lot of good food pubs and restaurants in London, and just carried on from there.

Eventually, you work your way up to running places for other people, and then at some point it feels like the time comes to do it for yourself. That’s how we ended up here.

Did you always want to work in restaurants? Was there a moment that convinced you this was your calling?

I wouldn’t say I always wanted to work in restaurants at all. But my dad and my brother were chefs, so cooking and hospitality were always around me.

But there was never a eureka moment where I thought, “This is my calling.” Life just leads you in certain directions. You do something long enough, you get good at it, and you learn how to do it well. For me, it’s about creating a nice space where people want to be.

I really love what I do and I don’t regret it at all, but it was never some grand realisation, just one step after another.

What’s your favourite time at work?

I think my favourite moments are when the room feels good, when people are enjoying themselves, the atmosphere’s right, and everything’s flowing. That’s really what it’s all about: creating a space people enjoy being in.
What’s the hardest?

The hardest part is just how tough the industry is now. Pubs and restaurants are incredibly hard to run in London, and more people are going bust than ever, especially in 2025. That pressure is always there.

What do you hope for The Baring and The Kerfield in 2026?

Honestly, we just want to keep doing what we’re doing. We want both places to stay busy, and for people to keep enjoying being in them and enjoying what we do. Kerfield is still new and has a long way to go, but we’re loving being in Camberwell.

As long as people are enjoying it, we’ll keep enjoying it. For now, it’s about keeping our heads down and making these two pubs work, and we’ll see what the future brings.