Observations: Doodle Bar invites drinkers to make their artistic mark

Children are always told off for drawing on things they shouldn't but, at a new arts café and bar in Battersea, South London it's positively encouraged. Aptly named the Doodle Bar, everything is a whitewashed, blank canvas and punters are invited to make their artistic mark on walls, tables, chairs and even the waiters, who wear white. Inside the bar is a VW Beetle, a 1970s chaise longue, a ping-pong table and, weaving across the walls, a basic outline of a map of London, that can all be added to and coloured in.

The brainchild of Jules Cocke from Squint/ Opera, a film and art collective, and illustrator Serge Seidlitz, who together started Doodle Earth, (touring doodle events) a couple of years ago, the idea is for the bar to become a constantly evolving collaborative work of art. "If you give someone a pen and alcohol, it unleashes their inner child," says Seidlitz. "People enjoy letting go, and it's a nice antidote to a tough week. Everyone has a drawer in them."

The bar will be in place for at least eight months, with plenty of events lined up including weekly yoga sessions, film screenings, life drawing classes and exhibitions and talks from the likes of US film-maker Jamie Johnson. Local resident Vivienne Westwood will be hosting monthly screenings for her staff. The drawings will be edited so only the best are kept and the rest of the walls wiped clean each night. Pens are provided, so go down and get scribbling.

www.thedoodlebar.com