The Nambucca London venue in Holloway Road has always been a place for the music lover who has not been totally supportive of the charts – but since its initial opening in 2004, it played host to some of Britain’s biggest indie acts, including The Libertines, front man Pete Doherty’s second project – Babyshambles and Frank Turner, who references Nambucca in one of his songs:
“Tonight, I’m playing another Nambucca show.” Frank Turner ‘The Ballad of me and my friends’ (2005).
The venue was even the start of success for some as the popular indie band The Hollowayswere formed on the premises; they had well known songs such as ‘Generator’ and ‘Two Left Feet’.
But in December 2008, disaster struck as a fire broke out in the venue, causing a lot of damage and, as a result, the venue was closed down.
Two years later, Nambucca opened up for business once more and has since tried to work up its reputation again as one of London’s finest venues. Nambucca is now family run and Jack Graham, member of the management team said:
“Since we took it over a year ago it has had some quiet nights and at first it was difficult to arrange acts but over time, more people came and the reputation gradually built up again.
“Running it with the family is great, meaning we have similar ideas of what we want. So there is a different themed night every night, for example Sunday we have a resident theme ‘Metal for the Masses’ but we also have indie, classic rock and other themes, so it widens our circle and allows a wider range of audience.
“And recently we have had more regulars nowadays.”
The bar area and public section have undergone major refurbishments and it is a huge improvement on the previous layout.
One of Nambucca’s strengths though is something that has been present since the beginning – the subtleness of the place. From the outside it looks to be an everyday normal public house, but with a secret; the backroom.
Matthew Francis, 28, from Highbury, is a regular at Nambucca. He claims he was there on the night of the fire:
“On that night, I was just in the main bar, I didn’t go into the live room, but I heard people panicking and the staff told us to get outside for our safety, so people rushed out and just stood on the corner while emergency services turned up. Thankfully there wasn’t anyone killed.”
When asked about the bar now, he said:
“I still go back there and it’s under new management, I still love the venue. It must have been difficult to build it up because there was always a tension and a nervousness around bringing it back but the re-launch night was amazing and I love the vibe, definitely on its way to gaining its old reputation back.”
From the ashes, Nambucca has risen to become once again, one of London’s top music venues. For events, go to the website: www.nambuccalondon.com.
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