Bars & Pubs

By Ben McFarland

Sure to send Shoreditch’s single-speed bike chains into a twist, CAMP is a temporary (two years, rumour has it), trendy temple to music, art and general creative carry-on that flits fashionably between café and coffee shop, bar and late-night club (for some special events, it stays open until 4am on Fridays or Saturdays).

You'll find it pitched deep in the ’Ditch, just off the Old Street roundabout. Take Exit 4 out of the labyrinthine tube station.

The brainchild of James ‘Secretsundaze’ Priestley, CAMP has a barren Berlin bar bent to it with staffroom plastic chairs and Formica tables, mosaic legs and rails, and some edgy ‘installations’ (including an enormous yeti, tapestries and what looks like a camouflage interpretation of the Fox’s Glacier Mint advert). You wouldn’t bring your mum here.

Half a dozen martinis front an affordable cocktail list, including the Sweet Banker, a blend of whisky, grapefruit and honey that, rather aptly, has a slightly sour finish.

In addition to a broadly stocked back-bar of spirits, there’s a succinct wine selection, and Doom Bar and Breton traditional are the pick of an otherwise bland beer range.

On our evening visit, the peckish were offered only crisps, but we were reassured that plans were afoot for more extensive eating. During the day, the café kicks in with coffee, cakes, sandwiches… you know the score.

An eclectic calendar of electronic DJs, club nights and live music are flexing the superlative sound system and an extension into the large basement is planned, while there’s plenty of chin-scratching, moustache-twiddling art launches and exhibitions.

Time Out London Issue 2043: October 15-21 2009