London clubbing splits into two worlds, and almost every guide mixes them up. There are the table clubs, where the door is the product and the music is background. And there are the music-led rooms, where the line-up is the product and nobody cares what you are wearing.
Decide which night you want before you pick a venue. The money, the dress and the hour are completely different, and turning up to one expecting the other is how people waste a Saturday.
Rechecked on 28 September and 2 October 2026
Club listings go out of date faster than anything else on this site, so the venues here were rechecked against their own sites and promoters. All of them are trading. XOYO is programming after its rebuild, though the weekly Thursday it announced for 1 October has not turned into a weekly Thursday: on 2 October its own What’s On listed Saturdays and one Sunday to the end of the month and no Thursday at all. Drumsheds has shows booked into December. fabric is live and programming.
One thing needed correcting: XOYO had been listed as programming five nights a week, and its own listings now show Saturdays, day and night, plus the new Thursday. The door policies below are quoted from the venues themselves and those are the part that changes least.
The table clubs, and their dress codes
Mayfair and Soho. You are buying a table, the room and the door. Expect to book, expect to be assessed on the way in, and expect the bill to be the evening’s main event.
Tape, Hanover Square
The serious one. 17 Hanover Square, W1S 1HU, open Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11pm to 3.30am, with a separate after-hours room called Little Tape running Friday and Saturday from 3am to 5.30am.
Their dress code is specific and they mean it: no “Sports/Gym wear, including designer tracksuits or leggings” and no “Gym, dirty or everyday trainers/sneakers.” What they ask for is “stylish and elegant attire” with “smart and elegant footwear”.
The detail that catches people: “ALL GUESTS ARE REQUIRED TO SHOW PHYSICAL ID, PHOTOGRAPHS OF YOUR ID WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.” A picture of your passport on your phone will not get you in.
Tape London
- Address
- 17 Hanover Square, W1S 1HU
- Nearest
- Oxford Circus or Bond Street
- Hours
- Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11pm to 3.30am. Little Tape runs Friday and Saturday 3am to 5.30am
- Booking
- Table booking, and the walk up queue is whatever is left
- Price
- No sportswear or gym wear, including designer tracksuits and leggings, and no everyday trainers
- Standing
- A table club where the door is the product
How to get in
Physical photo identification only, stated in capitals on their own site: a photograph of your passport will not be accepted. The dress code asks for stylish and elegant attire with smart footwear, and rules out designer tracksuits and everyday trainers by name.
Cirque le Soir, Ganton Street
Circus performers, contortionists and fire between the tables. Sillier than Tape and it knows it. 15 to 21 Ganton Street, W1F 9BN, open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 11pm to 3.30am.
Two rules worth knowing before you plan the night. The age minimum moves: 19 and over on Mondays and Wednesdays, 20 and over on Fridays and Saturdays, with photo ID. And “Groups must be mixed; all-male groups may be turned away.” That is their wording, it is not a suggestion, and it is the single most common reason a stag party ends up somewhere else.
They ask you to apply to the guestlist rather than walk up. Walk-ins are at the management’s discretion, which in practice means the table bookings go in first.
Cirque le Soir
- Address
- 15 to 21 Ganton Street, W1F 9BN
- Nearest
- Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus
- Hours
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 11pm to 3.30am
- Booking
- Apply to the guestlist. Walk ins at the management’s discretion
- Price
- 19 and over on Monday and Wednesday, 20 and over on Friday and Saturday, with photo identification
- Standing
- Circus performers and fire between the tables
How to get in
Their own wording is that groups must be mixed and all male groups may be turned away, which is the single most common reason a stag party ends up somewhere else. The age minimum moves with the night: 19 early in the week, 20 at the weekend.
Annabel’s, Berkeley Square
The famous one, and the one you probably cannot go to. Annabel’s is a private members’ club, so there is no guestlist, no table booking and no door to charm. Membership is by application.
Published hours are Monday and Tuesday 7.30am to 1am, Wednesday to Friday 7.30am to 3am, Saturday 11.30am to 3am, Sunday 11.30am to midnight. It publishes a dress code as its own document, which tells you how seriously it is taken.
If you are not a member and nobody is taking you, this is not a plan. Treat it as background rather than an option.
