Travel and food YouTube channel TopJaw has enjoyed a strong start to 2025 thanks to its new celebrity-powered series Pint Shopping, with guests including Idris Elba.
Explaining the premise of the show, TopJaw founders Will Warr and Jesse Burgess said: “Come drink with us in London’s best pubs with some of the most interesting people in town. Some questions only feel suitable to be asked in a pub, backed by Dutch courage, resulting in hilarious, unfiltered and at times hard hitting chat.”
Episode one, featuring comedian Rhys James, dropped in mid-January and was followed by a nine-minute Idris Elba episode. Future episodes will feature Grace Dent and Max Fosh, with guests selecting the drinks and TopJaw choosing the bar snacks.
Launched on January 29, the Elba episode generated 54K views in its first five days. TopJaw, which has 398K subscribers, summarised: “We join Idris at Porte Noire, his bar in Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross to have a drink with him. Over cognac, he reveals how he feels about not winning Sexiest Man Alive since 2018, his favourite places to drink around the world, and wild tales of DJing in London pubs at just 10 years old.”
TopJaw is represented by YMU, whose commercial director Leon Harlow commented via LinkedIn: “TopJaw, our travel & food creator clients, began together in 2015. From the start, they’ve doubled down on giving their audience beautifully shot, immersive city guides & food recommendations – with humour and a sense of fun throughout. The result? Over 36million YouTube views in just a few years.”
According to Harlow, TopJaw’s short-form ‘Best of London’ series, featuring guests including Ed Sheeran Stanley Tucci and Jamie Oliver, “has grown their social following 10x in a year. Restaurants and pubs they’ve featured, like Trinity and Crisp Pizza, have seen thousands of new customers and a 900%+ spike in site visits.”
By continually evolving their formats, like Pint Shopping, “they keep their loyal fanbase engaged, creating a compounding effect,” said Harlow.
