Shoreditch clubs

Established in 2010, this excellent Shoreditch venue quickly cemented itself as one of the most on-point clubbing spaces and gig venues in London, thanks to a booking selection that ignored genre and simply focused on quality. Scores of London's hippest punters and party-lovers flock to XOYO every weekend to hear the latest DJs, producers (and – on weekdays – bands and singer-songwriters) do their thing over the club's two floors. XOYO has run a regular residency series since 2014, asking top DJs (Eats Everything, Jackmaster, The 2 Bears, Simian Mobile Disco) to curate the club's Saturday night programme for three-month slots. The series proved extremely successful and 2019 brings yet more awesome selectors to whip up the crowds. There seems to be no stopping XOYO, and that's a fine thing indeed.

You can’t miss Village Underground thanks to the four brightly coloured, graffiti-covered tube carriages perched on its roof. The decommissioned Jubilee line carriages and accompanying shipping containers were installed on top of the warehouse venue in 2007 in response to the need for affordable artists’ studios in central London. Now housing around 30 creatives working in a range of disciplines, its previous tenants include the likes of immersive theatre company Punchdrunk and LGBTQ+ nightlife collective Sink the Pink. A renovated Victorian warehouse space below has become one of Shoreditch’s most popular gigging and clubbing venues, and plays host to a varied programme of exhibitions, concerts, theatre and live art year-round. 

If more venues made an effort to design their rooms as cosily splendid as this place then we'd be happier. The upstairs bar is one of those joints you just know you'll enjoy kicking back in. Imagine sultry dimmed lights, in a large room with a hint of loft space with a conscious nod to comfort via sofas –you've got an oasis of calm in a bustling district. Open daily for cocktails and a broad playlist of house, jazz, funk, soul, disco and R&B, including regular weekend DJ nights like Wild Hearts on Saturdays.

The venue formerly known as Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen has been given a vibrant new look and a new, more varied entertainment programme. Expect R&B and hip hop nights as well as club nights hosted by LGBTQ+ collectives including Hungama and Pxssy Palace. A 300-capacity gig space, Colours Hoxton was created in collaboration with two of East London’s best live music venues, Village Underground and EartH, so you can expect intimate live shows from rising stars working in genres ranging from nu jazz and soul to hip hop and electro-pop.

The Queen of Hoxton – pub, club and everything in between – offers an eclectic mix over two fun floors, with DJs playing on a cutting-edge disco/house tip on the weekends, while film nights, fringe theatre and food often take centre-stage during the week. Their huge rooftop is one of the funnest in London too – with an enormous wigwam set up during the winter months.

It doesn’t sound like a place for an exciting night out, but behind the sedate name is one of the most consistently creative bars in London. The Book Club is a popular, laid back, lived-in basement bar that originally helped Hoxton earn its hip title, and in intervening years little has changed down in the basement, which remains plain and comfortable. You could visit for the drinks alone: cocktails are served in glasses or jugs to share, and come with names like Don’t Go To Dalston, or the Lorraine Kelly (made with tangy grapefruit and rum) – the emphasis is on fun and easy drinkability rather than serious mixology. (A better beer selection would be welcome, however.) You could visit for the food: breakfast starts at 8am, when the laptop tappers who work in the area use it for off-the-cuff morning meetings; lunch and dinner are simple but filling and homely, with a small menu including the likes of bar snacks, nachos and sharing platters (worth a punt). Or – and this is what sets Book Club apart – you could visit for the packed timetable of events, which includes bands, DJs, lunchtime discos, film dance-a-longs, alternative dating nights, ping-pong tournaments, informative talks, life drawing and classic video game nights. The young and relaxed crowd that pack into the spacious artwork-dotted space and its atmospheric basement are here for a bit of everything.

Despite its location at the epicentre of the Shoreditch party scene and its association with hipster bible Vice (which bought the place in 2004), the Old Blue Last does a remarkable job of defying preconceptions. Absent are the bare lightbulbs and brick walls of those that have arrived in its wake, and, while London- and US-made craft beers are available, big-brand brews like Heineken and Grolsch get prime representation on the taps. Furniture is minimal, something you’ll be thankful of from 7pm onwards, when nearby digital drones flock in to decompress over pints. It’s this enduring popularity – and a reputation for first-class live music – that’s elevated the Old Blue Last above other East End scene spots.

No-one quite knew what would happen to 89 Great Eastern Street when the popular East Village club closed suddenly in 2014. Thankfully, in March 2014 Trapeze opened, ensuring that one of Shoreditch's best-loved clubbing spaces didn't go to waste. Trapeze is a two-floor venue with a bar and kitchen up top (themed, as you might guess, around a colourful, twisted circus) and an intimate basement club down below. The house, disco and funk feel of East Village's programming remains a fixture at Trapeze thanks to EV's Stuart Patterson remaining in control of the line-ups, and you can expect to see all manner of top DJs spinning tunes to a crowd that know – and love – their house music. Terry Farley, Marshall Jefferson and Joey Negro have all played sets there, so expect acts of a similarly high calibre to continue setting the scene. Hip hop fans can also get their fix from occasional nights run by prime London beat crew The Doctor's Orders.

There's more to this two-floor, pay-by-the-hour co-work space on Kingsland Road than just the desk space. There's a cocktail lounge, a café and a programme of events ranging from launch parties and DJ sets to spoken word, poetry and industry talks.  During the day (from 8am-6pm) it's a pay-by-the-hour venue, but then it's open to all. 

London’s trend for pub-clubbing continues apace in this revamped Shoreditch spot. During the day, it’s a good old East End boozer, but at night, the two-floor space turns into a disco hotspot. Thanks to some quality programming, some of the scene’s best DJs, including the likes of Fabric’s Craig Richards, Secretsundaze’s James Priestley and the legendary Greg Wilson, have played in one of the pub’s three rooms. Its latest addition, the Boudoir, could rival fellow pub-club the Lock Tavern as having the capital’s dinkiest dancefloor, which makes for an intense dancing experience. Further perks include a late license, the homemade grub and purse-friendly cover charges.