Possibly our favourite bar in London, Ridley Road Market Bar is like how going out used to be before phones ruined everything (sort of).
It's rare we recommend a non-event, a regular DJ night at a small club that's largely unremarkable: no huge names, no unique event, no bells and whistles, it's just a normal regular night out.
But it's high-time we thought to put it in your radar. Ridley Road Market is an iconic strip of outer London, a vibrant community hub that brings in punters from all over, and at night it just gets better. Market Bar is a well-worn stop off for the London queer community, a short walk from the similarly iconic but much more well known Dalston Superstore. But where Superstore gets rowdy and crowded, Market Bar stars sleek, spacious, and full of fun.
The long, thin interior, with entrance at one end and dancefloor at the other, makes perfect ground for meeting people, for chatting at the long bar while waiting for a drink, and for dancing (or for avoiding dancing entirely, it's at the other side!). I feel like an old man explaining what makes a bar good, but really, anyone who knows, knows why their favourite club is their favourite club, and they know that dimension, shape, and layout play a much more important role than the DJ.
And the DJ, every Saturday playing the best of funk, soul, disco, rare groove, club classics, teetering the line between mainstream floor-fillers and danceable unknowns, spinning to a group of patrons who are really there for the music, the good times, so good in fact you forget you even have a phone.
The crowd is generally really lovely and queer-friendly, and it's not filled to the brim with fresh 18 year olds either (although you can have your fun with them, last time I was there I asked a kid for his ID and he actually got it out). Expect a mixed, mature crowd of esoterics and eccentrics (and it's freee).