Catch

Fun times! I went here just last night to celebrate my 34^th birthday. We had a table reserved from 9 to 2am and even though we arrived an hour late at 10pm because dinner ran over, the table was still unoccupied! Win! (They let them go after a half hour if you don’t claim your spot). However, it was right by the open front doors so it was too cold to remove our jackets. The house staff was kind enough to look around the club for other unoccupied tables to hold 5 people. It was pretty empty at that time but the place gets busier around midnight.
The music is throwback hip-​hop, R&B and top 40, with an emphasis on the former. I am unabashedly a fan of this music, which is why I purposely came here. The DJ overall was very good– blending one track into another by the end of one song so tunes didn’t drag out. A lot of Destiny’s Child/​Beyonce. By the time we left at 1, the music has skewed too gangsta rap for me but the place wasn’t overwhelmingly crowded, which I appreciated.
I loved there was no forced coat check so we piled our stuff into the settees and danced beside them. Cocktails are about 7.50 pounds to 9 pounds, not bad for a club. I got a tequila cocktail and while there was wayyyyyyy too much ice put in, like in all clubs, I had a slight buzz by the end. Granted, I’m a lightweight.
I would definitely return here again for fun dancing times. FREE entry!!!

Well if you are into Trap Music this is definitely a place to visit on Saturday. But beware you won’t get in as a solo person. At least that’s what the doorman told me last time when I was there. It’s also no entrance fee to pay but it will close early at 2:00 am.

Was für eine Überraschung! Eigentlich wollten wir nach einem leckeren Essen nur kurz einen Absacker, ein Bier oder einen Cocktail trinken. Wir waren schon um 19.30 Uhr hier und sind eigentlich eher durch Zufall über das Catch gestolpert, weil sie ein großes Zeichen mit der Aufschrift ‘BAR’ haben.
Bis 22 Uhr ist immer Happy Hour. Da gibt es vier Bier bzw. zwei Cocktails für zehn Pfund. Und das ist für London wirklich ein Wahnsinnspreis. Unsere Kellnerin lernte währenddessen einen einen Mitarbeiter an und wir profitierten von ausgesprochen leckeren Cocktails. Auch das Bier hat richtig gut geschmeckt!
Nach und nach kamen auch mehr Gäste ins Catch und die Musik wurde aufgedreht. Dabei wurde fast ausschließlich 80er-​Jahre Musik gespielt — die unsere Laune noch mehr anhob. Insgesamt kann ich also das Catch ohne Ausnahme empfehlen. Neben einem sehr netten Service und leckeren Drinks ist die Location super, die Stimmung gut und die Leute fantastisch. Wie voll es am Wochenende ist kann ich nicht beurteilen, da wir an einem Montagabend hier vorbeischauten.

Only popped in for a quick drink, so perhaps didn’t give the place a chance to show its potential but bar was slow and not overly friendly. Decent selection of drinks/​spirits and average prices for the area. Good music and layout, good place to meet for pre drinks. From limited experience not the best but far from the worst.

A real catch 22 for me when reviewing this place
My Unilocal buddy Andrew M had set up a trip here to eat Dante’s Fried Chicken pop up. If you see that my Unilocal secret is that I like KFC, you know that I like my fried chicken and the colonel’s version with its secret blend of 11 herbs and spices is the benchmark
It was an (unusual) sunny day and I arrived to find some of our party sunning themselves outside like reptiles. We had to pre-​pay £20 for tickets to the 3pm seating
So why the dilemma? Well, purely based on the food, Chef Dante’s fried chicken was fantastic — moist from brining, an American technique we don’t use enough in this country. The coating was crispy and thick enough for a satisfying crunch with each mouthful. It had great flavour and the recipe was helpfully printed on the piece of paper the chicken was served in
The chicken came as part of a 3 course meal. The starter of toasted okra breakfast taco was OK but nothing special. The chicken as great and served with nice sides of honey coconut biscuits, cranberry & almond coconut slaw, smoked cheese & crispy leek polenta and apricot crack sauce. The dessert of white chocolate & black sesame sweet potato pie was rich and the small portion was enough
Unfortunately, the star rating drops because of the chaotic organisation. Despite pre-​booking and paying for a table of 7, we had no reserved table on arrival and had to sit in a row at the bar, making conversation very difficult. Then, it took 2 hours to serve us including 50 minutes before any food arrived. Then, we were promised a round of drinks in conpensation only to be be told after we had ordered said free round that it only included a limited menu and so we had to fork out for that not so free round. We were then asked 5 times in 5 minutes whether we had had any food
A shame as the chicken was better than KFC and in my book that’s high praise indeed!

