Vamps27

Since I am going to London I do need places to go have fun at. So what are your favorite bars (pubs) and clubs to go to in London

Kate

Okay, more information is needed.

What's your age, interests, lifestyle, musical tastes, budget etc etc

Do you want to drink cocktails whilst rubbing shoulders with rock stars or down pints in a cosy pub with a few old locals?

Do you want to dance til dawn or enjoy a genteel nightcap?

Do you want to go on the pull or have a romantic evening with your serious other?

Do you want to dine with your drink or down shots?

So many questions, and more

Vamps27

lol ok Kate:

age:28
interests: dancing and meeting new people
Musical tastes: Pop music and i hate techno
budget: for the 6 nights there about 60 pounds for all the nights I go out. (10 pounds per night)

Do you want to drink cocktails whilst rubbing shoulders with rock stars or down pints in a cosy pub with a few old locals?: Both


Do you want to dance til dawn or enjoy a genteel nightcap? Dance to dawn


Do you want to go on the pull or have a romantic evening with your serious other?: I don't know what pull is but since I don't have a serious other then I guess that would be ok.

Do you want to dine with your drink or down shots? Um since I am free for the 6 nights then both of these can be suggested.

I hope that helps

nona1

Ah, I hate to tell you this, but you are being completely unrealistic. On that budget you won't be going out every night...unless you are content to sit in a pub. If you want to go to a club to dance till dawn then your £10 will easily disappear on the entrance fee. In London a cocktail will cost you at least £7. An very ordinary drink can cost £5 in a club.
Put it this way, when I go out clubbing with my friends I would take at least £40 and feel more comfortable with £60 (in case of needing taxis etc). If we were in a skint and going on a budget mode, (have a few drinks while getting ready to save money) I suppose £20-£25 does it.

Pubs are cheaper, no entrance fee, and you'll get probably 3 or 4 beers/cheap mixer drinks/cheapo wine for your tenner.

nona1

Anyway, here is a great link for looking up clubbing in London. I looked at the 'disco' page for you but it covers all types of music. There are quite a few free 'clubs' for disco but I suspect these are actually bars more than clubs? Also, anywhere with free entry is going to charge a lot more for drinks, I would think. but good luck call around and ask for some drinks prices and have fun.
http://www.londonnet.co.uk/clubs/disconights.html

Kate

LOL, okay, I'll have to go away and have a think (am at work at the moment so shouldn't be here really)

I'm not sure how 'on the pull' translates into Americanese, let's just say it's going out with a strong mind to meeting an attractive starnger across a crowded bar. Generally teamed up with short skirts and plenty of alcohoic lubrication.

Incidentally, you might want to see if you can up your budget. £10 will buy you 3 pints in a normal pub, one cocktail in a smart bar or one main course in a gastro pub, so your budget will cut your evenings rather short.

Vamps27

ok kate how about 15-20 pounds per night. Also I am near the victoria area. I am staying at the thistle victoria.

Vamps27

Thanks nona1 for your link and info.

janisj

Vamps - Sorry, but your budget just isn't large enough for going out every night. Even £20 a night will not get you much drinking/dining/dancing.

Why not pool the money and have one or two nice nights out?

Vamps27

Well that kinda sucks. Ok 3 nights for drinking and dancing 40 pounds per night. Then then the other 3 nights just cheap fun pubs. Also I forgot to tell you guys that I'm traveling alone so I want somewhere semi safe to go by myself. Thanks!

Vamps27

anyone else?

W9London

Floridita on Wardour St is my favourite Cuban bar. It has great ambiance, the best mojitos, fantastic music... except it's more like GBP40+ range (make sure you eat somewhere else less expensive beforehand). Also liked Cargo in Shoreditch, good ambiance & DJ, but I recall they charged GBP10 for entry on a weekday night.

Vamps27

thanks W9London for your input. I will take a look at those bars.

janisj

Vamps27: Now I'm confused -- you originally said your total budget was about £60 for 6 nights. Now you are talking about £150 -- that is a big, BIG difference. (3 nights @ £40 and 3 nights @ about£10 for pub hopping)

I still think you aren't being realistic about hitting the town evey night. You could have a couple of terrific nights out and maybe a 3rd on a pub walk or something. But 6 straight nights out - if any include clubbing - will not be cheap.

walkinaround

go out to hoxton. dreambagsjaguarshoes and other bars. it's true that the proper central clubs are beyond your budget but everyone goes out to drink and manages to avoid going broke. mixed drinks are usually poor value. beer in bars is more than it is in pubs but still not too bad unless you go to proper clubs.

try to go where there are a lot of foreigners...you'll probably find that more fun. londoners out boozing are generally pretty business-minded about it and less friendly. it would help if you could meet some people during the day to go out with at night. some people take to this sort of thing easily but for most it's not so easy.

be careful.

Carrybean

Are you male or female? That could have a bearing on how much you have to spend.

