please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Nice place to sit outside in the summer. The inside is not up to much, it's too dark and the music is far too loud depsite the fact that it's a fairly sizeable place which would potentially be a nice place to sit. Surely there are better bars in the area.
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South African BBQ isn't at the Vibe Bar anymore. They haven't been there in almost a year.
I've spotted them a a few music festivals this summer, which rocked because their food is great. To my surprise, they're selling food in Camden at Stables Market.
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Cons:
1. MUSIC - TOO LOUD! Are you kidding me with their line up? Their love affair for dark & gothic music is obviously apparent. I couldn't even hear my friends. It's impossible to have a conversation in that place, hence why it's better to hang outside. I read somewhere that they jack up the volume, so you can buy more drinks = more money for the bar.
2. DIRTY & BLOCKED TOILETS! I mean gross! Trust me, you'll end up using the Vibe's toilets more than once, especially if you plan on drinking. I wish I could control my bladder because I literally have to hold my noise and vomit every time I enter their toilets. They are disgusting.
Advice to owners: Realise that it's time to renovate those toilets if you want classy girls going to your bar. Unless of course you like brining in low class girls who like a gross ambiance - urine on floors, vomit and unflushed toilets.
3. MANAGERS AND BAR STAFF LOOK STONED OR DRUGGED OUT TO THEIR EYE BALLS! It's like stepping into a cheap zombie film set!
4. NOT ENOUGH SEATING IN COURTYARD! - If you're like me, you like to talk and socialise, but how the hell can you if you're in a loud bar?!?! Go outside you may add. Well, sadly, there isn't enough seats since it became a food court similar to a shopping mall.
PROS:
1. PRICES ARE REASONABLY PRICED - Knowing we live in London, prices aren't that bad here. Entry fee wasn't too bad, although not cheap either.
2. FOOD - I must say tasting BBQ in cold nights isn't too shabby. Tasted some of their burgers & they were pukka! It's a plus they have food since after all that drinking, you're going to need some warm food to help you not get too drunk. Odd thing is they had 2 South African BBQ's in a pretty small courtyard. Maybe the owners just <3 South African food - who knows? All I can say is I'm in love with the SA BBQ with the zebra van. Oh, the there was this hot Texan guy serving me. Hot guy + good food = I may end up coming back for food only unless my pals pay me to go.
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There's absolutely no better place to hang out on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon than the Vibe Bar's courtyard. They've got this South African BBQ, which is so fantastic. I haven't had a great burger like theirs in London before & London is a huge city! Yeah, the inside of the bar isn't that great (I'm sure you can tell by the comments below), but I must say the South African BBQ guys sure knows how to make up for the atrocious bar.
Check it out on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon though. God Bless!
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The Vibe Bar was overpriced with a poor selection of beers 8 years ago. At least they have Peeterman Artois now so I'm not forced to drink 5% stuff. Having said that sitting out in the foyer of the old brewery offices is a unique place in London to have a pint and I only drank here in the old days cos we had an office on the 3rd floor. I returned recently when an old friend joined a company based in the very same building. When they're selling cans of Red Stripe for �3 on Dray Walk next door, the Vibe Bar doesn't seem so bad.
In summary, I prefer the Pride of Spitalfields.
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great for summer, huge space. Funky
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Very overpriced, poor selection of beers.
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Vibe Bar's not that bad. I must say though, the BBQ at the courtyard kicked ass. Me and the girls were feeling peckish after a night of drinking and those hamburgers and chips were fantastic. Great place to check out. Not to mention there are both hot girls and hot guys.
anonymous - 10 Nov 2006 02:01 |
It just feels like a place that used to be good, but is well past its best. To compensate for this the management have decided to simply take the piss out of the customers by charging them to get in after 8 and then turn off the beer taps in the early evening and make them drink overpriced bottles. All a bit cynical really and a bit of a shame.