Catch is a cosy little bar just past Shoreditch High St station that instantly won points with it’s name/​address combination (it’s located on 22 Kingsland Road) and you will win points on the Ginormous Completely Meaningless Leaderboard if you get why that entertains me. It’s a bar more for sitting and chatting rather than crowding in to get boozed up given that the seating is composed of a line of stools at the bar and a series of 4 – 6 person booths.
The staff are friendly enough and there are plenty of bar staff for the size, however it’s a bit hit or miss on service. At one point I was ordering a drink and the waitress wandered off because she thought she heard someone calling her name. Really? Who leaves a customer in mid-​sentence and doesn’t at least apologise? That basically turned me off from this bar and lost them all the points that had earned with the quirky name.
This place is currently hosting the Death by Burrito pop-​up (I haven’t tried it but the £12 price tag on the burrito is making be not want to) and last weekend hosted Dante Fried Chicken who put up some spectacular food (more on that later). More to the point, I have no idea what their regular food is like or if they plan on continuing a rolling residency program so worth checking out ahead of time if you plan on eating. Or just go to the nearby Columbia Road Flower Markets instead!

This has been coming a while. I hate it when I judge places too quick and finally I have to admit that I like it. Maybe it’s because I am now a fully fledged ‘dickhead’ (
) or that my mates are and I can no longer comment on the people who frequent this place, we are those people.
So Catch is the pits. As you walk upstairs the music is pumping the the sticky floors are shaking under the weight of dancing feet. Happy people, drunk happy people who come here to enjoy their night and be entertained. Check out the DJs playing at the place and you’ll be suprised at the quality. Southern Hospitality were playing when I went and every track got the crowd even more excited. These guys do hip hop karaōke at The Social. I think I might have to drop it.
Still the place still does not seem able to by a toilet seat so I can 5 star it, but if you want a good night out in Shoreditch (if that is possible!) you could do a lot worse than Catch.

One of the better Shoreditch venues. Good for a casual drink but don’t go there relying on having a ‘big night’ — it can be so hit and miss! One week you’ll go and the music will be house and the same day the following week you’ll having some banging electro! I recommend it as a place to start drinking before you go somewhere else.

I do enjoy Catch. You may be elbow-​to-​armpit most of the time but ain’t that what makes a good night?

Looking for a scuzzy, sweaty nightclub/​bar that has decent bands and DJs? Depending on who’s playing you might be on to something here.
Downstairs is so ridiculously packed on weekend nights you might as well go straight upstairs for the action and quicker bar service… at least till the smaller hours when the whole place is pretty busy.
From what I can remember of my Guinness soaked night in there the band that played were really tight, unfortunately you couldn’t really make out the lyrics due to the small ceiling and exceptionally bad sound produced when you crank the volume in a small place. However, what it lacked in clarity it more than made up for in scuzziness and atmosphere (plus no entry charge).
If you’re looking for the guaranteed best night out of a weekend you might want to do a bit more checking around or see who’s on but for somewhere reliably free, scuzzy, beer soaked and open late this’ll fit the bill.
To the mosh pit… !

When you find yourself stranded in Shoreditch after a pub night that ended at 11 but do not feel like going home yet, go to Catch. This place is open later than other venues, has a free entrance but has still magically managed to retain its cool.
Catch is a fun place to go for late drinks. I prefer the downstairs area for its music and seating, but the upstairs can also be good fun and is gifted enough to hold a performing area for bands and DJs.
Catch is a good place for experiencing the Shoreditch vibes.

Catch is known to be a place for a late drink. But it’s more than that. There are many late-​drink-​joints in Shoreditch. People choose this one. Why? Mainly because it’s cool, in summary.
It’s cool, because it puts on some of the best nights in town, like the Sect. And some of the best new bands around play here. So, if Ms in-​the-​know-​Shoreditch is going to take her friends to a late bar, it makes sense that it’s this one, right?

