London Nightlife

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This is one of my favourite pubs in London. Located not far from the Paddington station it is usually the first place I will get to when arriving to this city from that direction :)
It is classic traditional English pub with some interesting history, they served excellent food with good beers including some of the famous Fuller brewery and add to this that it was summer, there is a nice terrace outside as well.

This is a lovely traditional English pub Founded in 1858 located in Noting Hill close to Hyde Park
This place is open from morning to night serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have nice collections of Badger cask ales on the tap which making this place good for anyone who want to experience English pub culture, food and drinks a bit away from the tourist centres.

Hammersmith Apollo is one of London’s major live entertainment venues. It is located in Hammersmith, West London and is one of the UK’s largest and best-preserved original theatres.

I have been upstairs, in the comfy seats, and downstairs amongst the standing. It's an excellent concert venue, large enouigh to attract the tops bands but small enough to still make it personal.

My last there gig was to catch Joe Bonammasa.

Set in the heart of London’s fashionable Mayfair, The Dover Street Restaurant & Bar offers a combination of fine French/European cuisine and nightly live music ranging from Jazz & Blues to Latin & Soul with dancing to a resident DJ until 3.00 am. With a unique atmosphere the restaurant offers good value, live entertainment and a resident DJ spinning a great mix of dance tracks.

Dress Code: Smart Casual

London has fantastic nightlife and the days of pubs closing at 11pm are now gone, allbeit that some still close a little early, but you will always find a bar or club open until the early hours somewhere!
My favourite areas for going out are:

Camden
Angel
Kings Cross
Old street, shoreditch

I try to avoid the West End as its just too busy, too expensive, too touristy.

Some of my favourites places are:

The big chill - Kings cross - dj bar at night or chill out bar after work
Lincoln Lounge - Kings cross - great little pub on york way, small and cozy
Simmons - King cross - tiny tiny place but funky music and funky surroundings
Wax O connors - Just off Leics square (Rupert St) - a huge labarinth of a pub with big crowds.
Vibe bar - Brick lane - nice place to chill out with some funky dj vibes

Chill out cafes for the day include: Joes Jazz cafe at Foyles bookshop on Tottenham court road, and Joe and the Juice, on Regent Street.

There are few 'super' clubs in London, gone are the days of SW1, Bagleys, Home, The End, Club UK, The Cross - all thats left is Egg, Fabric and the Ministry. Other clubs come and go located around the west end.

Whilst i must have been in hundreds of pubs over the years, and most i couldnt tell you the names, im now trying to log them all in the list below;

