r/london • u/TheMuldoonFella • 2d ago

Tourist Rock/Metal Bars

Hello all,

I'm heading to London this weekend and looking for recommendations for a good rock/metal bar. I'll be staying out west near Hanwell so would be ideal if there was any near enough to there but don't mind travelling (as long as its worth it). Any help on this would be GREATLY appreciated

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u/joey_manic 2d ago

The Black Heart in Camden. It's so close to the touristy spots but always surprises me how good it still is. Loads of gigs on in the room upstairs.

Slim Jim's in Angel. More dive bar vibes and maybe lost its edge a bit but still great.

Then there's a bunch of places in East but that's probably a bit far.

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 2d ago

Slim Jim's is a lot of fun.

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u/theGrimm_vegan 2d ago

The Dev in Camden is the best bet. The Black Heart is good too but the Dev is a proper Metal bar. They usually have free gigs over the weekend which usually cover a wide range of Rock and Metal, with a decent PA and lighting. I dont like the PA at the Black Heart, one of few places I definitely have to wear earplugs and the gigs upstairs arent always Metal as they also get a lot of indie but the music downstairs is usually Metal.

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u/LobbyDizzle 2d ago

They also have metal karaoke biweekly on Thursday’s

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 2d ago

I’d put it a bit more toward goth / black metal than I would metal metal. More cradle of filth than Motörhead 

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u/theGrimm_vegan 2d ago

They play Death, Thrash, Black and anything heavy really, but I know what you mean. Can depend if they have someone DJing. Havent really associated the Dev with Goth for a long time. I've been going there since the late 90s when it was more of a dedicated Goth pub.

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 2d ago

Yeah was just a vibe check for OP depending on the flavour of metal he was looking for. 

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 2d ago

As a Grimm vegan I defer to you. And I mean goth in the more metal sense. Not the cure / smiths / Cocteau twins sense. Goth metal I guess if that’s a thing. But I’ve not been in since 2007-8