Party starters: Colour Factory in Hackney Wick
(Picture: @domdommartin)Post-lockdown, London’s going-out scene is firmly, fabulously back — and nowhere is that renewed spirit more evident than on the capital’s dancefloors.
From revamped institutions that are making a big comeback after years away, to the new openings that were thwarted by the ‘rona but are coming back even stronger second time around, the city’s late-night playground is ripe for exploring.
Here’s your guide to London’s freshest spots; it’s time to go out-out.
KOKO
When it opens next week, this will be one with queues snaking down the High Street with dancers, drinkers and everyone else besides clamouring to explore KOKO’s four floors of fun. When it closed its doors for a long-planned refurbishment in March 2019, KOKO can’t have been expecting the biblical misfortune that would be heading its way — works disrupted by fire, water damage and the plague — but now, three years and £70 million later, the grand old Camden venue is back and looking better than ever.
The main theatre will remain the heart of its gigs-and-DJ-nights operation, but the restoration has opened up a maze of new spaces: the famous dome now a cocktail bar, a jazz club named after the actress Ellen Terry (who opened the venue way back when), a pizzeria, recording studio, DJ space and more. The ultimate party palace?
1A Camden High Street, NW1, koko.co.uk
Colour Factory
In a past life, this Hackney Wick venue was known as Mick’s Garage — but it’s now Colour Factory. There’s more to the change than just a name though, with this black-owned club launching with the mission of only putting on line-ups with “at least one person of colour [and] always mixed gender” for its in-house events.
That inclusive mindset has yielded some landmark events: it was involved in hosting Body Movements, east London’s first ever queer electronic music festival, and was the scene of Yung Singh’s explosive Boiler Room set late last summer, a major moment for South Asian representation in clubbing. It’s proof that nights out can be good in every sense of the word.
8 Queen’s Yard, E9, colourfactory.com
Abandon Ship
On the walls of this new Covent Garden dive bar is the legend: “I have no idea what I am doing”. Its entrance, a red-neon arcade game strip, hints at the madness below, one fuelled by live DJs, rum-heavy cocktails and pints of Tennent’s lager going out (the group started off in Scotland). Fun is to be had but talking about it is bad form; the other logo shining here runs “Loose lips sink ships”. Says it all.
63 Neal Street, WC2, abandonshipbar.com
Space 289
There’s something peculiarly special about nightclubs that tuck themselves away below railway arches. For years now, Corsica Studios has been a reliable conjurer of the magic you get when loud music vibrates the dark beneath the tracks. Now there’s a new spot for a railway-adjacent rave: Space 289.
Though it first opened before ‘rona, the Bethnal Green venue has only really established itself as a must-visit for London’s clubbers since relaunching last summer. Unfussy interiors, a tiny capacity of about 200, and a sound system that punches well above its weight all mean that this place feels like a hidden gem, especially with a programme that seems intent on exploring the nooks and crannies of UK dance music.
289 Cambridge Heath Road, E2, space289.com
The Aubrey
When Bar Boulud closed, questions flew — how would the Mandarin Oriental replicate Daniel Boulud’s much loved spot, hailed as the dream neighbourhood restaurant for the well-heeled? The hotel’s answer was: we won’t. Instead, they opened the Aubrey, a slinky, velvet-clad take on a Japanese izakaya. It was a move that mocked the idea of izakayas as analogous to pubs.
What’s here is a purring hideaway that draws Studio 54 crowds for nights that replicate David Mancuso’s celebrated Loft parties which captivated New York in the Seventies and Eighties. Things start softly, all plates of deftly done sushi and sandos, but on the weekends, cocktail shakers begin to sound, music plays and the dancing begins. The downstairs bar at the new St Martin’s House in Covent Garden (WC2, stmartinshouselondon.co.uk) does something similar.
66 Knightsbridge, SW1, mandarinoriental.com
Orange Yard
These days, it’s pretty rare to find a proper nightclub in the heart of London — you can thank the rents for that — but in Orange Yard, we’ve got one. Landing on Soho in 2019, it feels new thanks to a refurbishment. It’s a rather more swanky affair than you’ll find in Zone 2 and beyond; you can count on slick interiors setting this one apart from the warehouse vogue. With a 300-person capacity limit, it retains the intimacy that sometimes gets wafted away in larger spaces. Music is dedicated to all styles of house, from old-school Chicago classics to modern thumpers.
Manette Street, W1, orangeyardsoho.com
The Act
After the Terribly Serious post-pandemic phase — when every TikTok-accredited mixologist would go to places demanding drinks with tinctures — there’s been a cry out for bars that are just about having a laugh. The Act brings the West End to west London, and whereas other places try to hide the fact their bartenders are also actors, this place celebrates it. There’s an Indian-inspired cocktail menu, but the real draw is the staff, all professional performers who get the crowds going by belting out the hits. It’s boozy and, early reports suggest, a riot.
126-128 Notting Hill Gate, W11, @theactnottinghill
Lord Napier Star
This boozer has a history as colourful as its graffiti-splattered facade. Starting out as a watering hole for factory workers in the 1860s, it remained a reliable East End pub until it closed in 1995, and swiftly the building took on a new guise as a hotspot for illegal raves. Those were eventually snuffed out by the council, but its arty exterior became an attraction in its own right, even if some of the graffiti wasn’t too Insta feed-friendly. Since late last summer, it’s been revived as a jack-of-all-trades pub, buoyed by good-time DJs, offering everything from a sun-soaked roof terrace to Thai-inspired grub from the kitchen. Come for lunch, stay into the night.
25 White Post Lane, E9, lordnapierstar.co.uk
Werkhaus
This spot isn’t technically new, but it feels it. After holding tight through the pandemic, it’s since re-opened with all the raw, crackling energy of a venue reborn. The industrial-style space, which can pack in up to 300 revellers, is a versatile one — it’s one of the venues involved in the Brick Lane Jazz Festival later this month (April 22-24, bricklanejazzfestival.com) — but it comes into its own as an intimate, intense club.
There’s a heavy-hitting sound system courtesy of Funktion One (for the uninitiated, that’s a byword for top-notch quality) and a broad-scope focus on the up-and-comers shaping the sound of what’s to come. Best bit? The Brick Lane location means it’s perfectly placed for a post-rave bagel.
91 Brick Lane, E1, werkhauslondon.com
Fabric
Until the start of the pandemic, Fabric had stayed more or less the same since it opened in 1999: a huge, underground dance music lair known for top-tier DJs and sprawling parties that would often spill out across the whole weekend. But now, this ain’t the Fabric of old. Emerging from the Covid-enforced break, things have changed.
The club has had its first venue-wide refurbishment in 22 years: expect everything from a pounding new sound system and DJ booth in Room 2, to chain-swing seats where the beds used to be in the Sunken Bar. They’ve also put into place a strict no-cameras-in-the-club policy, doing away with any vibe-shattering smartphone intrusions. It all means that, of the many places to lose yourself for the evening, Fabric is still among the best.
