Monto Water Rats

Great Venue, Great Music, Great Crowd.

Monto Water Rats deserves a longer review because there are thousands of London establishments with "bar in the front, music in the back," yet few nail it as they do. They took the time to understand how to be better than everyone else at it.

Music venue: create a venue that sounds great, and you're likely to draw bands that sound great too. This is how they generate a whole that's greater than the sum of the parts (often drawing bands that tend to play larger spaces). The sound, which can be tricky in a room that small, doesn't sound like it's banging against a garage door. The room is also as wide as it is deep, so it's generally easy to work your way horizontally to get a good view of the band on the stage.

Bar: basically a cool square room. This is particularly clever, because anyone that has ever thrown a party knows that bodies avoid large open spaces and drift towards the comfort of narrow areas. It's wide enough to walk through, but skinny enough to avoid feeling awkward in any one spot. Also, the music doesn't blast into the bar area, so you can easily talk at the bar / fail at picking up a boy / girl, if you're so inclined.

Water Rats had an unexpectedly friendly, neighborhood-y vibe. The bouncers warmly greeted and chatted with my friend, a regular there. And after the opening set, the bassist simply hopped off the stage to hang with his friends in the audience.

The crowd was also great- no obnoxious haters, just a bunch of energetic music lovers. Looking forward to seeing more shows here.

Oh, these reviews smell like fakes... probably written by monto's staff :)
The venue is good, though, and music can be enjoyable sometimes.

MONTO WATER RATS!
ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PLACES IN LONDON TO CATCH A CONCERT.

This is a pretty good music venue! Lots of standing room and a stage big enough to host the typical local or independent band of musicians. I can't stress enough how important it is to have standing room at music venues because fans (like yours truly) love to get way up in the front to be able to see the sweat run down a lead singer's brow.

Overall, this was a really cool place to see a show. This may be one of my top favorite venues in London. Small, artists I like come here for under £8. Shows sell out fast, so I recommend you buy your tickets early.

I guess any venue where you can turn around and see the bar is a win.. If you are up front you are up against the stage (if you are in the right spots). Artists seem to interact with the crowd more here.
After the show, enjoy a few drinks. The artist usually comes out and you can chat them up/take pictures/whatever gets you excited.

I *L* O* V* E* THIS PLACE!

It's cool without the stuck up attitudes you get @ other bars. It's a great place to see a concert of indie bands. The woman working the door was friendly and allowed me to come in from the cold and wait until the show started. The staff were also friendly. The concert space is a decent sise, not too claustophobic, an intimate setting of sorts.

I love this place.

If you have never seen a show there, you have to go in for one. For music lovers, the experience is raw and in your face. I love going there, and I will always come back from time to time.

i've been going to tuts for appr 15 years, and still love the place. Its a good place to go for a drink on a saturday evening. DJ's are excellent! The place is what it is, anyone coming here expectinig anything fancy will leave disappointed, but in general, its a great little cubby hole to drink and be merry. the area where the gigs are is cool and really intimate. the gigs i've seen here have always had an excellent atmosphere, and the crowd have always left satisfied.
check the website if you're planning a trip to London, see who's playing and grab some tickets (which are always reasonably priced) and enjoy!