Some questions about London..

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Hi. I usually post on ILM, but I figured you guys might be more, er, willing to help.

So, in a couple hours I'm going to be in London (solo) for the first time. I bought a nifty little book that takes care of the never-tip-the-bartender, cars-are-coming-down-the-opposite-side-of-the-street, if-you-go-to-brixton-bring-a-can-of-mace kind of thing, but I'm hesitant to trust its nightlife suggestions... Where do youngish people that like good music hang out? Is there an area of London that's similar to the East Village/Williamsburg scene in New York? The book told me that most pubs close around eleven-- does that mean everyone goes to clubs? Are pubs different from bars? The subway shuts down really early. How does everyone get home?

I'm totally ignorant about all this stuff, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks.. and sarcastic answers are welcome, of course :)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Everyone goes out earlier, and comes home earlier. There are plenty of places you can drink past 11 if you know them, but a lot of people don't. But then we drinking quicker and more psychotically.

Get a copy of Time Out at the airport and you'll be sorted.

Hoxton is sort of Williamsburgy, but sort of not, but has plenty style bar type things. No-one ever goes there. And if you have mace in Brixton you are much more likely to be arrested than attacked (ditto) really. Another idea is to drift round Soho for plenty of stuff going on.

Everyone gets home by nightbus.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

Most of us go the pub and then go home at 11. We just get to the pub a LOT earlier. This makes public transport very simple, as it doesn't run through the night (apart from night buses, which are the horror.

x-post obv :/

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:07 (twenty years ago)

The Good Mixer in Camden is a fairly good pub - and that neighborhood has good record shops, clothes, etc.

― andy -, Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

Where are you staying in general, and then it will be easier to say where to go out.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

If you've got no mates you'll wind up with a few, on the night bus.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

will all of you be on holiday circa Aug. 20-27?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:25 (twenty years ago)

probably not all.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:31 (twenty years ago)

The last tube is usually sometime between midnight and half past twelve. Night buses aren't too bad once you're on them, it's the waiting for them that hurts. Brixton's actually one of the better places to go out. Places like Hoxton and Soho do have lots of bars, but their normally full of tourists or suits who have just finished work. (Actually, obviously you're a tourist, so don't take that last bit the wrong way).

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

Gah! their = they're

― Teh HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

I can't think of a sarcastic enough answer to warrant posting.

― Peter Stringbender (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

will all of you be on holiday circa Aug. 20-27?

I'm hoping to be back in London, then-abouts.

― Semaphore Burns (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)

I can heartily recommend NOT getting a migraine, seeing Autechre and then just missing two infrequent nightbuses, waiting for the next ones and then have the migraine come back in mad style somewhere in the middle of Crouch End.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

Where do youngish people that like good music hang out?

There isn't really one place to go. There are live music venues all over town and folks generally consult a What's On guide like Time Out and plan their nights accordingly. Most gigs finish in time to get the last tube (subway) home.

Similarly with clubs, there's probably a club night to suit most people's musical tastes happening most nights of the week, but venue could be pretty much anywhere. But obviously clubs finish later (= Night Bus home ... or one of those bicycle taxi things that hang around Covent Garden haha).

bars ≠ pubs

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

New Cross!

― Semaphore Burns (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

bars ≠ pubs

Really? I would say the opposite, although they could be differentiated by the amount of old men with big beards occupying them...

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Okay. Great. This all sounds good. I'll pick up a copy of Time Out at Heathrow. I'm staying at a hostel in Kensington, but I'm willing to go wherever.

I still can't believe that a lot of people go home by eleven, though. Damn. I'm usually still eating dinner then. But, when in Rome... Maybe I'll actually be able to get up before 2:00 PM haha

Thanks! (and keep posting if you have more to add)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

I still can't believe that a lot of people go home by eleven, though.

It's natural British pessimism.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Hm.

British girls don't happen to go wild for guys with American accents, do they? (fingers crossed)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

No, they're all too pessimistic.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

is new cross hip now? it's because i lived there. that's why.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

one more: can I get that new Isolee album easily?

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

why are you going to london again?

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

I hate London. London kicked my ass with its "ooh, let's toss a Fall concert at you on the same night as Isobel Campbell and Broadcast... oh yeah, and how about a really bloody amazing film festival at the ICA (http://www.ica.org.uk/) at exactly the same time and it's really cheap, even when you're dealing with Canadian dollars, and they have Savannah cider there which you can't get at home in Ottawa, and then it's also late-night opening at the Tate Modern tonight (FREE to get in!), and you haven't managed to get down there yet, and haha, you've only got a week here..."

[User sobs] Take me with you!!! Must! Go! Back!!!

― Surfer_Stone_Rosalita (Surfer_Stone_Rosalita), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

London

― Semaphore Burns (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Food, cars, travel, food, cars, travel, travel, New york, new york, new york, New york

― Semaphore Burns (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

yeah the isolee album is pretty much anywhere i should think. prob in hmv, if not try phonica on poland st, soho, or rough trade in covent garden.

i like the foundry bar on the corner of gt eastern st and old st. still shuts at 11 tho. the strongroom bar just off curtain rd is open later for instance. maybe thatsd juts weekends.

― ambrose (ambrose), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

why are you going to london again?

it's actually kind of a fortunate fluke. i'm acutally going to Amsterdam for two months for something called the International Theatre Workshop (intensive Grotowski training kind of thing) and the only way I could get there was with a four day layover in London.

anyway, headed to the airport now. cheerio!

