Shoreditch vs Dalston: which one is actually still good

Every six months someone writes a piece saying Shoreditch is dead. Every six months someone else says Dalston is over. Both are wrong but the question of which one to actually go to is a real one, so here.

What each postcode actually feels like

Shoreditch has the bigger venues and the bigger weekend crowds. Old Street roundabout pulls in a tourist crowd that ten years ago wouldn't have been there. Curtain Road on a Saturday is a stag-do battlefield. But walk five minutes off the main drag and there's still good stuff — Kingsland Road sliding into Hoxton has decent bars, and Redchurch Street still has a few places that aren't mediocre cocktail chains.

Dalston is smaller, weirder, more of itself. Kingsland High Street is the spine. Most of what's worth doing is on it or one street off. The basement clubs are the draw — small rooms, sound systems that punch, lineups that genuinely surprise you. The bit between the Overground station and Stoke Newington is where it gets good.

Bars and what you'll pay

Shoreditch cocktails have crept up. £14 is normal in the nicer places. The Three Sheets on Redchurch is still excellent and worth the money. The Mason and Compass does a very good £10 negroni. Lot of the rest is fine and overpriced.

Dalston has more places where you can actually have three drinks for under £30. Ridley Road Market Bar is fun, Brilliant Corners has the best sound system in any bar in London, the Glory has a rotating drag thing that's genuinly worth showing up early for. Cocktails sit at £8-£10 most places.

Clubs

Shoreditch has XOYO on Cowper Street and Phonox is twenty minutes south but a lot of Shoreditch nights end there. Both are bigger rooms, proper bookings, you'll pay £15-£25 entry. Village Underground does the more interesting stuff. fabric is a tube ride away in Farringdon.

Dalston is small rooms. Dalston Superstore basement, Servant Jazz Quarters, the smaller Dance Tunnel-shaped spaces. £8-£15 entry. The bookings are often more interesting because the rooms are cheaper to programme. You'll hear stuff you've never heard before, in a basement, with thirty other people, at 3am.

Food before and after

Shoreditch food is plentiful and largely fine. Smoking Goat Shoreditch is brilliant if you can get in. Som Saa is right there. Dishoom Shoreditch is reliable but the queues are mental.

Dalston food is one of its actual selling points. Mangal 2 for Turkish, Mangal 1 for the original, 19 Numara Bos Cirrik for the no-frills version. They're all open until 1am at least. After a club night a £12 Turkish grill plate is one of the better things you can do to yourself in London.

Getting home

Shoreditch is easy. Two tubes, three Overground stations within walking, night buses going everywhere. You will get home.

Dalston has the Overground until late, and the night buses are reasonable, but if you live south of the river you're either Ubering or you're committed.

So which one

Honestly, both. They're 25 minutes apart on the Overground. The right answer for most weekends is "drinks in Dalston, club in Shoreditch" or "dinner in Shoreditch, basement in Dalston." If you have to pick one for the night, Dalston for any of the small interesting nights, Shoreditch for the bigger names and the easier night home.

Either way, the London nightlife events list is the easiest way to see what's actually on tonight rather than scrolling Resident Advisor for forty minutes. The rifio search is reasonable for filtering by area too.