Out on the slash: London's newest multi-fun venues

Is it a pub? Is it a club? Is it a restaurant? No, it’s all three. London’s top hotspots are having an identity crisis — and it’s good news for all those with FOMO, says Kate Lough
All-in-one: Stage 3 bar/creative space at Hackney Empire (Picture: Caz Brown)
Caz Brown
Kate Lough4 September 2014

There was a time when a pub was a pub, a restaurant was a restaurant and a club was a club. Now London's newest venues are suffering from FOMOLT (fear of missing out on the latest trends) and are anything but one-trick ponies. Is it a street food market? Is it a cocktail bar? Does it smoke its own salmon? Is craft beer on tap? Does it stage one-off interpretative dance performances or host gardening workshops? Much like the actor/model/DJ/blogger, London's new "slash spaces" are one-stop shops for your nights out.

Earlier this month, a twentysomething crowd were piling in for a party at The Paperworks, a new multi-fun open-air venue near Elephant & Castle where music, arts, food and drink are shaken together in a heady cocktail.

Guerrilla street-food marketers KERB were on the grub, Peckham juicer Ali Baba’s was running a Japanese Whiskey and Match Bar and Love Glove were on the decks — there was no need to move the evening on.

“Everyone says it feels more like a party, not just a street-food market where you queue up for food,” says Corsica Studios’ Amanda Ross, who has built up the project/space with the Peabody Housing Trust. “It’s about bringing people together and creating experiences, bringing a visibility to local arts and producers and making something sustainable — not just a pop-up venue.”

Yummy: food at The Paperworks

In that spirit, The Paperworks is working on a winter offering — with cover, central heating and harvest picnics promised.

Across town, in an old Sixties commercial laundry off London Fields, another “creative hub” is thriving, although co-founder of The Laundry Raj Nayak hates the phrase. “Each aspect [of The Laundry] stands on its own two feet but the idea is to feed off each other and provide a breakout space,” says Nayak, who launched the east London space with Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien.

Originally started as a communal working space for the music industry, it has just opened a huge canteen and bar to bolster its appeal to the community and London as a whole. You could easily spend your whole day there, from breakfast to coffee to cocktails to dinner, followed by an avant-garde orchestra performance and a big club night in the 800-capacity basement.

Breakout space: The Laundry

Around the corner, the Hackney Empire is also diversifying its entertainment portfolio with Stage 3, the new permanent residency from pop-up masters Platterform.

Self-styled as a community restaurant/bar/creative space, Stage 3 wants to get local juices flowing with its weekly programme of immersive events: film/supper clubs; chef and DJ mash-ups; Saturday brunch sessions with live music, pop-up record shops and artisan coffee; and Sunday soul-nourishment with carts of dim sum, geisha discos and free Tai Chi. Essentially, anything and everything is going.

See you later for cold brew cocktails and manga screening in an abandoned glue factory in Walthamstow …

SLASH AND FAB VENUES

Bussey Building

Rooftop yoga, cinema screenings, street food markets and all-night parties can be found here.

133 Rye Lane, SE15 (clfartcafe.org)

Ace Hotel

Ostensibly a hotel but also a flower shop, vinyl-only record shop, rooftop events space and basement club with everything from pre-work raves to Nineties nights.

100 Shoreditch High Street, E1 (acehotel.com/london)

Netil House

In the same vein as the Bussey Building, Netil House transformed abandoned council offices into a thriving east London community space with its own Saturday market, rooftop events space and hair salon.

1 Westgate Street, E8 (netilhouse.com)

Oslo

Scandi restaurant, gig venue, and craft beer bar and club in a redeveloped railway station.

1a Amhurst Road, E8 (oslohackney.com)

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