Kings cross - The Canal (Nice bar on the canal), The Cross Kings (live music bar), Ruby lounge (DJ bar not far from station)
Angel - The Swan (Islington end of upper street - good for a warm up - Wetherspoons), O'Neills (roudy at weekends with dancefloor), Slug and Lettuce (Chain, used to be ok in here but quiet of late - small with nice vibe), The York (more traditional but nothing special), Albert & Pearl (Cocktail bar, good crowd, good music), Hope & Anchor (Bit more rough, plays rock music but serves a good pint), The Angel (Wehterspoons opposite angel tube - nothing special just cheap beer before the crawl up upper st), The cock (Highbury & Islington tube - not great, few dody characters), The Living Room (just off upper st behind slug and lettuce on essex road - trendy cocktail bar with sit down booths, nice place), the new rose (big pub open til 2am), the bull on upper st (funky place with a posher crowd, a bit crowded and expensive beer but nice vibe), the winchester on essex rd (open til 4am, nice place, quite small bar upstairs, dancefloor downstairs), keston louge (big bar with dancefloor at back, gets busy)
Camden - World End (Huge pub with rock music, and serves snakebite!), Belushis (Part of St Christophers hostel - nice place with screens and good food), Lock 17 (Right on the lock, cool place in the summer, not so great when not much going on), Dublin Castle (HEading towards London zoo, nothing special, has live music out the back), The Monarch (Small dance floor, packed at weekend, pretty lively, sometimes a cover charge), The Cuban (Cuban bar/restaurant - expensive cocktails, good food, salsa dancing at night, lively), plus plenty of others i cant remember the name of!
West End -plenty i just dont know the name of plus - Moon under the water (Leics sq - wetherspoons), Yates (Leics sq - cover chg at weekends, lively), Waxy o connor(Club downstairs, cover chg late on, nice place), The Glassblower (Opposite the warwick, nothing special, typical boozer), Sports cafe (Haymarket - huge sports bar), 101 (At centre point - nice bar for social evening), Salsa bar (Salsa classes most nights, Brazil theme on Tottenham court road), O'Neils (Up from Waxys-3 levels of music, late night venue), Waxys little sister (Opposite Waxys - small pub but good alternative), Spice of Life (Cambridge circus, traditional pub) - many more just think of the names.
-old Cheshire cheese, fleet street, claims to be one of Londonderry oldest. Good beer (all Sam smiths brewery) and a labirynth of bars. Food not that great though.
- the ranlagh, bounds green, my local, good pub, great food, nice clientele. More of a sitting pub not standing though.
-maid of muswell, muswell hill, cozy place, quite small, probably better in summer than winter. Food menu is same as the ranlagh in bounds green (assume same owner). Again, a sitting pub so if you get in late you'll have to stand
- the village, muswell hill, younger crowd in this large pub with pool tables at the back, friendly staff, live music, big pizza oven, open til 1am.
- John baird pub, muswell hill, boring as hell, don't go.
- the Garrick, charging cross road, nice pub from outside and in, next to Garrick theatre
- Spouters corner, wood green, wetherspoons, big and cheap but pretty rough. This is wood green after all
- lord nelson, wood green, pretty dull and rough, although probably one of wood greens better but that's not hard to achieve
- The chandos, trafalgar square, opposite entrance to portrait gallery, nice pub if passing to have a pint n catch up with someone
- Yates on Leicester square, brash place, fine for a big night out in west end but am getting too old for it now
- moon under the water, Leicester square, long narrow pub, cheaper beer, always busy, not much of atmosphere, good place to meet people if going out in area
- the Sussex, covent garden, an ok pub for a few beers if on a pub crawl but lacks any great atmosphere
- punch and judy, covent garden, it's got a few floors, location is great especially if you can find a spot on the balcony, expensive though and nothing too great
-The Ship tavern, just hidden round the back of Holborn tube,nice little pub with nice easy going atmosphere with restaurant upstairs although one of the staff upstairs was rude, its a nice place
-Square Pig, Holborn - good pub to meet and soialise, just a 2min walk from the tube, with a small outside section
- Three compasses in hornsey. Nice local pub that is good to chat with friends. I had a couch surf meet here and it was a perfect venue to chat to new people.
-The Faltering Fullback, Finsbury Park - great pub, 4 different rooms and a large garden. Godo atmosphere. Highly recommended.
-The Goose, Wood Green - home of our regular couch surf meet but certainly not the best put in town. Its in Wood Green for a start which is a hole and the pub is quite rough, but it has lots of space, so good for meeting people and drinks are well priced.
-The Worlds End, Finsbury Park - nice big pub with a square style bar, with kind of two sides to it. It had live music sometimes in one of the sections. Not the tidiest pub but decent enough.
-duke of Wellington, dalston, nice boozer, quite small with a square style bar, packed on a saturday, decent crowd and decent selection of beer
-alibi, dalston, this a club really, very 'dalston' , arty types and rough around the edges but nice raw atmosphere. Low ceilings, dance floors, lots of seating, bla bla
- voodoo rays, dalston, nightclub just two doors down from alibi. 9 quid to get in. Music spot on for my liking, deep house with a touch of funk and some 80s mix thrown in for good measure. Low ceiling small venue, good crowd.
- the finsbury, manor house- just 5min walk or so from manor house on green lanes, this is a bar/pub club with low lighting, an area out the back for live music or dj and seating out the front. I didn't like bar staff and it was a big soulless
- Salisbury hotel, green lanes near turnpike lane, great pub with an oldy feel, with little coves at the back for seating, and friendly staff
-red lion, kingly st, just off regent st, old mans pub which is a Sam smiths. Traditional, small but not a bad place to start
-jam bar/club-at the southern end of carnaby st. Packed, no room to move, typical west end club full of ***s
-two floors, cocktail bar on kingly road, a themed tiki bar downstairs and beer bar with louder music upstairs. Decent place if can get a seat. Bar staff a bit slow.
- claddagh ring, hendon, great Irish boozer with good food and big screens
- the hendon, hendon, massive pub on the busy A41. Nothing special although often busy. Loads of pool tables
- railway tavern, kew bridge station, very traditional pub and so quiet you can hear a pin drop, feels like you're in a village local than a London pub
-o bar, soho, packed pub in soho on the busy area. Kind of a bar pub style.
- The three greyhounds, soho, tiny classic pub on the corner, incredibly busy but decent enough
- walkabout chain- plenty of them around London although some slowly closing down. Been to the one in covent garden most which is ok with a mix of Londoners and travellers but nothing amazing
- the porterhouse, great massive pub in covent garden with several levels and a massive selection of beers, one of my favourites
- maple leaf, Canadian pub in covent garden, decent pub with screens and a fair amount of space
- Montagu pyke on charring cross road, a wetherspoons, cheap drink and food, say no more
- any pub on upper street, angel/idling ton-I've been in all of them several times, can't remember the name of many (the York, the garden, The angel, earl of Essex, the swan, the cock), some better than others but a great night out
- Camden high street, as above, I've been in most all the way from morning ton crescent up to chalk farm, a good night out, can't remember the names of many (lock tavern, belusshis, Cuban, worlds end)
- Salisbury arms, winchmore hill, a young ish affluent crowd in here. Nice pub with outdoor area, plenty of parking and a decent food menu located in the lively village part of winchmore.
- kings head, winchmore hill, on the village green just over from the Salisbury, this place also does food which looks good. The crowd is similar to the Salisbury although probably younger. Pub seems nice enough as we only stopped for a quick one

The Anchor pub , situated near London Bridge station has stunning views of the Thames , St Pauls and The new Shard building. The pub itself was originally built in 1615. Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire of London from here and Doctor Johnston wrote part of his dictionary! We had a friends meet up recently and had a great nights entertainment.

The Penthouse is a big building. The whole Building is a big party. There are 3 Dancefloors and 3 sorts of music. On the top of the building there's a rooftop and you can smoke on the balcony. On the first dancefloor is just Hiphop. I loved the DJ's there cause they know what good music does mean. On the second floor is just RnB. Its also really great. On the rooftop is House Music. If you like to dance and if you want to have a great view, you have to go there...
Trust me :)

Dress Code: Just Elegant.. No Sneakers...

At this venue you will find concerts, comedy and live music. check what is on at this link.http://www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk/
The Empire is only a two minute walk from Shepherds Bush Tube Station.