T Bar to reopen on Houndsditch
- PublishedMon, Apr 20, 2009, 09:40
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- Michael Mayer and Jamie Jones will help christen the new location.
- The closure of The End earlier this year sparked a great deal of hand-wringing about the demise of clubbing in London, but it's not all doom and gloom: We're pleased to bring you some heart-warming and exclusive news about the reopening of T Bar. The club that gave the capital a proper home to minimal and "forward-thinking dance music" (and notorious post-Fabric Sunday carry-ons) is moving a short hop away from its former base in Shoreditch to The City. The move to The City was partly due to licensing issues, but also so that the venue could accommodate more people, have a large outdoors area and not have to contend with grumpy locals ringing Environmental Health every weekend. They got exactly what they wished for: The new neighbours are offices above, below and to the side and there's a building site opposite. The new T Bar will be open until 4 AM, but on special nights they'll push it to 6 and—best of all—it's still completely free to get in. As for the lineup, every Friday will be High Horse, a night run by Lock Tavern promoter and man-about-town Casper C. Says Casper: "High Horse at T Bar represents an opportunity for four young DJs to play the deeper, housier, techier and less obvious records that don't always work in lesser venues. Now that we're going weekly in the new venue, we'll truly be able to paint a picture of the music we love for a crowd that should truly appreciate it." Saturdays, on the other hand, will be much like the T Bar of old featuring Freak n' Chic, Circus Company, Tobi Neumann, Carsten Klemann and Phonica, while Sundays will remain the provenance of Dig Your Own Rave. Resident Advisor has had an exclusive peek inside the venue, which is on the former site of Duke's Bar, one of those bizarre clubs that somehow survived over the years without changing all that much. Needless to say, the staff is currently in the process of stripping out the unintentionally ironic interior. Gone are the giant traffic lights by the DJ booth, the 7 foot-long pink cardboard guitars (although Rob Mello took two home), the random pictures of Dukes all over the place (it was called "Duke's" after all..), the mirrors on the side of the dance floor and the pictures of Lamborghinis and scantily-clad women from the '80s. What stays is the walnut floor, the dashing wallpaper and (hopefully) the penchant for abandon. (Duke's used to host all-night fetish parties for City workers.) The downstairs dance floor is about the same size as the previous incarnation and will remain one big, bare pit with Funktion One speakers hanging from the ceiling, while the large patio/smoking area has a car park feel to it and is sheltered under the office block above it, meaning frazzled night-owls won't have to endure the full glare of the sun come summer. Opening night will feature Michael Mayer and Jamie Jones, and it happens Thursday May 7. For more details and dates—all the way until the end of June—check the T Bar club listing.