E1
Nightclub
Unit 2, 110 Pennington St, E1W 2BB
£10-£20
Nestled in between Shadwell and Tower Hill lives E1. Its very first event was a 27-hour New Year’s rave back in 2017 which set a precedent for things to come. The space is split into two rooms – a typical industrial warehouse space – concrete walls, pillars, open pipes, and a smaller very dark room with a more XOYO upmarket feel. As expected, the typical DJ’s you’ll find here are electro and heavy techno, however, we decided to introduce ourselves to E1 with a garage night.
I was initially elated at the concept of a garage night, often finding myself stuck at electro raves wondering if I even really like techno. The line-up was popping: Champion and Bklava headlining, therefore promising some real garage classics. Tickets started at £10 and slowly creeped up to a £20 3rd release – pretty typical for London prices and the timings were 10pm-6am. We hopped out of our uber’s at just gone midnight (you will struggle to get there any other way as the closest stations are only served by the overground and DLR which stop running at a unreasonably early hour.) On arrival there was a pretty long queue, but it moved swiftly due to the number of staff on hand for searching.
The entry experience at E1 was probably the worst I’ve ever had. Not only were the staff pretty unfriendly, but the search was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Both my boots came off, as well as a rummage in my bra and a full body pat down. It was serious stuff, and whilst sometimes this is necessary, it felt like a pretty invasive and shitty way to start the night. The lady who did mine said it was her first night on the job – which I thought may have been the reason for her overdoing it, however, most of my other friends who had different bouncers had a similar experience.
Once we were in, we headed for the bar, where we found out that a small can of beer was £7 and bottle of water £3.50. A complete rip off if you ask me. For a line up which sounded so promising, the music was pretty shit too. Bklava didn’t play any of her original songs, instead it sounded like some really trashy pop with a terrible MC overlayed shouting ‘E1 get down’ repeatedly, reminding me of the underage parties like UTR and mashed up I used to go to when I was 14 – it wasn’t ok then, so it definitely isn’t 12 years on. There was a brief 30 minutes of Champion's set where things were going ok, but overall the music was a disaster and left us all looking at each other bewilderedly wondering who would be the first to suggest we just go home. We couldn't even escape to sit in the smoking area, as this was just a cornered off alley with one measly set of benches at the end. A place for a quick in and out ciggie, not a place to chill.
Positives to take from the night were the venue itself – lots of space, good air con (which has been missing in a few clubs since covid), lots of clean loos, bar queues not bad. However, the overall experience went from a bad start to a worse finish. We left around 2:30, meaning it’s probably the shortest time I’ve spent at a club. Due to a tricky location and the lack of a night tube, we forked out another £30 for an uber home, which after the bar prices made the whole experience one of the most expensive 2 hours of my life. Whilst the music can’t be blamed on the venue, the prices and attitudes can. E1 should stick to the electronic stuff after all and take a lesson in how to make their customers feel a little more welcome.
OVERALL RATING: **
no images are my own
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