24 Kingly Street,
Soho,
London,
W1B 5QP
0871 971 4704
The ViewLondon Review
If you’re tired of Central London clubbing and fancy a change of scene, the revamped 24 London on Kingly Street is probably your best bet – and you won’t even have to travel any further afield than a taxi journey to find it.The VenueAll the usual elements you’d expect in a Central London club are here – the jostling paparazzi outside, the closely guarded red roped entrance and the exclusive seating areas complete with waitress service and bed-like seats so vast that you could easily grab a few minutes shut-eye if you weren’t leaping up every five minutes to dance around the table. In fact, it’s exactly the kind of club that many a Londoner professes to hate without ever having set foot inside. But this is where the cynical will struggle as in spite of ticking all the boxes, 24 London has gone that step further when it comes to technology adding up to a Central London club that is not only good but great.
If you don't manage to make it into one of the private hire seating areas, you can still have plenty of fun at the freestanding I-Bar that is placed between the bar and the seating areas. Move your hand across its illuminated surface to watch designs blossom at your touch. Floor to ceiling screens behind every seating area are also constantly changing – and you can decide what you want to see on the screens, that is when you can tear yourself away from changing the interactive table tops. It would be a shame to simply sit at your table all night though. The simple black and white colour scheme works as the perfect backdrop to a venue where clearly disco is king. The DJ box at the far end is a focal point throughout the night as shapes are thrown and cares are shimmyed away.
The AtmosphereWhilst 24 London boasts an all-singing, all dancing teccie revamp, it’s the level of service and the sense of fun which really makes the club stand head and shoulders above many of its peers. From the helpful (and smiling!) door staff to the equally attentive bar staff, all coolly clad in black and white uniforms accessorised with giant brightly coloured pairs of sunglasses. Don't be surprised if you see Sam Sparro begging for their stylists' phone number. The staff don't simply look the part though. They take time to concoct the perfect cocktail and the atmosphere is refreshingly free from the underlying tension that many Central London clubs unwittingly create. Clubbers beam at each other and you’d be hard pressed to find a single soul not having a fantastic night out.
No looking down over curled upper lips here, the sharp suited owners of Coutts' credit cards happily cut some rug with turn-sideways-and-you'll-miss-them model types and trendier souls in a frenzy of arm waving, hip swaying and moves that should quite frankly never see the light of day - and the club’s all the better for it.
The MusicThe emphasis at the club is clearly on fun and they’ve got it spot on, managing to successfully create the perfect mix of vintage disco and more recent hits. The DJ box at the far end holds court over the decent sized dancefloor that heaves all night with a shimmying mass of increasingly enthusiastic dancers. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the club is transformed into Disco 24 complete with glitterballs and plenty of sequins.
The DrinkBottled beers come in at £5 a pop which whilst steep is pretty run of the mill for a Central London club of this calibre. Cocktails are upwards of £9 but made with an impressive attention to detail, particularly recommended is the 24 Pornstar Martini which really sums up the unique sense of fun and sophistication that the club serves up so well. Start with a bite of a fresh, ripe strawberry dusted in vanilla sugar, savour some of the Martini (a heady blend of vanilla vodka, fresh passionfruit puree, a sprinkling of sugar and a dash of cloudy apple juice) and finish by cleaning your palate with a sip of Champagne that's served in a separate shot glass on the side.
With recipes this inventive, it’s no surprise that alongside bottles of Champagne, the bulk of drinks ordered are cocktails. And order you will. Every cocktail is created with care - a lethal feature which is sure to see you racking up a sizeable bill albeit it on a memorable night. The No 24 cocktail is made with their own homemade wild berry alcoholic sorbet, laced with Chambord and charged with Champagne. Equally recommended are Just One More Holiday (a blend of vanilla vodka, strawberries and cream) which is the finest equivalent to a long alcoholic strawberry milkshake that you're likely to find in a London club. However, if you'd rather keep your cocktails short, not too sweet and slightly sour, His Lordship fits the bill (a short whisky based cocktail that's blended with strawberries).
The Last WordWhen it first opened 24 London moved the goalposts for Central London clubbing and style conscious, technologically savvy Londoners finally had a club that’s worthy of them. Its 2009 disco themed refurbishment has injected a much needed sense of fun into a night of clubbing and cocktails in Central London and, for a night to remember, this is one club well worth splashing the cash.
24 London has been reviewed by 40 users