A tropical bohemia style venue
Situated beneath the arches of Hackney Central station, Night Tales has the largest outdoor area in East London, taking up over 4000 sq ft.
I’ve decided it’s time to review venues starting with the most recent one I visited – Night Tales, East London.
Last weekend, I headed to Hackney for a day party, the venue is located within Bohemia Place (E8 1DU). I entered from the Mare street end and after a short stroll past the arches, I arrived at the spot with a lovely door lady alongside a few security guys.
On this particular day, there was also a market happening in Bohemia place ‘Black Eats LDN‘ which seemed to have a vibe with a variety of food stalls, I will definitely head back to visit.
Right back to Night Tales so after showing our tickets, we went down a concrete hallway that led us on to the terrace.
There are wooden benches located ahead and to the right with an elevated lounge area which were all reserved, to the left a wooden hut which looked like a bar but it wasn’t, you need to go past this and then you will see a huge bar to the right.
The bar was well-stocked with premium brand alcohol, which was a pleasant surprise, and there were lots of staff members present serving.
I only waited around 5 minutes to order and was welcomed with a smile. I also noted the alcohol was not measured and poured freely with the mixer – The price was ok, £24.50 for two drinks, a Grey Goose with lemonade & a Wray and Nephew with pineapple juice.
(Be warned, the drinks are quite strong)
We found a little spot at the end of the bar to place our drinks so we could get moving and grooving to the music. I started to notice the venue was getting quite warm, it was a nice day outside so naturally I was dressed for summer then I looked up and noticed the plastic see-through greenhouse style roof.
The venue got extremely hot very quickly with no other fan or air con system installed which made it unbearable for many, not just myself. (Make sure to bring a hand-held fan if you are visiting on a sunny day)
So Hand-held fan in my hand and it was back to the music, the DJ was laying down some nice tunes but the soundsystem wasn’t very loud. I did notice this on entry that I couldn’t hear the music clearly but as we were now inside and closer to the DJ booth, the volume only went up slightly. There was no bass & you could just about hear the tunes over the crowd (The event was sold out so extremely busy).
We decided after around an hour to take a stroll to the back of the terrace where there was a smoking area with many free benches to sit on, it was here that we noticed part of the roof was open, making this area much cooler and nicer then the main part of the terrace but you cannot really hear the music up that end of the terrace so it is more like a chillout area. I also made friends as you do in the smoking areas – shout out to the blonde girl, lovely bunch of girls I sat with.
The toilets are located opposite the main bar with plenty of cubicles but bear in mind, they are mixed and became pretty unclean as the evening progressed.
The party I attended had good vibes with a cool, friendly crowd. The DJs and the music were on point.
Night Tales definitely has a cool vibe, a lot of space and I absolutely loved the decor, the tropical, jungle theme. I think the soundsytem could be slightly louder, I definitely need to go back to see what the club room is like.
Shout out to the bar staff, very welcoming.
Read next: Grime Stories Exhibition Review
