Eat, drink and dance at new Hackney one stop shop Night Tales

Creatures of the night: from left, Louis Hyams, Lottie Campbell and Jamie Rule

Propping up a pop-up requires a stress test, but Night Tales’ itinerant team is relaxed about the pressure of going full-time next month. “Right now it’s a bit of a shell,” says Jamie Rule, Night Tales’ co-founder, surveying the 9,000 sq ft of space below Hackney’s railway arches that is set to become its first permanent site this July.

“But it’s nice to call somewhere home. It’s exciting not knowing where you’re going to turn up next but it gets old. The pop-up scene is saturated now. It’s not as exciting as when we started. People like a regular place to go to.”

Since 2013, Rule and co-founders Lottie Campbell and Louis Hyams have been splashing out on immersive, fly-by-night spaces across Dalston, Hackney Wick and Shoreditch, each with its own theme.

In 2015 the jungle-themed Summer Tales at Shoreditch’s Red Market rolled out frozen margaritas, rope-swing chairs, hammocks and food stalls from Pizza Pilgrims, Burger & Lobster, Forza Win and Bel-Air. Next, Tokyo Nights brought neon signs, bamboo, cherry blossom trees and a private “Love Hotel” to east London.

Now, at Hackney’s Bohemia Place, the rumbling of trains is giving way to the rumbling of stomachs, with queues set to snake out of the door for Sons of Slice pizza wedges and Fat Baby, a new in-house, hole-in-the-wall-style izakaya bar. “That’s our baby, really,” says Rule.

The new kitchen has former Pitt Cue and Michelin-starred Umu chef Greg Round at the helm, and a strong culinary line-up: yakitori (cooked over Japanese Binchotan charcoal on a custom-made grill) grilled seafood, gyoza, salads, rice dishes and the infamous “katsu sando”.

The Japanese theme is just phase one of the team’s five-year plan, in which a running waterfall, peace garden and pagodas will decorate the terrace garden. Beds can be booked in the daytime to lounge on for “that extra-special touch if you want to push the boat or the bed out a bit”, according to Rule.

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It’s another step forward in the rise of the one-stop mini-festival. Down the road, Dalston institution Brilliant Corners has annexed a space next to the canal for the summer under the banner Giant Steps, with jazz, house DJs and food from Brawn and Morito to soak up on sun-drenched weekends.

Is the day party going permanent? “A lot of people in London don’t just want to do one-offs any more,” says Rule.

“The cost of doing a day party is so high, and the production we do on our large builds is quite excessive. With a permanent space we can do something much bigger and better than what it would be for a single day. There are economies of scale here. We want to stand out, we want to go the extra mile, and this is the way to do that.”

Music is in Night Tales’ DNA. Rudimental, Django Django, Gorgon City, Disclosure and Groove Armada have all been spun through the Tales nights — but Rule is keeping the opening line-up under his hat.

“The message is that we’re not just a pub, not just a cocktail bar, not just a nightclub — we’re everything. Earlier crowds come for the food and stay for a dance.” Just watch this space.

E8 3RL​, nighttales.co.uk

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