The Fly

Niamheen

The Fly has an upstairs bar and downstairs gig venue, both dark and intimate, it's a great place to see a live band, and is sometimes the location for secret gigs for bigger bands. It's a good spot to catch up and coming acts, like it's sister pub, The Barfly, in Camden.

I've only once popped in for a drink without going to a gig and it was a bit loud for my taste that particular evening. Not just me, but the people I was with too. Maybe we're too old! But, that could have been just that particular night, I wouldn't rule it out for future occasions.

miffy

Younger brother to Camden Barfly the fly has had some big bands play in it, good gigs that have that, "big band in a small venue" feel that is always satifying. As well as this they have a new bands night on wednesdays which allows emerging small bands to play- a great stepping stone to bigger venues. The Djs play great music to dance to and the staff are friendly which is always nice, depite there being few people there the djs were still enthusiastic and the bar prices are reasonable. The downstairs area has comfortable sofas and big tables which are good if you're in a large group but less so if you just want to sit with a few people. Overall a good small venue in a handy central location.

secondexpress

I took a trip down to London specially to see Jay Brannan perform his first UK gig at the Fly. The gig was amazing, but since this review is really about the venue...

The place itself is really centrally located, and consists of a smallish but nice bar on the ground floor, and the main venue downstairs in the basement. This is also fairly small, with a seating area towards the back and a small stage on the other side.

The Fly is dark (pretty much everything is black) but pretty cool - for someone approaching 30 I also felt a little bit above the average age of the clientele. For a northerner the drinks were expensive (£3.25 a pint) but hey - it is London after all.

If the Fly were just a bar, it would probably just get 3 stars. But that's not what the Fly is about - it's about the music, about going downstairs and seeing artists perform so close that you can shake their hands. The venue is terrificly intimate - so much so that you can overlook the poor air conditioning or the badly place pillar that blocks the view for a portion of the room.

It's small, intimate and hip. For a drink, give it a miss. For a gig, don't miss it.