New Age fun with a Vintage feel...
Sick of the modern urban whirl? Want to escape from irritating ringtones, that person who insists on sending you personality tests on Facebook, and Christmas lights that get switched on in September?
If so then step into the Spoonfed Delorean – taking you back to the days when Tweeting was something only birds did, spam was considered a delicacy, and Hannah Montana would probably have been working as a chimney sweep rather than earning more money than your average city banker.
Here’s our selection of some of the best vintage nights London has to offer…
This night was around long before the whole nautical fashion thing exploded and Amy Winehouse-style tatts and stripey Topshop T-shirts became a staple. The dress code is more Popeye-goes-to-Pearl Harbour than Jack Sparrow, and nights feature a great selection of live bands, playing anything from jazz and swing to sea shanties and rock’n’roll. The felt-tip Tattoo parlour is always a laugh, and there’s an old-school photo booth that takes faded black and white postcard portraits (incidentally making everyone look like great aunt Pam on a bender back in the glory days…) There’s even cabaret and burlesque acts to shiver your timbers and the resident DJs will play to the bitter end like the string quartet at the end of Titanic.
Shore Leave was once located at The George Tavern, but has been on the move of late. Recent venues have included The Shacklewell Arms, The Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club and a railway arch under London Bridge, so keep an eye on their website to see where the next month's rum-soaked nautical knees-up will be taking place.
Think Elvis in a Hawaiian shirt surrounded by Honolulu hula-girls. Live bands play early on and you can hula your heart out with the giant hoops provided. This tends to give the night a friendly atmosphere as everyone twats each other with enormous plastic hoops and trips over. It’s amazing to see how long the real pros can go for, whilst at the same time imagining how dull their childhoods must have been to have honed such dazzling talents. Perhaps we’re just bitter...
There are also very casual swing-dancing lessons so you can spin about and feel like you’re in the '50s, even if you don’t look as slick as you think you do. Often held at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes, where you can also throw some balls like the Big Lebowsky.
La Belle Epoque
Ever fancied yourself as something of a flâneur? Ever starved yourself in a garret, stopped traffic due to your headwear, or gilded your pet tortoise, covering it in so many jewels that the RSPCA would have had a field day? For all you budding Baudelaires or hopeful Huysmanss out there, this is semi-regular party La Belle Epoque for you.
From the same people who put together The Blitz Party and Prohibition comes a wonderfully detailed evocation of 19th century Paris and all who dallied in her gaudy, gilded, smoke-filled majesty. With trapeze artists, "expert absintheurs" (tough job, huh), poetry, music and high society shenanigans, this looks like being one of the best parties in an age. To really fit in, don a paint-spattered smock, corset or white tie, cough like a consumptive and join the bloodied and befuddled revellers of a better, more magical age.
Not really a vintage night in terms of dressing up, but Gaz’s is worth a mention for its legendary status and longevity. Founded in 1980 it’s the longest running one-nighter around and the fixed Rockin' Blues float at Notting Hill Carnival is an annual favourite. Gaz’s permanent residency is at Soho’s St. Moritz club every Thursday and features live bands and an eclectic selection of retro classics from the likes of Toots, The Specials, The Kinks and Desmond Dekker.
is a collaboration between two fine artists, a professional movie carpenter, a handful of killer DJs and an eclectic mix of live bands, burlesque and cabaret acts who morph Transformer-style into a mega-party-machine. These guys always pull the stops out in organizing retro-themed nights, usually at Bethnall Green Working Men’s Club.
There's Grind-a-go-go with its sleazy '60s vibe… imagine dancefloor podiums, sassy go-go-dancers, a revolving mirrored stage and more retro beats than you can shimmy your nipple tassels to. So much classier than Austin Powers.
Also from the Oh My God gang is Jailhouse Jam - Every first Friday of the month sees jailbirds behaving badly behind bars, and you can get initiated into the gang in the prison tattoo booth or have a mugshot taken like The Usual Suspects. There’s even an all-male dancing troupe to give the evening an appropriate dose of prison bromance.
Saturdays at this Shoreditch hangout keep the spirit of the roaring twenties alive. Think The Beautiful and The Damned: perfume and flapper dresses, live music, hair set in curlers, whisky for breakfast and a mix of music that manages to squeeze in Vintage jazz, swing, blues, ragtime, rock and roll, gospel, early soul, polka, and Dixie.
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