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After walking the whole length of Brick Lane ane 3/4 back tring to find the place asking people who didn't know,didn't speak English or street nutters! (one said he would tell us for �8000)
After 45 mins we eventually see a tiny poster to advertise the gig. The place was in the far corner of a packed court yard (off Brick Lane not on it)
A non descript building. go upstairs to see a bundle of people trying to get in. No queuing system. Security not in control, not saying what is going on, not letting anybody in even though pleanty of room.
Trouble was because the gig is free it attracts all sorts and the real fans can not gain access.
Wont ever return no matter who is playing.
Ended up in nice curry house instead
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Frankly I'm astonished that the place serves real ale at all - even it is the over rated Landlord
anonymous - 1 Mar 2006 13:04 |
I went last week and had a fantastic night. Saw a live band, with girl djs playing 50s rock&roll and surf records, all for free, and had a pint sat next to glen matlock from the sex pistols. couldn't fault it to be honest....and it was packed out - there must have been 200 people there
(they happen to stock my favourite beer - timothy taylor landlord which i have never found anywhere else in the brick lane area so top marks for that as well)
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It is certainly 'ok if you like that kind of thing'.....unfortunately, I don't like that kind of thing.
Beer is horrendous, staff disinterested and incompetent. Clientele are sub-Nathan Barley types. Admittedly my last visit was about a year ago, but thats how I found it last time I was there.
anonymous - 28 Feb 2006 12:26 |
Boss_Hog you are being a bit of a nob frankly. Vibe Bar is ok if you like that kind of thing, want to go somewhere lively, want to be in an outside space in London in summer that isn't the street...
anonymous - 22 Feb 2006 14:38 |
Very 1998. Call the RSPCA..... Mr. Vibe has flogged that horse to death.
anonymous - 22 Feb 2006 13:39 |
I have been going to the vibe for a while now and the remarkable thing is everyone else seems to take it more seriously than they take themselves.
This is an amazing place. The first and still the best bar in the area. To call this bar pretentous is nonesense, the people i have met there seem to be there because the drinks are priced well, the music policy is diverse and unique offering something for everyone but more importantly it is just a great space to have a night out. The courtyard is the best outside space in london and internally the three diffrent areas give the customer a choice of environment. I would highly recommend the vibe for a night out and can see myself visiting for a long time to come.
keep up the good work.
anonymous - 22 Feb 2006 13:15 |
This place is dying on its @rse. It's starting to feel like a museum of all that is wrong with the Brick Land 'scene'. Unless you'd driven up for the night from Ilford in your kitted Vauxhall Nova, avoid.
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Get a wines, gets some barbeque then smokes a joint in full view of a bouncer with a bunch of trashbats, absolutely bottylicious baby. Beware of lying hot tequilla girls, they don't wash between punters (glasses), BIRD FLU KILLS! go inside, then go outside then wander around the corridor. Turn up with a record bag full of laundry and get a free invite on the decks, bonafide, but not the spin i was after.
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A wise man once said "Hell is other people", he was wrong; it is in fact this sh!th0le.
Painfully predictable mixture of incessant "Cool" dance music and kitsch samples with really deep "meaningful" short films accompanying them. Dingy and unfriendly with uncomfortable seating and quelle surpris� it's expensive too.
Hideous, and to the previous poster you should know that with age comes wisdom young padwan! We are not jealous of you, we just have the perspective of having once been as patheticaly sheep-like as you and also believing we were being rebellious or trendy whilst we were in fact just buying in to a different form of conformity. I've learned me lesson and grown out of it, in time you'll learn yours, and I don't fancy going through that again, so I've no reason to envy you or your �5 a drink moronathon bars.