Catch is a dingy, dingy bar. It’s not the kind of place you go for a quiet drink, or indeed before sunset. I can’t imagine myself ever wanting to go to this place but weirdly I still end up there.
The downstairs bar is a favourite for the local cool kids. The boys sport eyeliner and checked shirts and the girls wear neon rimmed sunglasses even though this must be one of the darkest places on earth. Booth’s by the wall are always full but if you manage to get one they make a really good place to hang out with friends. Drinks aren’t cheap but nothing too steep for Hoxton.
Upstairs there is another bar with a stage area which usually features a DJ or band. Somehow Catch manages to get quite a few good acts which can make a visit here worth it. Generally though, this place isn’t one of my favourites and I find the atmosphere a bit uncomfortable.

A grungy chic venue with regular bands and DJ’s, it attracts a mixed crowd, probably young, fashionable types. The bar downstairs is fairly big with intimate wooden booths lining the wall, and a pool table which inevitably gets pretty busy.
Head up the spiral staircase to the dance floor to check out the band or DJ set.
Open late and guaranteed to be busy with a good atmosphere, just be prepared for crowds on weekends.

Catch is kind of a weird bar. I always think I really like it but often don’t have that good a time when I’m there. The music’s usually fun and quite cool, the crowd err on the arty/​studenty side and it’s either free or cheap to get in, as well as having a late license. I just find it usually ends up having a pretty seedy atmosphere, people get a bit too drunk, not in a fun way and I know a couple of girls who say they’ve been groped in here on nights out. Still, it’s open latish and so is always worth remembering if you want to continue somewhere after the pub without spending a fortune.

Catch, as has been previously noted, is the sort of place you end up at when all other options have been exhausted. That said, for a last choice is a pretty good one. Located in the heart of Shoreditch you can kinda already anticipate who the kind of people are who go there but the venue itself is not overly chic or fussy and simply focuses, as it should, on the very decent electro and indie music that generally features.
The bar staff are really nice but be warned on busy nights you may be queuing for some time to receive your drink. Prices are fairly standard for this area.
Catch has become something of an institution for many and I’m fairly confident I’ll be back soon. For those who have yet to experience the mingled joy and horror of this place it’s definitly worht a visit.

I love catch, as already discussed here it really is the kind of place you end up in when you just wanna keep going…
It gets so packed at the weekends that you have to literally fight your way to the bar, but the dj’s play some really awesome music it’s almost worth it.
The booths mean it’s great if you go with a large group and manage to all squish in, although the general feeling of the place is friendly and I’ve made momentary friends with others sitting around ‘my’ table.
Really good to go see local bands, they have a full events lineup in their window for you to peruse.
Oh, and being ‘Shoreditch’, you see some absolutely mental clothing choices!

Situated on Kingsland Road just off the East Ends fashionable Old Street, Catch comes alive on a Saturday night.
Catch operates on two floors, the bottom being more of a bar and the top is more of a dancefloor. You won’t find many places to sit and it’s quite narrow downstairs, so make sure you have your dancing shoes on and head on upstairs.
Upstairs plays host to a various number of nights, some great, some not so great. I found the more ‘dance’ orientated nights to be the best over the band nights.

Yeah, I am guilty as well. As above, I have had many drunken nights here, and I am going to have in the future as well.
It always happens when I am planning to go out for just one drink, but there is something very catching in Catch that you just can’t leave home. The place itself is so plain, no decoration, nothing special except damn good music and people.

Two floors and two bars in this bar. Downstairs you have a series of little booths on a raise platform all opposite the bar. Cosy and ideal for 4 people to sit and chat. If you have more than 4 people — not such a good idea to sit here as there aren’t really many spare chairs to pop on the end. And even if you do get one, as the booths are raised and there is a railing running parallel you are going to get in everyone’s way anyway.
Upstairs is a long room, with a decent sized bar on the left hand side and a small stage for bands at the end — there are plenty of music nights here. However, even if the bands are great the acoustics are a little odd. The room isn’t a great shape for live tunes — being a little corridor-​esque and the ceiling is all a bit awkward with slants and different height levels. Having said that they put some good nights on so well worth checking out.
All in pretty good bar — very shoreditch with plenty of angular haircuts around the place.