Annabel’s
- Address
- Berkeley Square, Mayfair, W1J
- Nearest
- Green Park or Bond Street
- Hours
- Monday and Tuesday 7.30am to 1am, Wednesday to Friday 7.30am to 3am, Saturday 11.30am to 3am, Sunday 11.30am to midnight
- Booking
- Private members’ club. Membership by application, and there is no guestlist
- Price
- A dress code published as its own separate document
- Standing
- The famous one, and the one you probably cannot go to
How to get in
There is no door to charm here. It is a private members’ club, so there is no guestlist and no table booking, and membership is by application. If nobody is taking you, this is background rather than a plan.
The music-led rooms, and the Ministry of Sound dress code
Different economy entirely. You buy a ticket, you go for whoever is playing, and the door cares about your ID rather than your shoes.
fabric, Farringdon
77a Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ. Still the reference point for London clubbing and still programming properly. Tickets go through the usual listings sites rather than the door.
Worth knowing: fabric runs a membership called fabricfirst from £7 per quarter, which is cheap enough to pay for itself if you go more than twice a year.
fabric
- Address
- 77a Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ
- Nearest
- Farringdon or Barbican
- Booking
- Tickets through the usual listings sites rather than the door
- Price
- The fabricfirst membership starts at 7 pounds a quarter
- Standing
- Still the reference point for London clubbing
How to get in
Buy the ticket before you go: this is a line up venue and the door is not where you get in. The fabricfirst membership pays for itself if you go more than twice a year, which almost nobody mentions.
Ministry of Sound, Elephant and Castle
103 Gaunt Street, SE1 6DP. Open Friday and Saturday 10.30pm to 5am, and Tuesdays 10.30pm to 4am.
This is the most usefully documented door in London, so here is what it actually says:
- Last entry is 3am on Friday and Saturday, 2am on Tuesday, and “There is no re-entry to the club.” Step outside and that is the night finished.
- “Single persons entry will be denied. Please come with a friend or a group to gain entry into the club.” Almost nobody reports this. If you were planning to go alone, do not.
- Physical photo ID only, with a digital scanning system: “Strictly no ID, no entry.”
- The dress code is the opposite of Mayfair’s: they advise against tracksuits, sportswear, caps and football shirts, but “Sports trainers are fine.”
Ministry of Sound
- Address
- 103 Gaunt Street, SE1 6DP
- Nearest
- Elephant and Castle
- Hours
- Friday and Saturday 10.30pm to 5am, Tuesday 10.30pm to 4am
- Booking
- Tickets in advance
- Price
- No tracksuits, sportswear, caps or football shirts, though sports trainers are fine
- Standing
- The most usefully documented door in London
How to get in
Two rules nobody else prints. Single person entry is refused outright: their wording is to come with a friend or a group. And there is no re-entry at all, so stepping outside ends the night. Last entry is 3am at the weekend and 2am on Tuesday, and physical photo identification is scanned at the door.
XOYO, Shoreditch
Back after a rebuild, and not pretending otherwise. Their own line is “This isn’t a comeback, it’s a reset.” Its listings run on Saturdays, often a day event and a night event on the same date, plus the occasional Sunday. Treat the Thursday with caution. The front page still bills Cherry as the new weekly Thursday from 1 October, and on 2 October the What’s On calendar carried no Thursday date at all between then and the end of the month, so check the calendar rather than the banner.
XOYO
- Nearest
- Old Street or Shoreditch High Street
- Hours
- Saturdays, day and night events, plus the occasional Sunday. A weekly Thursday called Cherry is advertised on the front page but no Thursday appears on the What's On calendar
- Booking
- Tickets in advance
- Standing
- Reopened after a rebuild
How to get in
Check who is on rather than turning up for the room: the listings are Saturdays for now, some of them daytime events, plus the new weekly Thursday. Tickets go through the listings sites.
Village Underground, Shoreditch
54 Holywell Lane, EC2A 3PQ. A Victorian warehouse with disused Jubilee line carriages parked on the roof, running club nights and live music in the same room. Smaller and better for it.
Village Underground
- Address
- 54 Holywell Lane, EC2A 3PQ
- Nearest
- Shoreditch High Street or Old Street
- Booking
- Tickets in advance
- Standing
- A Victorian warehouse with disused Jubilee line carriages on the roof
How to get in
Club nights and live music share the same room, so what you get depends entirely on the night rather than the venue. It is small, which is the reason to pick it over the warehouses.
Drumsheds, Tottenham
The big one. A former IKEA at 6 Glover Drive, N18 3HF, holding up to 15,000, run by the people who had Printworks.
