There’s something to be said about the collision of food and music, not least because plenty of restaurateurs are against it.
Traditionally owners would want their restaurant to be awash with the great and the good: artists, actors and media luvvies rubbing shoulders with out-of-towners, dates, and mother-in-law visits all amounting to a gentle cacophony of clinking cutlery and glassware, chatter and laughter, none of which would be measurably improved by the addition of music.
The argument in those days was that in a properly buzzy restaurant, music adds unnecessary noise, or, to put it another way, it supplants an ambience when the dining room doesn’t naturally have one.
But the relationship between music and restaurants has evolved, and fast.
We’re in an age of restaurant “experiences” and for a time, that meant chefs lazily added more courses to a menu or plied the dining room with gimmicks. Now though, a new generation of restaurateurs — who these days see themselves more as curators — have drawn inspiration from their passions to add well-thought-through music and sonic curation to the experience of a dining room.
Music tastes are, like food, deeply personal things: why someone adores James over Etta James is a matter of preference. But in a carefully crafted experience-led environment, a well-designed playlist can be the difference between a good night out and a great one.
Jazu are no strangers to this. They had a home in Peckham for some time, as well as the odd pop-up around south London. Now finding a new home in Deptford, founders Jimmy Hamner, Scott Addison, Rosie Robertson noted their primary role is to “offer the things that we think are good, and prepare them with knowledge and care. From the quality ingredients in our food and drink offering to our hi-fi.”
Quality curation across the board, then? “It’s a commitment to quality, yes, but great listening bars also have a personality in terms of the sound, the music and the atmosphere. It has become a broad category, but for us, it’s a sense of commitment, a drive to keep offering something interesting, that’s worthy of your time — and your ear.
“We were vaguely influenced by the Japanese Listening Bars — for their reverence of a quality listening experience — and by bars like Cafe de Nadie and Tokyo Listening Bar in Mexico City and Spiritland in London”
Creating a new kind of space, beyond a wine bar or a restaurant, represents something of an evolution then, and another facet to the exciting London scene. An internationally inflected hybrid which never becomes as seedy as a nightclub or as debauched as a members bar, but which subtly relaxes as the evening winds down (or indeed, up).
“When we were looking for our own site, having space to dance and a later licence were our top priorities, and the site in Deptford came through with both. The space transitions from a seated cocktail bar with a high-fidelity, vinyl-only set up, to a much more dynamic, dance-y space after 11pm,” says Hamner.
For a new generation of music-led spaces, here’s where to head.
Jumbi
Jumbi feels like an institution, a space for genuine creativity, and real originality: qualities that make a good listening/hi-fi bar so appealing. The founders, Bradley Zero and Nathanael Colours (of the Colour Factory) set up a space to champion the Afro-Caribbean diaspora of Peckham and the wider south London communities, with a mostly plant-based menu which can be dialled-up to include Caribbean favourites of chicken and oxtail.
Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Road, SE15 3SN, jumbipeckham.com
Goodbye Horses
Itself the name of a Q Lazzurus song (a beautiful single, made eerily famous by a particularly disturbed scene in the film Hannibal), Goodbye Horses probably represents the most complete realisation of the listening bar to date. A coffee shop which becomes a wine bar and restaurant — and an ice cream parlour, because why not? — gravitates around music and creating convivial spaces. There are around 4,000 records on display and with the help of eight amps and four Lancaster speakers, owners Alex Young and George de Vos spin their favourites in full, from start to finish.
21 Halliford Street, N1 3HB, goodbyehorses.london
Hausu
The latest listening bar in town has a stellar line-up. There’s a small fireplace and an almost pubby set of seating arrangements, alongside causal and appealing food from Holly Middleton, a Camberwell Arms graduate. It describes the sound as “high fidelity vintage”, with Jumbi Peckham resident DJ Chris Himself a regular feature on the decks. With these guys at the helm, Hausu has a lineup that promises much.
Station Way, Peckham, SE15 4RX, hausulondon.co.uk
mu
The follow up to the rather brilliant Brilliant Corners had to be, well, brilliant. Enter mu, a quiet Kingsland road spot with daily live music and DJ sets in a setting that lends itself almost too perfectly to date night; it’s as if the team pulled the aesthetic straight from a Robert Altman film set. With accessible Japanese food too, it’s an ideal spot to discover a new favourite artist. Brilliant.
Kingsland Road, Dalston, E8 4AE, mu-ldn.com
Jazu
In May of this year, it was uncertain as to whether Peckham favourite Jazu would find its own bricks and mortar site. But Deptford proved an alluring opportunity too good to pass up and over the summer, Jazu opened on the SE8 high street. It’s free to enter on the more musical evenings, just book a table and enjoy some excellent cocktails. Oh, and Jazu does a pickleback for £5.50 (a measure of whiskey with a pickle juice chaser). Joy in a shot glass.
Deptford High Street, SE8 4AF, jazudrinks.com
Spiritland
Of the bunch, Spiritland is the settled, refined option a mature, early pioneer of the listening bar, which closed its Southbank venture last year in favour of the glossy high finish of the new Kings Cross development. The sound system is state of the art and the food is as casual and accessible as you’d want it to be.
Stable Street, N1C 4AB, spiritland.com
For other listening bars, Godet is slated for the end of the month on Essex Road, and look out for the possible re-opening of System, formerly in Stella’s of Stoke Newington.
