Barden's Boudoir

Wednesday January 23, 2008

Venue: Barden's Boudoir

Location: 38-44 Stoke Newington Road, London, N16 7XJ

Capacity: 350

Website: www.bardensbar.co.uk

Hiding underneath a row of pound shops and kebab shops on Stoke Newington Road is a dark, 350 capacity basement space that has been rapidly establishing itself as a key venue in East London.

In the last three months Barden’s Boudoir has been pulling in an achingly hip, music savvy crowd from Hackney, Shoreditch and the surrounding areas.

Since Alex Chaudhary arrived as the booking manager in November 2007, the venue has begun hosting internally promoted gigs alongside regular nights including infamous indie-electro night Club Motherfucker and Rockabilly monthly The Hellfire Club.

Now Barden’s Boudoir is preparing to bring its Winter Warmer festival to its loyal followers, with acts including The Mae Shi, Rolo Tomassi, Youthmoviews and Errors taking to the small stage.

Other scheduled performances include a gig from hotly tipped Those Dancing Days and the managers are currently in talks with Lastfm.com to set up a new partnership which would see the venue hosting free nights as well as more high profile gigs.

The venue only opens for gigs and provides sound technicians. No back-line is provided, although a car park across the road is fairly convenient for unloading.

Chaudhary attributes some of the success of the venue to the musical community that has built up around it. “It’s not a really commercial venue and we like it like that. We have a regular following. A lot of people in East London are really into their music, so we’re really lucky.”