The smoking areas are where the night breathes

I'm a broken man. As I write this on Bank Holiday Monday, I'm exhausted from my Saturday when, against all advice, I pinballed between Leese Geese, E1 and Fabric. I wanted to head to Kollectiv and the Queen's Yard Summer Party too, but there's really only so many hours in the day. What's a guy to do?

The highlight was Adela's set at E1, taking the crowd from the warm-up into peak time. Adela's been a friend of mine for a couple of years, but we got to know each other when she was playing peak time sets at smaller clubs across the city, so to see her playing to a packed room in a club like E1 was great. You could see how well the crowd was responding, too: people were edging closer to the barriers, conversations dropped off, and there was barely a phone in sight.

By comparison, my Friday was pretty chilled. I went to Rowans to play some arcade games and intended to be at home and in bed by midnight, but then ended up heading across to see Make Money Mafia play at an EP launch party at Bread and Butter Collective.

There's been a bit of rain, but it really does feel like summer is just about here. This is great news for me, a man who spends the whole of spring leaving the house in the wrong jacket. But it's also good news for London's nightlife, as lots of seasonal ravers are shaking off the rust and preparing to get back to it.

That summer crowd, and the sun that brings them out, can really energise events around the city. Rooms feel fuller, people are up for it, and there’s a bit more looseness to everything. But it also pulls you in every direction at once. Every lineup looks like the right one, every room feels like it might tip into something, and you end up moving more than you think you will just to keep up with it all.

It’s not really a complaint. It’s just how weekends start to feel again once the city wakes back up, and I cannot wait.

The Mix

My friend put me onto this mix from Mike O'Mara that I've been listening to a lot this week. It's a slow-burning house mix with some old classics and new bangers layered in together. It's a mammoth 2-hour set, but I've been listening to it while putting the writing together, and it's excellent throughout. As ever, click the Soundcloud here, or you can listen to it below on the website.

The joy of smoking areas

by Michael Wilkinson

I’ll say it now, I’m not a smoker. But one of the best parts of raving is the smoking area. Look past the second-hand smoke and you’ll find the place where ravers actually connect.

It’s not just the dedicated smokers keeping it busy either. The NHS found that over half of 18-year-old smokers in England don’t smoke every day. A lot of those cigarettes are being lit in places exactly like this.

For a lot of venues, it’s the only place to properly take a break and talk. Inside, conversation is near impossible. You’re relying on nods or shouting to ask if anyone has water. Out here, you can finally hear each other. Late into the night, when the temperature drops, that first bit of cool air hits your face and resets everything.

Everyone ends up in the same place, asking the same people for a light. I’ve had great, unexpected conversations in smoking areas. Nightlife attracts all sorts, and this is where you actually meet them. Ask someone what they’re into and suddenly you’re swapping DJs, tracks and promoters like you’ve known each other for years.

It’s also where people look after each other. If someone’s a bit out of it or struggling, it feels natural to check in. This vibe check, a quick chat that makes sure they’re alright, is one of those small things that matter more than you realise.

Five minutes out there can easily turn into half an hour. You bump into someone you sort of know from another party or a group chat. You exchange Instagrams, fully aware you’ll probably never speak again, but you’ll keep an eye on where they end up next.

Some venues get this. They treat the outside like it matters, like it’s part of the night. Others make it feel like an afterthought, and you can tell straight away.

The former De School club in Amsterdam, set in an old school building, gave you an entire courtyard to relax in. It was perfect for people watching. Reunions, people having the night of their lives, others sat down and not entirely sure they’re getting back up. You saw everything.

When you’re finally ready to head back in, there’s one last mission. Searching the smoking area for your mates. Once you’ve found them, or accepted that you won’t, you push through that heavy door and the warm air pulls you back in.

Either way, I’ll meet you in the smoking area.

A guide to London’s best club smoking areas

Your favourite clubs all have a room that is not on the flyer. It is not a dancefloor, and there is usually no music, but it is where a lot of the real socialising happens. It is the smoking area: the place where the night gets reviewed in real time, you check in with each other, and make new friends in ten-minute bursts.

Pretty much every club has one, but they are not created equal. Some are concrete pens where you are just trying to stay warm; others spill out into the street like a soft extension of the dancefloor. The best ones feel like their own tiny scene entirely. This list is about those.

A good smoking area shapes how a night plays out. You end up returning to the better ones again and again, not just because you need a break or to complain about how your back hurts, but because they become part of the rhythm of the night itself.

To celebrate summer finally being here, here are some smoking areas worth knowing, not just for the cigarettes, but for everything that happens around them. I do not even smoke, but I will absolutely take that time to yap.

