CYBERRY ROCO COMIX CAFE
62 Shepherd's Bush Road, London W6 7PH
Tel: 0207 602 8655
Nearest tube station: Shepherd's Bush.
Young ingenue waiting to be discovered
in the Cyberry Roco Cafe
A comics-themed cafe with colorful yellow and green decor and original comic art from around the world lining the walls. There are plenty of comics lying around to read while you consume your coffee, fresh juice, smoothie or snack. Regular exhibitions devoted to individual artists (Shaun Tomas recently.)
A relaxing place to hang out and catch up on comix you missed or contemplate the artwork. Out of the way but worth a visit if you're in West London.
THE DEVONSHIRE ARMS, Kentish Town Road, Camden Town.
Nearest tube station: Camden Town.
Not a horror pub but a popular Goth meeting place especially on Fridays before 'Full Tilt Boogie' (at the appalling Electric Ballroom.) The Devonshire has a goth dj and music on Sundays.
GARLIC AND SHOTS, 14 Frith Street, London, W1. Tel: (020)7734 9505.
Nearest tube station: Tottenham Court Road.
Right in the heart of Soho, this Swedish-owned restaurant specialises in all
things garlicky, including garlic liquer, garlic beer and garlic ice-cream! Given the garlic
theme, they play up the vampire angle with a speciality Transylvanian garlic steak and a
vampire's coffin in the basement bar which has become a hangout for Goths. The coffin is now nailed down unfortunately, but there's a mummy in a glass case as compensation.If you're lucky you might see Euronymous - alive and well and living in London! - telling loyal Scandanavian followers how he helped put Count Grishnackh behind bars.
There's another branch of 'Garlic and Shots' in Stockholm, Sweden.
For more photos of Garlic and Shots, click here!
THE INTREPID FOX, Wardour Street, London
Nearest tube station: Piccadilly Circus.
Right across the street from where Le Macabre used to be, this Soho pub was once a meeting place for filmmakers like Orson Welles. More recently it was a goth hangout with some impressive gargoyle statues. The gargoyles are now gone and the clientele is more Heavy Metal but the girls behind the bar remain resolutely gothic. There are one or two macabre pieces of artwork remaining, and a gargoyle over the entrance, but the overall effect is half-hearted. This could be a great place with a little more effort (and some good bad taste!)Check out the upstairs section. The stairs are in back on the left of the bar.
For more photos of The Intrepid Fox, click here!
JACK STRAW'S CASTLE, Hampstead, London NW6
Nearest tube staion: Hampstead.
Right by Hampstead Heath. An imposing historic London pub that gets a mention in Bram Stoker's Dracula: "We dined at 'Jack Straw's Castle' along with a little crowd of bicyclists and others who were genially noisy. About ten o'clock we started from the inn..." (Photo by Rob Brautigam.)
THE LONDON STONE, 109 Cannon Street, EC4N 5AD
Tel: 0207 6268264
Nearest tube station: Cannon Street
An East End pub in the Eerie Pub Co chain. I'll check it out soon. They probably wanted to call it the 'Jack the Ripper' but last time there was a pub with that name, old-style feminists picketed it until the name was changed...Come back, Jack!!!
THE MARLBOROUGH HEAD, 24 North Audley Street, W1Y 1WD
Tel: 0207 629 5981
Nearest tube station: Bond Street
Another in the Eerie Pub Co chain, this one in upmarket Mayfair. The Vault Bar downstairs has horror decor and one Saturday a month it's the appropriate venue for Subterranean Hell Noise, an evening of black/death/satanic metal hosted by the diabolical Lucyfur...(Thanks to the no less diabolical Princess for details.)
THE SPANIARD'S INN, Spaniard's Lane, Hampstead, NW6.
Nearest tube station: Hampstead.
Another historic London pub mentioned in Dracula: "By good chance we got a cab near the 'Spaniards,' and drove to town." (Photo by Rob Brautigam.)
Anyone planning a visit to London is highly recommended to take a look at New in London which has very useful and essential tips on getting there, getting around and lots of fun things to see and do in London. Check it out!
MANCHESTER
FAB CAFE, 111 Portland Street, Manchester M1 4RJ
Tel: 0161 2362019
Cult Movie/TV/SF theme cafe and dance-club. Has movie nights and guests from genre TV and movies.
SATAN'S HOLLOW, 101 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD
Tel: 0161 2360666
New (September 2000) Horror nightclub opened by same people that run the Fab Cafe. A 15ft image of Satan dominates! Goth night on Wednesdays.
Tip of Baron Samedi's top hat to Mark Brown for letting me know about these two places!
NOTTINGHAM
The Pit & Pendulum, 17 Victoria Street, Nottingham NG1 2EW
Tel: 0115 9506383
Another in the Eerie Pubs chain (thanks for this info to Angela West, who, along with Michelle Bullock and other members of the Nottingham Vampire Society, opened the 'Pit and the Pendulum' on October 4th, 2000.)
Know any more horror cafés in England? Please let me know about them at Michel@pumpkinpie.com
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