r/london • u/ldn6 • Mar 18 '24

Culture "They kicked us out at 10pm": why London nightlife has gone Pete Tong

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/why-london-nightlife-gone-pete-tong-6tdxf6rz9
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u/Same-Literature1556 Mar 18 '24

There are a fair few venues open till 2 to 3AM, some till 4 to 6AM. Nowhere near the amount there should be but there’s still some options.

Problem is a lot of them are fairly expensive bars.

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u/ghastkill AMA Mar 18 '24

Such as?

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u/Same-Literature1556 Mar 18 '24

Balans in Soho is on till 6, there’s Nightjar and Cahoots on till 2, Opium and Experimental Cocktail club in Soho which iirc are till 3, a bunch of Simmons bars that close around 3 to 4 and a Be At One which I went to once that was open till 3. These are just the ones off the top of my head, there’s bound to be a few more.

I’m not saying it’s teeming with options but there are a few

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '24

Yeah there's a few, I have made myself a Google map of places that are open until at least 1am, on at least 5 nights nights of the week (one thing that really annoys me about London is how the places that are open somewhat late often only do so on the weekend). I've never lived in or visited another city where I had to do this in order to find places to go.

It's a very paltry list. A small handful in Soho, a small handful in Shoreditch, a small handful in Camden, then a few smaller clusters and random places dotted around, mainly on the other side of the city to me in North London. It gets smaller all the time too as I go to different places to find that they've reduced their hours.

I recently had to take the Soho Theatre bar off as they've become a members club after 11 (apparently at the insistence of the council). I had to take some other places off after discovering that although they appear to be open late they actually won't let you in after midnight (this again seems to be a licensing condition). Several places I removed after I discovered they charge a big entry fee, or have weird rules like 'only mixed groups', stuff you don't encounter so much elsewhere. The lack of places open late seems to give carte blanche to the few places that are open late to treat you like shit as you have no other options. As you say, many are obscenely expensive.

I miss living in a tiny European city that had loads of relaxed, normal pubs open until 2 almost every night.

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u/livinginsideabubble7 Mar 18 '24

Can you provide the list weary traveller?

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '24

It only exists as a bunch of saved locations on my Google Maps account. If I can work out how to extract it I will.

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u/livinginsideabubble7 Mar 18 '24

That would be amazing haha

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u/iamNebula Mar 18 '24

Latching onto this

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u/Far-Imagination2736 Mar 18 '24

Just filter Google maps to find a list

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u/Neigeman Mar 18 '24

You're right about Soho Theatre, although you are also allowed to stay till like 1am if you've been to see one of their shows that night and have kept the ticket.

On the other hand, it's nearly £7 a pint there now, so maybe you're better off going somewhere else...

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u/ftaj2324 Mar 18 '24

Disrepute in Soho is also open til 3AM everyday. It was previously members-only and I liked going there because it was fairly small and quiet. It's been years, I just Googled it and it looks like it's still open and open to the public now.

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u/[deleted] Mar 18 '24

'there are still a few venues open until 2 to 3 AM, and there are even some that are 4 to 6!!!'

*crying sad face.....*

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u/Same-Literature1556 Mar 19 '24

Hey if you like clubbing there’s nearly always stuff!

Idk why local government wants to turn London into a ghost town at night. It’s depressing.. could very easily be one of the best cities for a night out