INSIDE PARLER: THE LISTENING BAR WITH A SOULFUL CHELTENHAM ACCENT

Tucked away just off the familiar rhythms of Cheltenham’s town centre, Parler™ opens its doors on Monday 28th July and with it, ushers in something altogether more refined, more deliberate, and infinitely more soulful.

It is a café, yes but also a bar, a listening room, and a quietly radical act of hospitality. The kind that doesn’t shout for your attention, but earns it the moment the needle hits the groove. Parler is the kind of place that feels both beautifully new and curiously familiar, as though it has always been there, waiting for you to stumble into it on a slow Tuesday morning or an amber-lit Friday night. A place where the coffee is as considered as the cocktails, and where the soundtrack isn’t just background noise, but part of the conversation.

Born from the vision of friends with an eye for detail and an ear for music, Parler is a gentle collision of cultures and eras: vintage Parisian café charm meets classic cocktail bar elegance, filtered through the grit and casual cool of a modern urban taproom. Yet it doesn’t cling to nostalgia. There’s something resolutely contemporary about it- British in its understated confidence, but with knowing nods to the jazz kissas of post-war Tokyo, where records were revered and conversations soft. The interior is a quietly cinematic scene: mid-century furniture that looks lifted from a Milanese architect’s living room, tropical greenery breathing life into corners, and street art murals that give just the right amount of irreverence. It’s all bound together by craftsmanship; bespoke cabinetry made by local artisans and hand-thrown ceramics by Cheltenham’s own Megan Burridge, and a custom vinyl sound system built not to impress, but to seduce.

And then there’s the menu, which reads like a greatest hits of independent excellence. Flaky, golden pastries and small plates from La Boulangerie Artisan are served alongside cult cocktails by Four Cats, with a micro taproom pouring fresh brews from local craft beer   heroes Deya. Wines come courtesy of Hackney’s Modest Merchant, all natural, expressive, and refreshingly unpretentious, while the coffee from Elsewhere in Deptford arrives as single estate and roasted with a near-academic level of precision. But it’s not just the flavours that feel curated; it’s the ethos behind them. Parler doesn’t just source, it collaborates. It elevates the local, favours the sustainable, and always finds beauty in the well-made.

Of course, what sets Parler apart most of all is the music. This isn’t a venue with a playlist; it’s a venue for the playlist. The kind of place where a rare Ethiopian jazz record might drift out of the speakers in the morning, followed by a touch of ambient soul at lunch, and deep, dubby grooves as the evening takes shape. DJs are present, but never performative and less about working the room, more about guiding its tempo. The first residency features Bristol’s More Soup DJs, whose sets blend lost soul, ambient jazz and the sort of vinyl treasures that haven’t seen the light of Spotify. It’s all part of a broader philosophy: that music is something to sit with, to taste, to remember. Not loud, not brash but just beautifully present.

At its core, Parler is a social space designed for slowness. Not in a sleepy or smug way, but in a way that feels almost rebellious in 2025. The name itself “Parler,”, to speak, invites conversation, and the atmosphere makes room for it. It harks back to a time when cafés weren’t coworking spaces, bars weren’t battlegrounds for attention, and music was more than a backdrop. Parler isn’t chasing trends, nor is it trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it’s doing something much harder: creating a place you’ll want to return to, again and again, because it makes you feel something.

When it opens on July 28th, Parler won’t be shouting about itself. It won’t need to. You’ll hear it in the music, taste it in the coffee, see it in the detail, and feel it in the air. And once you do, you’ll wonder how Cheltenham ever managed without it.

FOLLOW PARLER ON INSTAGRAM

40 Clarence Street, Cheltenham GL50 3NX​