Even if you’ve never heard of James Fisher or his company, Lost Hospitality, you’ve likely heard of (or even relaxed in) one of his unique spaces. To date, these unique locations include Second Story in Covington, Alice on Main Street downtown, the lush and vibrant Somerset Bar on E. McMicken, and its sister venue, Somerhouse, a private events space on Republic Street.
When you step into any of these locations, you are immediately enveloped in a warm, global and eclectic atmosphere that was perfectly intended. James and his team work diligently to create spaces that respect the history of the original buildings while bringing them into the present day in a fresh and vibrant way. Perhaps the only way to achieve this level of curated care is to do everything by hand. Some would say “the hard way”. But for James, it’s business as usual. How he does it is what we embrace. Cheers!
1) You grew up globally and could have literally settled anywhere in the world, so why Cincinnati?
“I came here in 2011 to do The Brandery after spending about 4 years in Berlin, Germany (thanks to Rob McDonald and co. for making it happen!) and as soon as I got here I fell in love with the architecture and community of OTR, so I moved there and am still here today.
After spending a lot of time in business in East Germany, I found the business culture here really refreshing, especially in terms of the openness and willingness of people to give me a little bit of their time with no expectations.
The city has obviously changed a lot and there is still a lot to do, but I much prefer places like this, where there are opportunities, which in my case are beautiful spaces where people have the luxury of putting cool things. That’s not the case in my hometown of London, or in many of your great coastal cities!
2) For you, the “ambience” of a place is obviously one of the most important things. What is your process for getting the ambience right?
“In general, we throw out the rulebook, experiment and do our own thing. We try to create places that have meaning, and that often means incorporating ideas and philosophies into our spaces. We see it as an art project, not just a ‘bar extension’ or something like that.”
A big part of that is that we do everything ourselves, it’s all built by hand by a small number of people. We barely outsource because finding new ways to solve problems requires building our own knowledge.”
3) What is your next big project?
“The bar opening was a sort of warm-up for our current work on our first hotel, The Muse, which will be located in the Germania Building at 12th and Walnut Streets. It’s an incredible building rich in history that we deeply respect while also wanting to help transform it into the future. We are committed to this project and aim to create a hotel that will be a catalyst for a leap in the quality of design in our city. Importantly, we also want to keep the price competitive. We believe that landmark design that cultural contributors can actually use is essential to continuing to develop the cultural side of the city.”
This first hotel is a small learning experience for us, but we are also getting ready to open our second hotel very soon. Hotels are our future and all our work so far has been about figuring out how to deliver unique design, architecture and a platform from which to grow.”
4) Describe your company’s philosophy of doing good for the community and your employees. It’s unique.
“Firstly, I think it’s most important that as a business you make a positive contribution to the local economy and once you start something that creates enough opportunity, make sure you promote it appropriately.
We continue to get better at all of these things, but our goal is to ensure that our employees are well looked after, treated as adults and colleagues, and given meaningful opportunities as they grow and contribute. In everything we do, we always strive to enhance the local community from a cultural perspective (allowing non-profits and arts organizations to use our Somerset space for free is a simple example).
Finally, we aim to directly support overseas hospitality entrepreneurs where opportunities are extremely limited. A little bit of our support can make a big difference. We helped one stranded family in Tanzania complete their guesthouse, and another young person start up a Kilimanjaro expedition company.”
5) Entrepreneurs are in your community. Shout out to your top 3 awesome collaboration crews.
“It’s hard to narrow it down because there are so many, but I definitely want to thank Charlie Rittgers of Rittgers Rittgers Nakajima. Guy is a bit of a contradiction in that he’s both a lawyer and one of the most decent people you’ll ever meet.
I’d also like to thank Jay Morelock, whose thoughtful discussions really helped me craft the game plan for the hotel, and Tony Alexander, because it’s Tony, you just can’t help but love his adorable face.
Credit: James Fisher, Founder of Lost Hospitality
Bonus question: Is there a spiritual “twin” city of Cincinnati somewhere in the world? If so, where would it be?
“That’s a good question, but also a difficult one to answer – every place is so unique and the cultural and economic factors that shape it vary greatly.
“I immediately fell in love with the city, surrounded by hills, as it reminded me of my hometown, Bath. In fact, I love the whole region, so it only felt natural to name our first bar Somerset.”
