Charity Soup Off Aims to Whizz Up Donations

For the past 10 years, a bunch of mainly CHI creatives along with some other Adland folk have informally met in the Newman Arms pub in London's Rathbone Street on the first Monday in December for a Soup Off; a competition to find out who can make the best homemade soup.

The soup spectacular is judged by David Moore from Charlotte Street’s Michelin-starred Pied A Terre, and BBC celebrity chef Jo Pratt, along with other Adland foodie folk.

Participants over the years have included CHI’s Micky Tudor and Yan Elliott, RBR's Dickie Megson, M&C Saatchi's Justin Tindall, BBH’s Ewan Paterson, even CHI's own Charles Inge. Each entrant coughs up an fee of £20 and the brewery donates a barrel of beer, the proceeds of which go to the charity chosen by the winner. Over £6k has been raised to date. 

Above: CHI's Mickey Brooks explains the history of Soup Off

With the Newman Arms closing last year, sadly, it seemed, so would the Soup Off. But, you can't keep a good soup down, and now it’s back, having moved East along with many other creatives, to The Sutton Arms in Clerkenwell. The aforementioned team are all on board, as well as Anomaly’s Nicky Russell, BBH’s Tom Skinner, 1stAveMachine's Isabella Parish, Ogilvy’s Sasha Orr, Mad Ruffian’s Amanda Jones to name a few.

Each year a trailer is made to promote the Soup Off and this year's Lock Stock-inspired offering, directed by Mad Ruffian,  can be seen at th top of the page. If you want to view the other trailers, you can find them here.  

So, if you’re free on the afternoon of Monday December 11 and find yourself in Clerkenwell, head down to The Sutton Arms from 1pm for a souper (sorry) afternoon's culinary competition and to find out who will win the Golden Ladle.