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Have you lot got nothing better to do than slag off a little place like the vibe bar? For crying out loud, why don't you waste your energy on the fleece and firkin, or wetherspoons of this world? Vibe Bar is an ok bar, it's free to get in, the beer is ok, they have decent music, is there something on this website that insists on slagging off all the bars in Shoreditch? What's the matter with you all? Vibe is a brilliant place to hang out, as are places like Zigfrid, Cargo, and the 333. It seems like everyone on this website are a bunch of past it, frumpy old men who have nothing better to do than to pick on people who are younger, trendier, etc. It's more a case of jealousy, than anything else.
Go and sod off to the local Slug and Lettuce or All Bar One, as that's the only kind of place that deserves you.
anonymous - 4 Jul 2005 17:25 |
Message to Rachel below moaning about suits in the Vibe Bar, Hey we all have to earn a living! And not everyone is lucky enough to have Daddy bankrolling them to sit in prententious piles of crap like the Vibe bar....
If you a decent bar in the Area try the Dragon over by old Street tube
sos98 - 29 Jun 2005 09:50 |
The worst service I've experienced in a long time.
Round 1:
Ordered a glass of wine and asked if there was a cocktail list.
The sullen barmaid didn't reply, went and poured the wine and then shook her head.
"Ok," I said, "make that 2 glasses of wine."
"A glass of Kronenbourg?" she said.
No, I said.
Round 2:
No-one else waiting at the bar. Avoided the first barmaid and prayed that I'd just been unlucky the first time. While I was waiting, I discovered the cocktail and drinks list propped up on the bar. The house cocktail of a Yellow Brick Lane sounded worth trying. And I'm sure it would have been if the barmaid had been qualified to mix a cocktail. "Oh no", she said, "I can't mix cocktails", as if this was the most bizarre request she'd ever heard. "this guy can (pointed to barman, who shows no enthusiasm for making a cocktail), and I made a long-island iced tea once, but we don't have the ingredients anyway..."
Wine it is then, I sighed.
"Good job I'm not writing a bar review of this place,"I said, and chuckled...
Shame about the service, as it's a relaxed place for some summer evening drinking.
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OK but nothing to write home about, the clientele appear to think they are trendy, but in all honesty they are a bit behind the times. First place I saw a DJ turn up with 2 lap-tops instead of decks, call me old fashioned but that's just not right.
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The gigs here are good!
Kerei - 15 Jan 2005 23:23 |
Silly, pretentious, boring bar.
enough said.
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Past it's best, was cool pre-dotcom slump. Still you can get barbecue food in the yard some days and watch the ridiculous 'Susan Slippers' type fashion girls go by. I've never seen the like! Well conveniant for a curry or a Beigel though.
Dan - 6 Sep 2004 12:17 |
Not a bad place. full of too many dot com pricks unfortunatly. Tasty BBQ on Sunday's - A little pricey for what you get though - but why not take advantage if you can. Music is normally pretty good - occasionly you may get a dodgy act but this is rare. Seating is nice but it means people stick to there groups and mingle less than you would hope them too..
Alex - 17 Aug 2004 15:23 |
I too agree with Matt (7/5). Quite nice place and good seating area outside but would be even better if the so called Shoreditch set got over themselves.
Big Lad - 23 Jul 2004 14:53 |
I am one of those people that start going to bars when they are no longer trendy. Like going to Ibiza past the trendy years (erm... prior to 1995 hence I went 96). I have started going here so that is bad news. It means the city toffs will plague it, bring the beer prices up and turn it into a overly bloke filled place. Sorry.
However if that does not happen it seems a great place. Nice even mix of people that seem to just get along with no worries. Been twice and picked up twice in a totally relaxed way.
So overall pretty good. Matts comments on the 7th May is perfect, but I suppose corporate folks and arty mongrels will never get on. The arty types were the geeks at school and still are. Just banded together to make some sort of geek cult.
Richy Lloyd-Graham - 23 Jun 2004 18:03 |
I was here again recently for a few beers before clubbing. People are right to observe that the music is good. Still pretentious as owt, though.
