Pop-Up Bar - The Double Club

One night I went to The Double Club, Fondazione Prada’s temporary restaurant/ bar/club in London’s Angel. The Club used artist Carsten Höller’s concept – that every element, including food, drink, architecture and music, be 50% Western and 50% Congolese. You could clearly make sense of this as soon as you walked through the door as you saw the split straight down the bar. Huge murals in the style of African advertising dominated one side alongside wrought iron railings and a blue and white tilled western copper wall on the other.

I had heard of Fashion brands before having Pop-Up shops, where these appear unexpectedly in unusual locations. They are designed to cause a lot of attention and are gone just before the attention is lost and the fashion crowd move on to the next thing! 'Pop-up's' essence is high-speed, short-attention-span culture but, never before had I been to or heard of a pop-up restaurant/bar/club.

I think this concept is very exciting and can constantly be changing, as it enables businesses to be constantly reinvented. Whenever you hear of something or somewhere new and exciting to go, it is usually only the best and most favorable place for a few months before either you find somewhere else, or you simply get bored or tired of a place. So from pulling it down and starting up again somewhere different with a different theme/concept I feel is really interesting idea.

The 'two-culture' Double club, is located in a converted Victorian warehouse down a dodgy alley behind Angel Tube station. We didn't eat at the restaurant, but near the bar was an African-style barbeque (made from a halved oildrum) which, generated wafts delicious smelling smoke from the char-grill. Here we tried some barbecued goat on skewers... it was delicious!! I have never tried goat before, but it was really tastey that I will definitely again!! The beer was a little pricey, the £12 price tag for a bottle of imported (Turbo) beer wasn't the best, but it did come in around a litre looking size bottle! Luckily there were cheaper drinks on offer too!

The revolving dance floor was rammed when we were there and even not knowing one track, the Congolese music was great to dance to! The disco introduced Islington to the sounds of the Congo, while also embracing the current sounds of London.

I found the Double club both an usual and enjoyable experience. I had never ben anywhere like it before and really enjoyed the unusual concept it offered. The barbecued goat was tastey, the surrounding decor was beautiful and the rhythmic Congolese music was great. I also found out that the profits from this venture (which ended in July) went to the City of Joy charity, helping rape victims in the Congo. That ridiculously expensive beer doesn't bother me so much now!