Top venues for Indie fans
London is the UK's indie hotbed - Manchester and Liverpool will try and lay claim but purists know the truth... it's London, baby.
Getting into an indie club is easy... just show the bouncer your black nail varnish, skinny jeans and subversive T-shirt (featuring politics or a retro snack... but preferably both) - and you're in. Fail on any one criterion and you'll be marched to the nearest All Bar One where you'll undoubtedly be more comfortable.
With more indie venues than you could shake a battered Telecaster at - particularly in and around Camden - searching out the best can take an age, so allow us to provide a shortcut to what we consider to be some of the best...
Anybody unfamiliar with the Amersham Arms has probably never been on a night out in New Cross. If you’re an indie music fan then that’s a sin. The student population of Goldsmiths make sure that the music policy remains as fresh and fun as the boisterous crowd who attend nightly.
This might just be Whitechapel’s only rock and roll retreat and it is more than enough for the area. If it’s not encouraging people to smear (fake) blood over each other during messy indie Halloween nights it’s putting on new bands and making an almighty musical racket from the turntables.
Home to Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues – London’s longest running weekly club night – the St. Moritz is almost royalty. It appeals to the students – particularly on Thursday nights – but its music policy makes it one of central London’s most consistent venues.
The Boogaloo
312 Archway Road N6 5AT
Bars
Opening Times
Photos
Get ready to pose, pose and pose some more. Up in Highgate at the Boogaloo Bar everyone looks the part. And if they look indie and they act indie then they must be indie. You’ll always find a ramshackle night of action here and in truth the atmosphere is some kind of fun. There’s a handy terrace at the rear too.
The Alibi
91 Kingsland High Street E8 2PB
Night Clubs
Opening Times
The Alibi is a mixture of tastes both bad and really bad at times but that’s why it’s so great. Hear anything from pop punk to boyband classics spun by DJs. Like the website says, ‘something good happens every night.’ And they’re right you know!
The Lock Tavern was spinning indie rock when most of us were still in our nappies bopping to the Bangles and it shows. The slick line-ups feature new bands and manage to snag live and DJ sets from established artists. Kitty, Daisy and Lewis were just one recent vintage to take to the decks.
The Strokes, Taking Heads, Blink-182: these are the sounds of The Roxy and long may it continue. If you’re ever caught in a pickle and need an indie looking direction in which to turn then head off Oxford Street and into The Roxy. Pure unadulterated indie pop!
American bourbon bar below, indie club above. Between its relentless line-up of new and established bands and its collection of indie nights like White Light/White Heat there’s not a night that goes begging at The Lexington.
The Old Blue Last has hosted the likes of The Maccabees, Klaxons and The Horrors in the past. Chances are the band you see today will be next year’s one to watch. Live music almost nightly.
Catch
22 Kingsland Road E2 8DA
The indie venue’s indie venue, Catch is as divey as they come but that doesn’t hinder the quality of bands they put on. If it’s not live then you’re likely to find DJs spinning the likes of The Pixies, Violent Femmes and anything else jingly and jangly.
