The Arts Theatre Club

A thoroughly riotous night of tea pot cocktail related fun!

This is a quirky venue with a friendly crowd. Think prohibition theme – made modern – trendy, but without the pretentious east London vibe.

The only downside is that on weekends this place is rammed.

However, this is only to be expected, because when other cocktail bars close, this place is open and doesn’t have a dress code. There is a £10 entrance fee, which isn’t applicable if you arrive early.

But with tasty cocktails and classic tunes, which are great for dancing too… it’s worth it.

Great fun, and not too serious, it is a bit of a dive, but looks good following a renovation a few years ago.
Cocktails come in teapots and are very drinkable.
The music is pop, it is very crowded and can be a bit of a meat market, but good time can be had very easily.

The girl in question was unstable. Furthermore she had crashed her car that very day and it almost wasn’t to be, but after having stood me up no fewer than 4 times in a row before, she decided to go through with our first date. I was elated.

It was after my most meticulously planned first date ever, which included an edgy interactive performance art theatre-cum-art-gallery-cum-Hitchcockian roleplay night (thanks to theatre company Shunt), followed by dinner at a place at which, on the previous night, Tony Blair and George Bush had purportedly dined (Le Pont de la Tour), followed by drinks at some swanky cocktail bar, that it became clear the girl I was with – who had stopped in Soho on the way back (the way back to where?) to ask some strangers for a toke on their spliff (I, like the prudish home counties boy I am, was shocked) – yes, it became clear to me that the girl I had picked for this date had a little more energy than I; one minute I was walking down Soho Street, and the next minute I found I had been (literally) thrown down a set of stairs I didn’t know existed.

After I got up and came-to (this is a true story), and after I had figured out exactly why I fell down some stairs given I was already at street level, I looked around me. Loud music: good. Music that wasn’t terrible tacky tourist trash: good. Bar that was still serving: unheard-of, but good.

Cut to the next day. 11.30am. I am sitting outside some hippy vegan cafe in Chiswick (this is waaay before I ever lived there – many years ago now) sipping slowly on my third power smoothie – ginger, carrots, and the like. I asked the question “where was that last place we ended up”?

It was the previous night, I discovered, that I had made my acquaintance with Soho Arts Club.

I remember very little else from the night.

However since then I’ve been back many times. Once I played in a band there. Once I supported some friends playing a gig. The music is decent, the drinks are reasonable. All in all, I can recommend the place if it’s that time of the night and you aren’t ready to end your evening. It’s certainly not a place that I would choose to go to of an evening.

I hit my 30s last year. Despite that, I think it was always a bit grungy for my liking, even in my 20s. Too many t-shirts and boys with long hair.

if you're in Soho late at night, stuck wandering the streets trying to find a place for a few more drinks, do not despair - the Soho Arts Club is there for you.

Pay your tenner (yep it's £10, but would you rather aimlessly wander the streets of London for another half an hour? No, thought not), descend the too-steep-when-I've-had-this-many-drink stairs and you're in a 'cosy' basement packed to the rafters with a proper mix of people dancing to a proper mix of music.

Everything from motown to disco to indie to downright cheesy, enjoyed by hipsters, townies and chavs, some of them drinking cocktails out of teapots (there's a 'prohibition menu' which serves up a variety of cocktails in what looks your grandma's best tea set).

It's open until 2, it gets very hot, it's normally very crowded, and you can barely hear yourself think - what more do you want?

It’s a very fun place to be and the music is always pumping.

Love this bar, late at night when a group of you are trawling Soho looking for somewhere to go this is always a good option if you can convince the doorman to let you in.

Has a great dance floor where you can jump around like an idiot.

Plays great tunes and is dirty but good end to the night with a chilled out and fun crowd.

The one thing I hate about Soho, is the fact that everywhere is shiny and clean and perfectly lit and plays the some bang bang idiot house music. And most bars take themselves far too seriously, with serious prices to match.

The Arts Theatre Club on the other hand is the opposite to all of these things! If that puts you off, then it probably isn’t for you. You have to be a member, which isn’t expensive, but it does mean you can go to this place all year around. It means you have an option in Soho when the pubs shut.

The number of times I have been there and danced myself into a sweaty mess would be embarrassing if I didn’t love it so much.

Since smoking was banned it does smell a bit like bleach though, which is a shame.

I really like it at this little venue. Its quite small, but cosy. It's dimly, with a good bar, normal priced drinks (it is soho) and a good sized stage. The sound system is good, full live bands fit perfectly, and a good crowd always gathers. You do have to pay at the door, but it is only a few pounds depending on the band, and is definitely worth it. There is not smoking area, so you have to go up the stairs on the street, but its quite amusing seeing the passing bar police on their bikes. recommended.