333 Old Street,
Shoreditch,
London,
EC1V 9LE
0872 148 3679
The ViewLondon Review
This austere, yet eternally popular Old Street bar – with its refreshing mixture of clientele and refreshingly musty, olde-worlde interior – may be approaching its sixth birthday (along with sister club 333), but that doesn’t make its hallowed, bud-stained walls any less of a legend.
Far from it. Indeed, it’s currently hard to think of the time when Mother won’t be a legend in its own lifetime…
Mother and 333 kick-started the infamous 'Hoxton' trend, back in the bleak days when alcopops, knocked-off YSL shirts and clinical house clubs ruled London nightlife.
What was ground-breaking then – eclectic tunes, a relaxed atmosphere and no-nonsense decor – is commonplace now, which stands testament to the shrewd thinking of the faces behind 333, a mixed bunch of DJs and local entrepreneurs who saw the rich possibilities of this ex-industrial brewery site.
Enter on the Old Street wing for Mother, up battered, institutional-blue stairs and into two adjoining rooms that would easily pass for a circa ’76 post-grad common room.
Dog-eared, dragged-from-a-skip leather sofas back up against large original Victorian windows, which afford a view over a choked road junction and the blinding headlight glare of passing trucks.
Sounds a little dreary admittedly, but when combined with the tattered flock wallpaper and moody low lighting the overall effect is more Brooklyn bar than Brum boozer.
And the no-nonsense approach extends to music policy too. This is democratised clubbing – freeform, eclectic tunes (drum ‘n’ bass, house, Latin and afrobeat and funk, often combined in a single set), for a sartorially ostentatious, yet down-to-earth, bottled beer-supping crowd.
Expect Mother to be perennially full – or if not full, bustling at the very least. The reputation, not to mention the music and elegantly wasted décor bring ‘em flocking from all over the place – even now, almost six years after opening.
Mother has not only established itself as a modish venue (and that’s fairly hard to keep up over half a decade given the fickle natures of your fashion fascist crowd) but also as a genuinely progressive and impressive music venue. Excellent.