Vamps27

Ok this what I think I'm going to do:
Thursday do a pubwalk
(http://tinyurl.com/nh5uz)
Friday I have a 6 hr tour so I possibly will go out this night
Saturday and Sunday are the good times for me to go out.

So I have 3 nights to spend money on a really good time. Since people were saying that I was being unrealistic how about if I set my budget at 40 pounds per night for Saturday and Sunday. Friday I just want a relaxing pub with food. Just a nice sit down low key place that is fun with people near victoria area.

baybee510

Vamps27,

I posted a similar post a while back about nightlife and someone suggested I take a look at www.timeout.com/london.

You can do a search for bars/pubs in the area you'll be at. I hope you'll be able to find some places where you'll be able to have fun without breaking your budget. I am going to Europe (London included) in one day and am also hoping to do as little damage to my wallet as I can while enjoying the nightlife!

zupermaus

ok all the best clubs tend toward 'techno' (im taking thats an all encompassing term for house, techno, garage, drum n bass et al?). Of course theres the 'superclubs' like Fabric, Ministry of Sound, Heaven and (right opposite Victoria Station) the smaller Pacha complete with £20 entrance fees, anything-goes dress codes (although Pacha I think operates a crappy no trainers policy - in London a dress code on the door is a distinct sign of a crap club housing teenagers, chavs and lost tourists). People will be too cool for school but are friendly so longa as you break the ice .

If youre looking for pop music and pulling aswell as a good night (another sign of crap clubdom are the clubs where youre not there for the music of the sociability but just out to pull a one night stand), there's only a few that will tick all boxes. Carwash on saturdays is a 70s theme night at The Aquarium and alot of fun, near Old St tube (bring a swimsuit as there are lockers and a pool too) - its no. 256 Old St. It costs £15 entrance, which is the norm on Fridays and weekends. It plays disco, funk and soul.

Another one is pretty hit n miss. Once very kool, its now a bit crass and drawing a whole different crowd. Its SchoolDisco, once house in the wicked 333 Old St club but now in the more suburban Hammersmith Palais. Basically you have to dress in school uniform and relive your teen days - Brit school uniform only (think Britney and youll get away with it though) - those teen days when you lusted after one thing, be warned for a lot of fun/mayhem/drunknness/ not fun. It costs £16.50 and plays retro classics in one room and hip hop, r n b, garage in the other.

for more on clubs theres a site which holds how locals rate the main clubs: www.viewlondon.co.uk/dance.asp

Of course there are a whole plethora of funky pubs and DJ bars with free entrance and perhaps a small dancefloor if its a bar. I heartily recommend the old, haunted Windsor Castle on Campden Hill Rd, or the trendy Prince Albert pub on Pembridge Rd, ask for them from Notting Hill tube. Also try out just about anywhere in Soho (PIccadilly tube) from the main drag that is Old Compton St up toward leafy Soho Square. There are many gay bars, straight pubs and in between with great ambience, and some that are crap and boring and with so few people/ so many lost tourists youd spot them a mile off anyway.

There is one last reccomendation which is the small, cramped, sweaty Ghetto club behind the Astoria (host to the crappy, dingy G.A.Y). Its a gay club but hugely popular with us 'breeders' who come in disguise. Its small and dank and the music is all electro (and dare i say it, badly mixed) but is hugely popular and alternative (celebrity-in-disguise spotting is another pasttime here from George to Bjork to Madds herself) for its friendliness and downright hedonizm. There is no attempt at decoration or styling whatsoever.

zupermaus

Also I forgot to mention, head for Brick Lane (Whitechapel or Aldgate East tubes), the heart of the Bangladeshi community and, its said, with more artists than anywhere in the world. Its very, very trendy.

Halfway down Brick Lane the snazzy tourist oriented Bangladeshi restaurants will give way suddenly to trendie-centrale at the Truman Brewery, once the biggest brewery in the world now aj artspace - an awning on one side will have emmediately in it a barbecue with outdoor seating and lots of funky shops down a pedestrian 'street' that was once a goods yard. This in turn will lead to upclass food vans and a beach (yes, a beach) in a converted carpark with jamaican bar, more barbecue and potted palms and deck chairs. This beach will only be on in summer.
Behind this beach is a cafe bar, inside the wall where by the car park you will find, instead of the toilets, another huge bar, rather like a cinema when a football match is on and with fanastic atmosphere whether youre a supporter or not.
Thats that street then. Instead of going down that former goods yard and you continue along Brick Lane you will come to the vibe bar (also with summer South African barbecue) where anything goes. Opposite is is 93 feet east, one of the best clubs in town. Further down youll find funky Middle Eastern Hookah bars and bars.

Walk further, further, through some direction asking streets and you ll come across Old Street and Hoxton Square, suddenly jam packed among all the sleepy East End grit with more bars and clubs.