Fold, Canning Town

Fold's smoking area is as densely packed and overwhelming as the club itself, but I can’t think of anywhere else in London where you’re more likely to be pushed together. It doesn’t look like much. An L-shaped space lined with benches in the middle of Canning Town. But the people are friendly, even if you can barely move when the action gets going.

It fills up quickly and never really empties, just a constant churn of people swapping stories or clocking each other for the first time. Cigarettes and lighters pass back and forth until strangers become something close enough for the next half hour. It’s chaotic in the same way Fold is, but it works. You don’t come out here to relax. You come out to find out what's next, to add something else to your night.

KOKO, Camden

KOKO is a twisty-turny maze, but its roof terrace, just off the second-floor bar, is the prize at its heart.

It looks out over Camden High Street, all buses and headlights and low-level chaos, with a few slightly surreal palm trees thrown in for good measure. When the weather turns, it’s less glamorous. You end up pressed against the wall, trying to dodge the rain while huddled under the arches, cigarettes burning quicker than you’d like.

When it’s warm, though, the whole place opens up. The terrace stops being a thoroughfare and turns into somewhere you settle. People linger, conversations stretch, and the night slows down in a way KOKO rarely allows inside. In summer, it genuinely changes the club. You’re not just stepping out for air, you’re staying, half in the party, half out of it, watching Camden carry on below while your mates chain-smoke beside you.

Studio 338, Greenwich

Studio 338 isn’t really my scene, all Ibiza-style excess and big-room energy, but its smoking area is one of London's best. A huge outdoor space that occasionally slips into becoming a dancefloor in its own right, it’s less an afterthought and more a second venue bolted on the side.

Beanbags are scattered across fake grass that’s a welcome break from concrete, so even if you don’t grab a seat, there’s still somewhere comfortable to collapse for a bit. Speakers are dotted around, too, usually carrying the music from inside at a slightly reduced volume, so you can step out without fully stepping away. It keeps you tethered to whatever’s happening on the main floor, just at a more manageable intensity.

There’s a bar out here and a surprisingly decent food stand if you need to line your stomach (try the burger). It all adds up to something that feels considered rather than functional. Even if the club itself isn’t for you, this is a smoking area you end up spending time in anyway.

Archives, Tottenham

Being further out from central London gives Archives a bit more space, and if you're in the smoking area you'll feel it, with that extra space putting it immediately ahead of most. You're not fighting for space the second you step outside, and that can change how people use the area.

It’s fairly simple on paper. A few tables you can squeeze onto with strangers, and a set of wooden steps that slowly fill up as the night goes on. By the early hours, you’ve got people sprawled across them, half-resting, half-socialising, not quite ready to call it a night but also not quite ready to dip back in for a dance.

The Briefing

Want to see Ben Klock this weekend? You're in luck, he's playing at The Roundhouse and then Fold on Friday night. If you need more hard techno, Teletech is taking over E1 again.

I'm in LA this week and won't be home until Saturday, but I will be aiming to drag myself across to Chris Leibing at Fold. I might be so jetlagged I fall asleep in the (excellent) smoking area, but I'll be there.

Elsewhere, Hoxton Cabal, Mau P and DVS1 all feel fairly essential, but after putting myself through the blender last week, I'm going to try and stick to just one rave. Let's see how we go.

Friday
Hoxton Cabal: Engineer (Live), DJ Programma, Love Sensation, Benebe Hoxton Cabin
Teletech London: Cloudy + more E1
Labyrinth presents: Ben Klock, RØDHÅD & More TBA Fold

Saturday
Labyrinth presents: Mau P Open to Close The Roundhouse
Chris Liebing Fold
DVS1 (House Set) & Tama Sumo Phonox
Pleasure Unit: Thomass Jackson, Meg Paine, Rosie Ama, Harry James The Waiting Room
BMC Radio Street Party (Free) (Day Party) Brixton
BHAN - raving with kindness (Day Party)

Sunday
Kings Turntable: Ryan Taylor Kings Arms
Mui Mui Records Timber Loft Records

What else?

• Troxy is due to increase capacity to 3,600 as part of a £1.5 million transformation. Troxy isn't a huge electronic venue, but I saw Kelly Lee Owens there last year (and see Los Campesinos there most years), and it's cool to see a venue getting some improvements to modernise it. These changes will apparently include opening up the venue's basement.
• 44 percent of all music uploaded to Deezer each day is generated by AI now. Fuck me.
• This 6-year old is a better DJ than me and she's in the Guiness Book of Records.