Matt - 21 Jun 2004 11:50 |
Great bar, good BBQ on a Sunday (a bit expensive maybe). Music can be a bit too loud (or I'm getting too old), but very cool funky house and latin normally. Loads of seating outside too.
Stuart - 15 Jun 2004 16:41 |
I got irritated with the 'merchant's' in here back in 2000. Since found by the city crowd. Not bad for a pre-93 Feet beer. Great space but beer is awful. Latest murals are cool though.
Dan - 14 May 2004 11:18 |
All of the "oh God, darling, there are people in here wearing SUITS" rubbish is what makes drinking in Shoreditch an activity mainly favoured by the truly pretentious. I hate to say it, but web designers in Evisu jeans and horn-rimmed specs get drunk and talk loudly and act silly and throw up as well, you know.
The Vibe is probably the most pretentious of the lot. If you must go to shoreditch then go to the Bricklayers' or the Leccy Showrooms, where you don't feel you're being subjected to a "cool test" by people who haven't earned an honest day's bread since the dotcom bubble burst.
Matt - 7 May 2004 14:40 |
If there were no suits at the vibe, it would be perfect. Unfortunately most of Liverpool St suffers from these idiots who insist on lowering the tone. This bar manages to scare them off though - Sunday afternoons down there are excellent. I have been going for 6 years and wouldn't miss it for the world - nice to drink and relax after a hard afternoon's shopping. Also, I have met some interesting types in there, I would say it needs a bit of a facelift, but it still has the best nights in the area. Also:it seems funny how such a little place has caused so much fuss? They must be doing something right to cause that much of a reation...
Rachel - 5 Mar 2004 18:38 |
In the Vibe Bar you are as likely to have a GOOD time as a BAD one. Used to work in the Brewery and the Vibe was a strange mix of suited city folk, Brewery (new)media and wannabees, work groups looking for somewhere BIG and easy to meet and folks genuinely there for some cracking events. For some reason (unlike other pubs where a big mix happens) this lot DO NOT GET ON - everyone seems to have a chip on their respoective shoulder about the others in there ... so many egos probably.
Anyway, personally found the fact that the feckin' barrel of Guiness they have in stock is PERMANENTLY BEING CHANGED more frustrating. Other than that not a bad range and the taps/ pipes are cleaned regularly enough.
I have been to some very good to cracking nights in the Vibe and I do think their heart is in the right place if some of the clientele's are not.
Comfy seating and free internet access the last time I looked as well!
Blackboru - 1 Mar 2004 14:22 |
I do know. Though it is annoyingly convenient for meeting mates for pre-curry drinks, it does have a strange 'vibe' (sorry) to it. Think this is due to the trendy/moody clientele you get in there and the fact that it is not condusive to relaxing.
One plus point, is better in the summer when you can stand outside and not really notice the other punters
Alex - 20 Feb 2004 12:45 |
I don't know, I just don't know. Can't get my head around it but I think this place makes me sick. The whole Shoreditch thing is a bit dubious but there are some good bars. I'm just not sure this is one of them.
Good for: If you can't do Soho?
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Vibe has been around for years, and recently has put on some great live bands which are normally free to go and watch. It has a bit of everything - which is why I like it. They do the Brick Lane Festival in the summer, and also have some good hiphop nights. Try Sunday afternoons down there (after the market finishes), as they have some excellent live music on in the evenings. It pisses on most dj bars in the area and has a good local following.
missymary - 6 Jan 2004 19:14 |
The only 'vibe' here is a pretentious one. To be fair, it is quite laid back but in a hoity-toity way. The patrons seem rather snobby (apologies to regulars), and I got kicked by some seated girl for knocking into her as I stumbled around in the darkness. Music retro hip-hop RnB ragga or somesuch for the fashionistas there, and the pints ran out early. Looks like a community hall. On the plus side, there are some amazing curry houses on Brick Lane and of course, the 24-hour Beigel bakery.
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