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

1) Buy a copy of Time Out.
2) Get a Zone 1&2 travelcard for tube and bus.
3) Walk along the South Bank from the wheel to the Globe Theatre.
4) Loiter in parks: eg Regent's Park or Hampstead Heath.
5) Explore Soho, Camden, Hoxton, Spitalfields, Brick lane.
6) Listen to Resonance 104.4 FM.
7) Walk along the Regents canal from Little Venice to Kings Cross.

― gubbins, Tuesday, 21 June 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

angel pub in soho

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 20:53 (twenty years ago)

I refuse to believe that people actually go home at 11. What kind of country do you people live in. Do clubs close this early too?!

― Lovelace (Lovelace), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

It's wrong to say that when the clock strikes eleven we all just get up and leave, but at five past eleven (this varies slightly by pub) there erupts the great struggle between staff and punters. The willpower of both parties determines final time of leaving.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

People don't necessarily go home at 11. People who work OUGHT TO go home at 11, and the pubs shut at this time to remind them. Cos the whole flaming economic sytem is structured around 9-5.

People who don't fancy working in the morning (and this includes tourists like original questioniser) get to go elsewhere when the pubs shut. There are many places open all over London well past midnight every night.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

Everyone goes out earlier, and comes home earlier. There are plenty of places you can drink past 11 if you know them, but a lot of people don't.

Still strikes me as utterly bizarre that I live in a no-mark medium-size Midlands town, yet most of our pubs have 1am licences (on Fridays and Saturdays, anyway). Odd.

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

I like the way the UK does drinking a bit better, in that the way things are here I can't do anything social on weekdays because I won't get home until 2 or 3.

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

pubs shut at 11, this doesnt really mean anything, i was in a bar/pub a couple of sundays ago till 4am. the russian pub, on kingslan rd doesnt open till 12 or 1am, weve been in there till after 9am after a club a few times

― charltonlido (gareth), Tuesday, 21 June 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

Of course the above poster works on US hours and survives wotjhout any problem at all.

There are certainly plenty of clubs where you can drink til the early hours. And in your post you mentioned eating dinner: that's the thing we don't do to fit in more drinking.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 08:55 (twenty years ago)

Pub hours just require a bit of adjustment to your schedule. You end up appreciating the fact that you can go out, return easily and safely home. get seven hours' sleep and be up for work without feeling like you've been turned inside out. When you wanna party till dawn yeah! then you go to the places that cater for that.

― Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:02 (twenty years ago)

This thread makes me miss London:( Good job I'm planning to invade you from about 25th to 28th August! You aren't all going on holiday then, are you?

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

probably not all.

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:17 (twenty years ago)

over the past few years, it's become much easier to find bars with a later license (1am-ish), especially on weekends and in heavily touristed/visited areas like soho and old street. garlic and shots in frith street, for instance, is open until at least 2 on fridays/saturdays and plastic people in curtain road is open until 3.30. just avoid pubs, basically, and you won't run into the early closing hassle.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:24 (twenty years ago)

go here

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40652000/jpg/_40652024_thewriter203300_pa.jpg

bring a lute and enact a Tears For Fears album title

― Sociah T Azzahole (blueski), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 09:26 (twenty years ago)

Try not to disturb the little people though.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 11:11 (twenty years ago)

I can't believe so many people are backing up these insane go-home-at-11 ideas. Lots and lots of fantastic clubs around where you can drink and dance til morn - a few are very reliable eg Plastic People but it generally depends what's on where in any given week. Probably best to avoid Soho at the night on a weekend though.

People have to be seen to be suspicious of Shoreditch and Hoxton but despite what they say everyone ends up there quite a lot anyway.

Don't go to Camden. Ever. It will make you want to hurt people. Horrid, horrid place.

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 13:13 (twenty years ago)

It depends on your body clock Lex. I'm an early up guy so tend to be dead to the world at 2am. But if I had grown up in a different society (and did not have to go to work the next day) the alternative also would fit.

― Pete (Pete), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 13:17 (twenty years ago)

Oh I fully understand why most London residents don't stay up after 11, but lots of people do and we should encourage visitors to make the most of it!

― The Lex (The Lex), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

If you don't have to work the next day, there's never not an excuse to find a late bar, a club, something else fun to end up doing... waaaahhhh, I miss those days.

No, wait, not really.

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 13:38 (twenty years ago)

Go to the John Soanes Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. I say this to everyone who comes to London. That, and don't go to Camden. Full of stinkies.

― Mikey G (Mikey G), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

But the Good Mixer is such a great pub!

― Mädchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 14:08 (twenty years ago)

shoreditch/hoxton and camden do still, in differing ways, have charms.

― charltonlido (gareth), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

madchen, sarcasm doesn't really suit you dear ;)

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Wednesday, 22 June 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

just saw The Homosexual's at Madame Jojo's. saw l'eclisse at the national film theatre last night. I'll post the link to my brand-spankin' new blog in a bit for anyone that's interested... until then:

london = fucking rules
british girls = not gobsmacked by american accents
you can drink on the subway

thanks for all the help.. i'm planning on checking out Angels pub and, er, troubador's (?) tomorrow night. [drunk of course]

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

british girls = not gobsmacked by american accents

not terribly surprising

― a real bear behind the microphone (nordicskilla), Thursday, 23 June 2005 23:22 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the English Girl/American Boy transatlantic NYLON thing just never works like the other way round, does it?

― MIS Information (kate), Friday, 24 June 2005 07:02 (twenty years ago)

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