359 Bethnal Green Road,
Bethnal Green,
London,
E2 6LG

0872 148 3415 

This venue used to be for the queens of Bethnal Green, back in the days when it was a gay pub called the Cock & Comfort. Now, owned and managed by the genial wordsmith Nigerian Nick, it opens its psychadelic retro arms to everyone, but it retains a bohemian and relaxed atmosphere, possibly a benign legacy from its eclectic past.

It is jaunty but not smart, fresh but not draughty, and quirky but not austerely trendy. The décor is quite seventies, with bold prints in tones of fairest beige, whose hues blush darker at night when the purple perspex mobile light shades shake to the sounds of the funky DJ’s and the bands…maybe I should give up the air guitar and become an MC…(and then again, maybe not. Ed.)

It has righteously worn and comfortable leather sofas and chairs, a small stage which accomodates a four piece band perfectly, and a DJ booth which is more like an eyrie half way up a wall next to a purple Vespa - which is remarkable, both for the fact that it doesn’t look incongruous and it hasn’t been nicked.

The Pleasure Unit manages the modern skill of multi-tasking rather well for such an old-skool flavoured venue: it hosts great weekend club nights playing an upbeat and exhilarating range of music that you genuinely want to dance to, attended by people you might even want to talk to.

On other nights it is at the epi-centre of the East London rock scene with lots of good bands on the make, like the foot tappingly groovesome Toy Guns and moody crooners Kellerton Road.

If you just want to mooch about on the sofa and watch the sport or MTV, it’s very relaxing to do that too, and chat to the bar staff, who are unfailingly entertaining and charming.

So, if sir and madam would care to git on down, shake their tailfeathers, get their rocks off and their funk on to try something a little bit different, the Pleasure Unit is definitely an all round winner.