It is a long way out and the logistics matter more than the door. It is a five minute walk from Meridian Water station, with a shuttle bus from Tottenham Hale, £5 return, running from roughly thirty minutes before doors until an hour after the end. There is no parking. Bags must be smaller than A4 and everyone is searched.
Check the finishing time before you assume it is a club night. Drumsheds programmes daytime and evening shows as well as late ones, and its own listings run things like 15:00 to 22:30 and 13:00 to 22:30 alongside a 19:00 to 03:00. A ticket that says Saturday at Drumsheds can mean an afternoon that ends before the last train, which is either exactly what you wanted or the opposite.
Their note on dress is the honest one: “There’s no set dress code at Drumsheds but some toilets, food traders and bars are located outside so we advise bringing a warm layer.” Take that seriously in winter.
Drumsheds
- Address
- 6 Glover Drive, N18 3HF
- Nearest
- Meridian Water, a five minute walk, with a shuttle bus from Tottenham Hale
- Booking
- Tickets in advance
- Price
- No set dress code, but bring a warm layer
- Standing
- A former IKEA holding up to 15,000
How to get in
The logistics matter more than the door here. There is no parking at all. The shuttle from Tottenham Hale runs from about thirty minutes before doors until an hour after the end, bags must be smaller than A4, and everyone is searched. Some of the lavatories, bars and food traders are outside, which is why they tell you to dress for it.
What the guides get wrong
Printworks is not open. It closed after a final run of parties in early May 2023. Redevelopment was approved and it is due to return as a permanent music venue, but as of this autumn there is still no opening date, no line-up, no ticket on-sale and no first season announced.
It appears on a great many “best clubs in London” lists as though you could go this weekend. You cannot. Do not build a trip around it.
More generally: if a venue’s own website has gone and the only pages selling it are guestlist agencies, check before you plan. The agencies are slow to remove a room that has closed, because the listing still earns them enquiries. We found more than one London club in exactly that position while checking this page.
Practical notes
Book the table or apply to the list before the day. At the Mayfair end the walk-up queue is the queue for whatever is left, and on a Saturday that is usually nothing.
Carry the physical ID. Tape and Ministry of Sound both say it in writing and both mean it. A photo of a passport is not ID.
Check whether the group is a problem. All-male groups are refused at some doors and nowhere advertises this except the venues themselves. Our guide to London dress codes covers what “smart” is actually being measured on, and it is nearly always the shoes.
Work out the way home first. Most of these rooms run past the last train. Ministry of Sound’s own advice is a good example of how specific this gets: Elephant and Castle station opens around 5.30am on Saturday and 7am on Sunday, and the nearest night services are at Kennington and Southwark. The Night Tube guide has which lines run and, more importantly, which branches do not.
Everything quoted here was taken from the venues’ own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Club hours and door policies change constantly, so check the venue’s own page rather than a listing site.
The big rooms, door by door
fabric bans business suits, scans your ID, and states you will not be banned for reporting that you feel unwell.
Ministry of Sound includes entry in its table packages, along with a private entrance and private toilets.
XOYO reopened in October 2026 and runs Day Events and Night Events separately on the same Saturday.
Heaven admits 14 year olds to its gigs with an adult, and three listing sites give three different sets of club hours.
Where to go next
If a club is not quite the night, the cocktail bars and the hidden bars both go late without the door, and burlesque sits neatly between a show and a night out.
London at night is the wider guide to what is open after the kitchens close.
Questions we get asked
What is the dress code for London clubs?
Specific, published, and enforced. One Hanover Square venue excludes sports and gym wear including designer tracksuits and leggings, and gym, dirty or everyday trainers. They mean it. The money, the dress and the hour differ completely between the members clubs and the late rooms, and turning up to one expecting the other is how people waste a Saturday.
What time do London clubs open and close?
Later than most cities and with unusual patterns. One venue runs Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11pm to 3.30am, with a separate after hours room called Little Tape running Friday and Saturday from 3am to 5.30am. Check the specific nights, because several of these rooms are closed on the nights you would assume they are open.
Do you need to book a London club?
At the upper end, yes. Expect to book, expect to be assessed on the way in, and expect the bill to be the evening’s main event rather than an afterthought. The door is a real filter and a booking does not remove it, which is why the dress code matters as much as the reservation.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 39 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
