Listen up and tune in: London's best listening bars

There’s thing to beryllium said astir the collision of nutrient and music, not slightest due to the fact that plentifulness of restaurateurs are against it. 

Traditionally owners would privation their restaurant to beryllium awash with the large and the good: artists, actors and media luvvies rubbing shoulders with out-of-towners, dates, and mother-in-law visits each amounting to a gentle cacophony of clinking cutlery and glassware, chatter and laughter, nary of which would beryllium measurably improved by the summation of music. 

The statement successful those days was that successful a decently buzzy restaurant, euphony adds unnecessary noise, or, to enactment it different way, it supplants an ambience erstwhile the eating country doesn’t people person one. 

But the narration betwixt euphony and restaurants has evolved, and fast.  

We’re successful an property of edifice “experiences” and for a time, that meant chefs lazily added much courses to a paper oregon plied the eating country with gimmicks. Now though, a caller procreation of restaurateurs — who these days spot themselves much arsenic curators — person drawn inspiration from their passions to adhd well-thought-through euphony and sonic curation to the acquisition of a eating room. 

Music tastes are, similar food, profoundly idiosyncratic things: wherefore idiosyncratic adores James implicit Etta James is simply a substance of preference. But successful a cautiously crafted experience-led environment, a well-designed playlist tin beryllium the quality betwixt a bully nighttime retired and a large one. 

Jazu are nary strangers to this. They had a location successful Peckham for immoderate time, arsenic good arsenic the unusual pop-up astir southbound London. Now uncovering a caller location successful Deptford, founders Jimmy Hamner, Scott Addison, Rosie Robertson noted their superior relation is to “offer the things that we deliberation are good, and hole them with cognition and care. From the prime ingredients successful our nutrient and portion offering to our hi-fi.” 

Quality curation crossed the board, then? “It’s a committedness to quality, yes, but large listening bars besides person a property successful presumption of the sound, the euphony and the atmosphere. It has go a wide category, but for us, it’s a consciousness of commitment, a thrust to support offering thing interesting, that’s worthy of your clip — and your ear.

“We were vaguely influenced by the Japanese Listening Bars — for their reverence of a prime listening acquisition — and by bars similar Cafe de Nadie and Tokyo Listening Bar successful Mexico City and Spiritland successful London” 

Creating a caller benignant of space, beyond a vino barroom oregon a restaurant, represents thing of an improvement then, and different facet to the breathtaking London scene. An internationally inflected hybrid which ne'er becomes arsenic seedy arsenic a nightclub oregon arsenic debauched arsenic a members bar, but which subtly relaxes arsenic the evening winds down (or indeed, up). 

“When we were looking for our ain site, having abstraction to creation and a aboriginal licence were our apical priorities, and the tract successful Deptford came done with both. The abstraction transitions from a seated cocktail barroom with a high-fidelity, vinyl-only acceptable up, to a overmuch much dynamic, dance-y abstraction aft 11pm,” says Hamner.

For a caller procreation of music-led spaces, here’s wherever to head. 

Jumbi feels similar an institution, a abstraction for genuine creativity, and existent originality: qualities that marque a bully listening/hi-fi barroom truthful appealing. The founders, Bradley Zero and Nathanael Colours (of the Colour Factory) acceptable up a abstraction to champion the Afro-Caribbean diaspora of Peckham and the wider southbound London communities, with a mostly plant-based paper which tin beryllium dialled-up to see Caribbean favourites of chickenhearted and oxtail. 

Itself the sanction of a Q Lazzurus opus (a beauteous single, made eerily celebrated by a peculiarly disturbed country successful the movie Hannibal), Goodbye Horses astir apt represents the astir implicit realisation of the listening barroom to date. A java store which becomes a vino barroom and edifice — and an crystal pick parlour, due to the fact that wherefore not? — gravitates astir euphony and creating convivial spaces. There are astir 4,000 records connected show and with the assistance of 8 amps and 4 Lancaster speakers, owners Alex Young and George de Vos rotation their favourites successful full, from commencement to finish. 

The latest listening barroom successful municipality has a stellar line-up. There’s a tiny fireplace and an astir pubby acceptable of seating arrangements, alongside causal and appealing nutrient from Holly Middleton, a Camberwell Arms graduate. It describes the dependable arsenic “high fidelity vintage”, with Jumbi Peckham nonmigratory DJ Chris Himself a regular diagnostic connected the decks. With these guys astatine the helm, Hausu has a lineup that promises much. 

The travel up to the alternatively superb Brilliant Corners had to be, well, brilliant. Enter mu, a quiescent Kingsland roadworthy spot with regular unrecorded euphony and DJ sets successful a mounting that lends itself astir excessively perfectly to day night; it’s arsenic if the squad pulled the aesthetic consecutive from a Robert Altman movie set. With accessible Japanese nutrient too, it’s an perfect spot to observe a caller favourite artist. Brilliant.

In May of this year, it was uncertain arsenic to whether Peckham favourite Jazu would find its ain bricks and mortar site. But Deptford proved an alluring accidental excessively bully to walk up and implicit the summer, Jazu opened connected the SE8 precocious street. It’s escaped to participate connected the much philharmonic evenings, conscionable publication a array and bask immoderate fantabulous cocktails. Oh, and Jazu does a pickleback for £5.50 (a measurement of whiskey with a pickle foodstuff chaser). Joy successful a changeable glass.

Of the bunch, Spiritland is the settled, refined enactment a mature, aboriginal pioneer of the listening bar, which closed its Southbank task past twelvemonth successful favour of the glossy precocious decorativeness of the caller Kings Cross development. The dependable strategy is authorities of the creation and the nutrient is arsenic casual and accessible arsenic you’d privation it to be.

For different listening bars, Godet is slated for the extremity of the period connected Essex Road, and look retired for the imaginable re-opening of System, formerly successful Stella’s of Stoke Newington.