Review of London’s best burlesque and cabaret clubs including CellarDoor, Madame Jojos, Peacock Bar, Pigalle’s and Vauxhall Tavern
London is suddenly awash with venues doing burlesque and cabaret but which ones are best for birthday parties and hen parties where not everyone is necessarily going to be a burlesque aficionado and where other factors like food, and whether there is a disco and dancing afterwards are going to be just as important. Read below and hear the inside track courtesy of Cabaret Confidential.
Of the West end venues the pick of the crop for birthday parties and hen parties has to be Madame Jojos and Volupte. Both have late licences and dancing afterwards although both though are also very pricey. Volupte is also very much a sit down and eat kind of venue and can be a bit officey to say the least. On the more intimate tip CellarDoor is hosting some hot acts right now but it really is only big enough to swing a cat in and for a whole evening out might feel slightly claustrophobic. Pigalle is hosting the excellent Tassel club on Fridays but otherwise is to avoided. Expensive too. In East London Bethnal Green Working Mens Club hosts some fabulous nights but the venue is hideous and security legendary for their rudeness (at times). The food is abominable and lets just say the mixology revolution appears to have passed then by too. One to avoid. West and North London are pretty barren too when it comes to specialist burlesque and cabaret venues but Cobden Club and Proud Galleries do have some excellent one offs.
Strangely enough it is South London which seems to have the pick of the burlesque cabaret venues particularly for the younger crowd. Peacock Bar in Clapham Junction seems to have won every award under the sun since opening six months ago with its formula of combining burlesque and cabaret with retro 70s, 80s, 90s Djs after till 2.30am. For birthday party and hen party groups where people want to go on stage their Stars In their Eyes” programme is also proving a big winner for them. South London is also the home for Banana Cabaret which remains resolutely popular despite regular price hikes and no review would be complete without mentioning the excellent Vauxhall Tavern (note gay venue).
Interestingly the comedy chains like Jongleurs and the more commercial Leicester Square venues like Comedy Store have yet to react to the burlesque and cabaret explosion going on around them. However expect at least one venue to adopt a named night soon.
So there we have it London’s burlesque and cabaret scene from the inside. Watch out for more reviews from Cabaret Confidential
Alison Hudd is author of this article on Christmas party dinner.
Find more information about Christmas party lunch here.
