By day, and above ground, The Social is a small bar and pizzeria nestled in Portland Street with lots of indie music love in it, but come down the stairs and you have one of the oddest layouts of a gig I have ever seen. Split sort of half and half to an accessible seating space leaving a long space behind it with a bar right at the back and a merch stand just down the stairs.
The standing space is so narrow that a maximum of four people can fit before being thrown into the seated area. I saw pop-rock boyband New Hope Club there in 2023, and they had said they knew it was weird to play a tiny place like this, but their management had been bartending there for years, so it felt like a nice venue to play as they were establishing their feet on the ground for the year of live music to come.
It has since transpired that they’ve left their management, and therefore we can maybe look back at this show as an homage to those people, as they hadn’t played a show in London after that. The vibes themselves were great as NHC’s live shows always are. They lend themselves to the smaller venues and love the interaction. (George’s glare at me calling them old… maybe not) On the whole, a lovely little venue!
