Partygoers in London now have another venue in which to while away the summer nights this year: a new iteration of The Cause nightclub is finally finished after 18 months of hard graft and warm-up parties, and has now secured a long-term home in Docklands.
The Cause, which first opened in 2018 and quickly became a staple of London’s dance scene, was initially based in Tottenham, a stone’s throw away from current-day superclub Drumsheds, which is based in an old IKEA.
The original late-night spot started life as a 400-capacity nightclub but quickly grew, morphing into a labyrinth of rooms, courtyards and dancefloors. Covid-19 didn’t phase it: the party just moved outdoors, but in 2021, it was announced that the club would be closing its doors for good.
But now, The Cause has secured a long-term spot in a new location: an old Guinness and Tetley factory in the Docklands, within spitting distance of City Airport. The pair have been steadily bringing the club to life for the last 18 months, throwing a number of ‘soft-launch’ parties while work on the venue continued. Now, though, renovations are officially complete.
“Some people saying it's better than last space, quite a few: that makes you feel good,” says Wild.
There are also plans to spread their wings even further beyond this; The Cause have also confirmed plans to open a sister pub called The Greyhound in Peckham. The boozer is currently set to open its doors in March.
Eighteen months down the line, The Cause v.2 has five different rooms with a total capacity of 1050, plus a huge outdoor courtyard; that might feel cosy in comparison to a massive venue like Drumsheds or the currently-closed Printworks, but it’s still huge in comparison to majority of London’s clubs. Exploring the winding corridors and themed rooms has a charm all its own. And of course, there’s a state of the art soundsystem – the same system used by Glastonbury’s NYC Downlow – with teeth-rattling speakers positioned everywhere.
The whole thing has been renovated with a DIY ethos. “We’re constantly reusing and rejigging and trying to do everything on a shoe string where we can,” says Glen. Just take the outside space, which features a closed-off dancefloor made from old shipping containers and bits of wood, topped with a canvas tent.
The outfit is also completely independent, operating without any sponsors – and the pair say, they want to retain the community feel of the original.
“We've kind of built the core infrastructure. We know it works,” Glen says. “Now we can build nice DJ booths and also the community aspect, which we’ve been really missing since we left Tottenham. Obviously we had the radio station [Threads Radio] upstairs on the mezzanine level in Tottenham so we've been speaking to those guys about getting them back on board, so we’re looking to launch that.”
They’re also hoping to welcome in the locals: utilising the outdoor space for markets, for instance, or for five-a-side football tournaments (which the pair did when the space first opened).
It won’t just be techno, though. “To make any space work in London, you’ve got to be pretty diverse, you can’t just be house, techno twice a week. We embrace everything,” Wild says. “Anything from house techno to drum’n’bass to amapiano. We do live music every now and again. See what fits.”
The upcoming 2024 season features everything from Dutch Hardcore to appearances from electronic darling HAAi: check out the full line-up here.
