Barfly

It is a nice pub - but there are many of them.

I didn't like the fact that we were charged to see the bands upstairs, but were not told that they were about to finish so we paid 8 quit each for a few minutes of live music. Not nice!

Also, the drinks are not the best - the house wine was vile and the beers not really cold.

There are better pubs in Camden! And not far!

The sound engineer should take himself outside and shoot himself, but based on his performance at a gig Big Dave went to recently he'd probably miss. Wouldn't go and see your favourite band here unless you are in love with the bass player, in which case you'll have a great night.

Reading the reviews i was surprised by some of the negitive comments! I visited here last year and just loved it, its Camden enjoy it, love it! Try the london walk your guide is Judith she'll tell you more about the history of the barfly ...

I used to go here for a great night for Casino Royale back when Camden was Camden and the larger louts and hen parties used to steer well clear. Unfortunately the crowds of Leceister Square have begun to migrate north and this place has lost all it's grimy charm to hair extensions and England shirts.
If you can handle all of that though, they do a great Snakebite and Sourz are only £1 each!

Cheap bar/club in Camden, the night we went had awful music in both rooms, with a really weird crowd, no real atmosphere - they tried to have a blackjack table to give it a Casino Royale feel but that just made the place feel even sadder and dingier.

Music uninspiring and cliched for a club in Camden

Definitely need to get back for a gig; was there on a Friday night - ten notes and the door and not much of an atmosphere; if there hadn’t been 10+ of us and we made our own craic…

Barfly’s split level keeps their live room and their main bar safely divorced from one another. You can’t really hear your own thoughts over the volume of the music in the main bar, so it’s not really recommended if you’re looking to chat with friends, but the set up is comfortable, if a bit dark.

The live room has gone down hill this year, unfortunately. They’re still booking great bands, but they’ve put up a barricade in front of the stage which is ridiculous in a room so small. It loses a lot of intimacy for having to keep the band so distant from the audience. Also, the lights are pretty ridiculous and at times seizure inducing - most bands who play there really don’t need strobe lights. Still, the sound is good; if they went back to treating it like the small venue that it is, it could be a great little place.

Dark, dingy, a little dirty, morderate prices - perfect small venue! The basement is small, so gigs feel really intimate + crowded and sweaty and busy - so a fantastic atmosphere. Still more underground than trendy in my opinion. Great place to perform and catch a new and possibly Next Big Thing band.

If you were to look up 'dank’ or 'dingy’ in the Oxford dictionary it would quote the legendry Barfly as an example. One of Camden’s premier live music venues to catch the next big thing before they move onto the likes of filling out the Astoria. Arranged over three floors it’s only the top floor that hosts the live bands, with the ground floor being a bar and DJ area, and the basement being for the toilets and the cashpoint. Though it should be mentioned that half the time the cashpoint is out. The toilets themselves are in a pretty naff state, but when a venue deals with the amount of drunken people you have to cut it some slack. Just remember you’ll be paying London prices for the drinks and your wallet won’t scream out in pain every time you get a round in.

The Barfly is a great place to see bands who are jsut breaking through the market at the moment and again its always cheap to get a ticket and normal is a great night out.

A great spot if you want to pay £5 and catch a new band that may (but probably won't) become the Next Big Thing. It's like any other well-worn, dingy, sticky-tabled, busy corner bar in Camden downstairs, but with a tiny dark room upstairs that has live music just about every night. If you know even a couple of names on their events list, you're on the bleeding edge of indie music.

Once in a while they'll have established but still little-known bands (I saw country-jam-rock outfit Willard Grant Conspiracy here), or larger acts doing secret/warm-up shows (caught stoner rock act Monster Magnet here).

First visit to this venue on Friday and what a pleasure it was. I went to see Beat six ()
and very good they were too. Beer was reasonably priced and all in all, I found the venue great.

The Barfly is good at hosting a range of musical events. I've spent a couple of crazy new years eves in here for the chalk farm bar crawl event, and also chilled out here on a weekday night listening to delicious acoustic music, featured in the latest tv ad that you cant get out of your head.
Don't be fooled by the glamarous list of bands that have played here before they've 'hit it big', the barfly is dark and dingy, yet it still retains its character and refreshingly hasn't been turned into a trendy gastro type pub just yet.
The drinks are average prices for camden (no where near as steep as Koko) and the music is always great.
Come to the barfly with a relaxed chilled out attitude (die hard fans in these small venues are just annoying) just looking for some great up and coming music and you will not fail to be entertained.

Barfly is an intimate venue which hosts a multitude of rotating events.Most the gigs that play here are from the leftfield feel.The music mainly has a trendy electro sound. In my honest opinion it a great place to listen to a lot of unsigned talent beore they hit the big time and sell out at all the major venues.

Previously called the Monarch, this bar in Camden is a great place to go for a night out. Upstairs is a large room where gigs are always put on, and downstairs is a dark room with sticky floors and dingy toilets that's just perfect (no, i'm not being sarcastic). The drinks are cheap, and one saturday I had a great night here dancing the night away to 60s and 70s classics, and they had a casino table too. (Music varies on different nights, check the website before you go)

Oh I love this place. For its darkness, the sticky floors, the posters and flyers pasted everywhere, the barfly is the sort of place you know musical greats have begun their steady climb to success, and many more will follow. This old father of rock continues to launch careers and bring music to the masses in an unpretentious way - a true indie venue that values good music above all else.
I used to live a few doors away from this place, and the nights I have spent there, drinking in it's buzz and atmosphere. The most memorable seeing Maximo Park before they started to fill the larger venues, something told us straight away that this was a unique and special band.
The history of music seeps from the walls of this place, with gigs almost every night upstairs and indie DJ's downstairs. Check out Sunday afternoons from 12 for a chilled out showcase of new talent - the perfect alternative Sunday lunch!