Fabric London

⚠️ This place is for the Pros⚠️

My friend took me to this legendary establishment for my birthday. As a visitor to London from North America and a veteran of the underground I was both excited and skeptical.

Fabric is essentially a metaphor for a police state. You can have fun, but within the confines of the rules mandated by the authorities. The four star rating is highly influenced by the quality of the music and the novelty of the experience. Do NOT go there unless you are seriously committed.

All in all this experience was a mixed bag of positives and negatives, here are my takeaways:

- Reviews that warn you about queuing are NOT exaggerating! If you plan to enter Fabric you will queue, unless you are on the very limited guest list

- Senior management are top notch: the managers that run the show, both outside and inside the venue are absolute pros. They are friendly, accommodating, and hospitable. They run a tight ship without a hitch.

- Everything that you heard about security is legit: I have traveled the world, partied and clubbed in all sorts of counties, including autocratic ones. Let me just say, never have I ever been searched, frisked, and essentially shaken down like I was entering Fabric. If you are a connoisseur of illicit/designer drugs, you have to be a die hard pro to get in with them. Now, even if you do, security inside the venue makes it practically impossible to engage in such activities.

- Phones cameras and vaping are banned, but in reality they are frowned upon. The staff vapes, so does everyone else. Taking pictures and videos is frowned upon, and the strictness varies from one room to the other.

- The music is top notch. Nothing to say here except that I would give it ten stars.

- The bar tenders are generally terrible, with the exception of one or two staffers.

- Conclusion: it is absolutely worth the visit, even if just once.

Beautiful club, great soundsystem. However, this place is often so overbooked that it completely ruins the experience. No space to dance anywhere and tonight I had to queue for 15 minutes just to go from room 1 to room 2 due to the sheer mass of people. Even the smokers area is just a crowded mess.
Would pick a different venue solely due to this issue, and it's a shame they have this awful ticket policy. Makes it clear that the whole thing just turned into one big money grab, not a single care for the ravers experience.

Decent techno playing in room 2, but no entry fee advertised until you get to the desk, which also takes about half an hour. Security, whilst actually very pleasant, do a very thorough search, which is good in some aspects, although a little overbearing. A 4pm close is too early for this type of venue, it needs to be at least a 6am finish. The endless steps and tiny rooms may somewhat add to its charm but are also a hassle. We went because xoyo was closed for the evening, and it turned out OK, but the £30 entry fee was more than we'd usually want to pay, especially for what you get for it. Drinks prices are also excessive, however, this is something you expect and can avoid quite easily by dosing up beforehand, or consuming other things to keep you going.

We paid for a ticket for Halloween. We were a group of 7 lads. They suddenly took us out of the queue and asked us to describe the music being played. Bizarre, never heard of that happening before.

After we adequately described that we know the music being played, they let us back in the queue.

Then, the manager took our mate out of the queue because he ‘acted strangely in response to putting our stickers on his phone’. They used this as an excuse to kick us out before we even got in. I cannot stress how respectful & polite we were.

It came out of nowhere & they played it off as a justified decision. It was not. It bares mentioning that the manager (short, bearded) refused to explain his decision. This club is discriminatory (as our group is highly diverse, and he looked at our BAME members strangely), would highly recommend avoiding.

Never experienced this kind of treatment before, anywhere in the UK or across Europe.

i was grabbed by a bouncer and thrown into a crowd of people for “not staying in the line” (the line being everyone shoved against the wall and no barriers) when at that point, my friends and i had been IN line for almost an hour. the bouncer did not even ASK me to move first, if he did i would have complied without question but he just immediately resorted to grabbing and throwing me against everyone else while yelling at everyone. I am physically small and he was much bigger and stronger than me and it was traumatizing. i immediately felt unsafe and was looking for my friends when i saw the bouncer telling them to go forward in line while i was alone, and so i reached out to grab my friends hand who was trying to help me and he slapped my hand. and didn’t allow me to even join my friends after physically assaulting me. a grown man treating a young woman like this is traumatizing and unacceptable and i felt so unsafe and scared. he did not apologize and ignored me while i cried in a crowd of strangers after purposefully separating me from my friends and assaulting me for no reason. i was not intoxicated or non-complaint. after this, another bouncer was also trying to keep the line in order and slapped my face and hit me directly in the eye, however this was a mistake and he apologized (only after a few minutes). i was shaking and traumatized and i hadn’t even entered the club yet so i left immediately after i made sure my friends got in safely and were not assaulted by any more bouncers. i will never return to this venue and likely will never go to anything similar because i am scarred and never want to experience anything like this. it was completely unacceptable and a scarring experience, and whoever manages the employees needs to do something about their bouncers because this is physically and mentally traumatizing and illegal.

Great security staff. Responded quickly and thoughtfully to an issue. Made us feel safe (as a gay couple). Music was great, good vibes, drinks were reasonably priced. All round good venue

Went here last Saturday night with some friends from Holland. Great location, really unique. Sound system is great, vibes were nothing less.

Had a little situation regarding my prescribed meds which they found suspicious and threw away. Made me frustrated in the beginning but in the end being very pleased about how professional and adequate the security and manager handled it. Had a good talk about it after leaving with both, all real friendly and cool. Thanks again for being precautions with everyone inside in mind.

Coolest club in the UK. Music, venue, staff, all are fantastic. It's big, it's eclectic, the audience comes for the music and enjoys a great night. It's very popular so expect long lines on weekends or get a vip/ guest list to jump the line.