Dozens of bars, caf?s, clubs and restaurants are situated in Soho and
Covent Garden; the best way to explore is to cruise around on foot,
although a few venues stand out. Bar Rumba ,
one of the best dance clubs in town, plays host to a series of
excellent one-nighters: Monday has jazz, funk and drum ‘n’ bass;
Tuesday, Latin; it’s deep house on Wednesday; drum ‘n’ bass on
Thursday; New Skool beats on Friday; and garage on Saturday. Each night
is among the best of its type. Equally popular is The Wag , a
stylish club on three floors that similarly plays host to a wide
variety of music. Midweek sees indie-rock nights; Friday, an ’80s retro
session; while ‘Blow Up’ is one of the best parties around on Saturday,
a night that takes its inspiration from ’60s soul and pop, but that
plays all kinds of ‘lounge’ tunes and big beat too.
The Velvet Room ,
on Charing Cross Road, is a luxuriously appointed ‘club bar’ that also
hosts an excellent drum ‘n’ bass Wednesday-nighter (‘Swerve’) and a
great techno and deep house night on Thursdays (‘Ultimate BASE’).
Stylish ‘club’ clothes should normally guarantee admission. Nearby,
opposite the Centrepoint building, is LA2 , home to ‘Carwash’ on
Saturdays, the best disco night in town but one for which you must
dress the part (ie like an extra from Saturday Night Fever).
July 30, 2010
Soho & Covent Garden clubs
May 25, 2010
London Dungeon
28-34 Tooley Street, SE1 (020 7403 7221)
London Bridge tube/rail. Open Oct-Mar 10am-5pm (last entry) daily; Apr-Sept 10am-5.30pm daily. Admission £9.95; £6.50 4s-14s; £8.50 students; £6.50 OAPs, disabled; free under-5s, wheelchair users. Credit AmEx, MC, £TC, V.
Website: http://www.dungeons.com
It’s hard not to feel uneasy about the glorification of pain, horror and death at the London Dungeon; it’s equally hard to deny that the punters – and gore-adoring older kids in particular – love it: they pile in by the coachload. Peer through railings amid a dank, dark, musty maze of gloomy arches and eerie nooks, and thrill at the scenes of medieval torture and the screams as the rack is tightened another notch. Groups of visitors are herded into a mock courtroom, before being sentenced by a åjudge’. The punishment, it seems, is a scary boat ride that, frankly, isn’t. The last part of the museum centres on one of the grizzliest episodes from British history – the ever-popular tale of jolly old woman-mutilator Jack the Ripper: actors in costume take you on the hunt for the madman through rooms made to look like the East End (in pre-curry house days). New from Easter 2000 is Firestorm! 1666 , an exhibition about the Great Fire of London. Chilling and fun or exploitative and sick? Only you can decide.
