Power’s Bar

Power’s Bar was a great option for St Patrick’s Day. Friendly crowd, not too packed, and lots of green on show. There was an excellent band who for some reason kept taking long extended breaks but when they did play they were brilliant. Drinks were fairly expensive, maybe they increased them for the non-​discerning St Paddy’s crowd. Cash only — be warned.

My partner and I went to Power’s for the first time yesterday evening. The reason we went was Natalie Duncan. The little place with its very good atmosphere reminded me of my times in the seventies, so I, we, felt at home immediately. Power’s is really lovely and unpretentious, young and old folks mixed happily. The man at the bar was very friendly, and when I asked if it was possible to have a cup of tea before the first glass of wine, not only did I get it, the man even took great pains to get the colour right! Power’s is a gem in every respect.
The runner ups were very good musicians, but Natalie rocked the house. Rocking is actually not the right term, for what really happens when Natalie starts singing is immediate silence. The rocking occurs afterwards as an appreciation of a truly great voice. I hope she will sing there again, although she really doesn’t need to any more.
I am grateful for Power’s!
Dorothea

Great little spot on the High Road, almost hidden behind the awnings. Have lived in Kilburn for 8 months now and thought the only place was Brondes Age before I discovered Power’s Bar. I think it’s owned by the owner of Reading and Glastonbury festivals or something?
Anyway it’s got a great vibe in there and the drinks are cheap. They play great music no chart stuff, unlike Brondes Age. Weekends they play 60s Funk and Motown and during the week I think it’s more like Folk bands and stuff. There’s one really good DJ who plays Saturday nights. Plays really good Motown and Disco and everything to get you dancing! Love this place, a hidden gem in North London!

This place is fantastic. A bit down and dirty, but good bars should be in my opinion. An excellent vibe, reasonable drink prices. Music here is the main attraction, whatever is playing is good. Check it out.

Cool spot!
The bf and I stumbled upon Powers during our stay in London this past May. It was within walking distance from our hotel and one of the few bars in the area that was the least bit poppin on a weekday night. This was probably due to the live music, which was insanely loud but nevertheless, pretty damn good (much to our surprise — I usually find most bands to be obnoxious hah).
Drinks were moderately priced; can’t recall now… about 3 pounds…
Anyways, we liked Powers. The bartenders, the crowd, the bands, the bouncer; all chill. It was one of the few places we visited multiple times during our week stay.

Power’s Bar was a great time… but I could not give the credit to Power’s nor its staff directly. It was all due to the company I was with.
My complaints:
–the bar tenders weren’t friendly (as a bar tender should be)
–the liquor was watered down (a big no-​no!)
–the drink prices were ridic high! (even the «specials» were not very specially priced!)
–the toilets were full of sewage on the floor! looked like the had overflowed and no one had cleaned up! (major yuck!)
I will say, we saw a live band play and by the end of the night the bar tenders had (slightly) come around… but I definitely wouldn’t go out of my way to head to Power’s in the future!

I love this place, spend too much time there. great people, great staff, great music. from where I live its a little too far. been recently refurbed back to a more traditional irishy style. most nights they have some form of live music that can be very different from the previous nights act. It is a very small place, couldn’t fit more than 150approx inside. To me its 5 stars

Power’s has a perennial problem, it is right next door to Brondes Age, a lively bar/​club which stays open all night sapping the life from the northern end of Kilburn High Road.
It can be overlooked — the dark exterior and unappealing awnings outside keep it a smokey secret as the stick puffers stand outside wishing they too could be cool enough to dance all night next door.
It is however, an unexpected treasure, unearthed only by those with the guts to go inside and sit with pint in hand.
The exterior is plastered with gig posters of festivals gone by featuring bands such as Gene, Space & Happy Mondays — an insight into the sort of character the place has.
There are regular club nights on Fridays where a small band of DJs play tracks covering the last three decades for the younger dancers, whilst those of an older persuasion sit and chat loudly at the bar.
Narrow, odd, not a typical bar — Power’s perfect, and not too pricey either.

This is a strange little bar. My review might be slightly squiffed because I live on the other side of London — to get here I’ve got a 45 minute tube journey. But, my friend had a gig here, so trek I did.
And I liked it, for the most part. The sound is pretty good, but the stage is small (although it was only an open mic night so it wasn’t a major issue, I’m not sure how you’d fit a band on that stage). But it was cold. Really cold. And people kept on going in and out — we were sat by a constantly open door, in a long line. That’s the main problem — half of the seating is in benches along the side of the room. So you can’t listen to the music and chat at the same time. It felt a bit like being in school. You could only do one or the other and that annoyed me.
But, the beer is cheap, the music is good and it was a fun night. I just wouldn’t come back unless I knew someone playing, and even then they’d have to be very very good.

I live very close by to Powers, so I’ve been going there a few times a month for several months now. They have live indie rock bands play there weekly, which is alright. Unfortunately the beer selection is very limited. They only have two or three beers on tap and the bouncer is defiantly a prick. About a month ago I watch him ban an elderly man from the bar. The guy was just sitting at a table when the bouncer walked up to him and said «you don’t belong here», then he kicked him out. And last night he told me that I’m banned from being there now. So I asked him what the reason for that is. But, he couldn’t give me an answer to my question. I wasn’t doing anything wrong; just standing by the door sipping my beer when he decided to ban me. He really didn’t like my question very much either. Actually, it made him angry at me. So, he decided to grab a hold of me and try to scare me. Now, it’s not that I ever really liked the place very much, but it is close to my home, so it was nice to go there sometimes. Guess I won’t be doing that anymore.

this was a weird bar, wasnt really my cupof tea we just stayed for ohe drink, the clientale was mainly the older folk. Not for me :(

a spooky place always was always will be only a star for a drink then run ooooooooooooh

This tiny bar is on its way to being the best venue in north west London. Small and dark and still relatively unknown, Pete Doherty recently played an impromptu gig here. Lots of live music, just a genuinely cool place to hang out. Go check it out if your feeling for something a bit different.

Dingy and dodgy, the perfect recipe for a night of debauchery, the cavernous interior, wooden pews and tables, empty wine bottles as candle holders caked in wax (I spent many a drunken stupor feeding candle flames with picked of bits of wax…) …live folk music, cheap-​ish pints, country blues dukebox, regulars tended to be an older crowd (who seemed to get along swimmingly like an 18^th century gang of smugglers… but open to chatty strangers). Which is probably why the place went under new management and refurbished, getting rid of the dark carvernous feel, turning it into something more like a cocktail bar to attract a younger swankier crowd… including a name change to «Sonny’s»
It seems to have been a bad move, as it has once again be refurbished due to lack of interest.
I believe the old Powers regulars meet on Sundays at the Colin Campbell for the live music night they hold there.