CLOCKWORK sits within the Fairmont Royal York, its entrance positioned so that the first thing guests see on arrival is a two-storey tower with a railway clock at its peak and a custom astrological clock on the opposite face. The design draws on Toronto’s railway heritage and the grandeur of historic Union Station, with jewel-toned seating, warm gold lighting, and a ceiling that has remained largely untouched since 1929. The bar itself, built in 2025 by Behind Bars agency, is the largest single-piece unit the company has shipped to North America – over a tonne of custom metalwork designed to handle the volume the space demands, including two ice wells running simultaneously.

The drinks list takes modern classics as its starting point and adds a single dimension to each – a familiar cocktail pushed just beyond its original spec. A Vesper Martini becomes a Stonefruit Vesper through the addition of plum, apricot, and peach; the structure of the original remains recognisable while the drink moves somewhere new. The menu leans towards white spirits and sparkling wine, reflecting the bar’s champagne focus – 97 labels across a range of producers and vintages. Cocktails are developed collaboratively, with flavour pairings established before technique is determined, and the process can take anything from a simple bitters addition to a custom distillate produced in-house.

The production operation behind the menu runs from a commercial kitchen with two walk-in fridges, a walk-in freezer, and two rotary evaporators, alongside a dedicated R&D bar used for menu development and competition preparation. Technique across the list includes vacuum distillation, nitrogenation, wood ageing, protein clarification, and pressure muddling alongside more conventional methods. When liqueurs become unavailable through suppliers, the team reverse-engineers and produces their own.

Sustainability runs through the operation with some specificity. Peeled citrus from the bar is collected by a local distillery and turned into RYH Hesperidium, a house citrus liqueur used across the hotel’s bars and dining rooms. Pollinator Partnership Canada runs workshops for the team that have directly shaped the non-alcoholic offering, and organic waste is tracked across the property using Orbisk food waste monitors – AI-powered image recognition that measures waste per cover and guides reduction targets. An ongoing industry masterclass series has been running for two years, drawing figures including Agostino Perrone and Dale DeGroff to sessions open to the wider bartending community.