The club battling to keep cabaret nightlife alive in Soho
One of the last remaining bastions of Soho’s bohemian spirit, we sit down with the team behind the Phoenix Art Club.
Soho has always felt like the beating heart of London after dark. But in 2026, that cornucopia of many a great night out has never felt more on the brink of changing into something completely unrecognisable.
Although Soho is home to no shortage of chain restaurants and theatres with franchise-friendly names above their marquees, the real heart of Soho is in its independent venues. We’re talking about the ones often run by those who live in the area (or not too far afield) and that have long given the area its identity, being a haven for creatives and the LGBTQ+ community.
However, Soho’s independent venues have been shuttering their doors at an alarming rate. CIRCA, G-A-Y and Underbelly Boulevard are just some of the local staples that have suffered this fate, brought about by the sheer financial weight of trying to operate in the nation’s capital.
Amidst this economic turmoil, there are still a few holdouts that are doing all they can to beat back the tide, one of which is the Phoenix Arts Club. This unassuming venue which is far too easy to miss when making your way to the Phoenix Theatre (and as such is often mistaken for the box office), is a thriving underground hub of cabaret, comedy, drag and more.
As one of the last remaining bastions of Soho’s bohemian spirit, we sat down with the Phoenix’s Marketing Director, Peter Dunbar, to understand what makes the Phoenix so endearing, the realities of running a London venue and what the future has in store for the club.
A home for all (but not the Arctic Monkeys)
In his own words, Peter describes the Phoenix Arts Club as one of the “last remaining independent venues in Soho dedicated to the arts… a venue that is made for artists of all demographics and earnings... for people from all walks of life, but it’s also a great space if you're not an actor and just love theatre. It's sort of where your absolute die-hard theatre fans congregate; that's the main community.”
That variety is something I can attest to after my own time spent frequenting the venue as a patron. I’ve seen everything from a comedy act where a man covered himself from head to toe in sticky tape (now a fairly serious actor if you can believe it) to Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics.
Not only are you likely to see something vastly different from one night to another, but there’s a good chance that you might run into a celebrity while you’re there. The likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Neil Patrick Harris have popped their heads through the door, and the venue even featured as one of Anthony Bourdain’s go-to spots in his spectacular London-focused episode of The Layover.
It’s a welcome destination for all, with the only name of note not to be allowed entry being none other than the Arctic Monkeys. In what is now a legendary exchange, the venue’s previous owner, Maurice Huggett, who sadly passed away in 2011, decided to show the band the pavement after deeming their appearance to be unkempt.
Still, for all the many stories that have come out of the venue since it opened its doors way back in 1988, the Phoenix has stood the test of time, but the struggle to remain independent has never felt more real than in a post-pandemic world.
The new London reality
It’s no secret to anyone that, thanks to the pandemic and the various global conflicts that have taken place since, the cost of living is very much out of control. When you throw in a general lack of enthusiasm for nights out on the town, those knock-on effects have been exacerbated for bar and venue owners.
“It’s an incredibly tough climate to operate in,” Peter admitted when asked about the realities of running a venue in 2026, but added, “I'm personally bored of talking about it because you do end up driving yourself into a bit of a rut… having a finger on the pulse on the numbers is really important and keeping a really good line of communication with our landlord is pivotal. But what we really focus on is the community, and we know that in times of need, the community will come forward.”
Earlier this year, the Phoenix held a fundraising gala at the nearby Phoenix Theatre, showing how potent that community spirit can be with £100,000 raised from the event.
As a vocal fan of live music, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has already committed to reducing the business rates for venues up and down the country, and while Peter feels that it’s certainly a step in the right direction, he argues that it’s not quite enough to overcome years of mounting costs.
“Could you imagine how many more independents we would have if there was some form of complete business rates wipe for companies when they hit a certain amount of years of operating? You could perhaps have [a system that says] 'you've operated for 10 years, let's give you something back, something back to the community. Let's give you a year for free, or if you're just starting up, let's give you a couple of years of business rates for free.”
Rising from the ashes
While one can only hope that London’s nightlife will return to its former glory, it’s impressive that even with the economic headwinds working against it that everyone, from the hardworking bar staff to the management team and the thriving community that sees the Phoenix as its second home, has played a part in keeping the venue afloat.
If you’ve yet to visit the Phoenix and would like to see the club’s spirit distilled into a single show, you may want to check out its latest venture: Soho Electric.
Peter details, “it's a rock cabaret show [featuring] electric guitar [and] all of the amazing pop rock songs that people have come to know and love… [it] features everything from cabaret to circus, fire, aerial, and obviously it has these live band elements as well. I'm so proud of it because it's probably the last cabaret show there is launching [in Soho], and it's set to be a killer night and it's running four performances a week, so for the foreseeable it's an open-ended show.”
The Phoenix Arts Club can be found at 1 Phoenix Street in London, just a few yards away from Tottenham Court Road Station.
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