Playing the name game in E2

This review was published in September 2002

What do you get when you add two old shops (one bag, one wholesale shoes), a graphic artist with a flair for scrawling on walls and a nomadic Hoxton crowd?

Answer, dreambagsjaguarshoes, a spanking new addition to the E2 pre-clubbing bar stable. What say, thought the scamps who created it, we decide to hang it all and leave the faćades of the previous shops intact while overhauling the interiors for a minimal, Nu-Yorkian feel?

Outside, the effect is decidedly odd - the two shabby fascias haloed uncomfortably in fluorescent light. But inside it's a pleasant enough haunt, even if it does still have that shop-space, static feel.

Upstairs, decor is either graffiti-enlivened white walls, or shabby organic - all exposed plaster, brickwork and snatches of flock wallpaper. Music is standard Hoxton issue and the bar is of the function not fuss school. There's no cocktail list, no bar snacks (although food will be on the menu soon, we're promised), beers are on draught, spirits are plentiful, there's even Coke in glass bottles.

But while upstairs is definitely a mere pitstop on the Hoxton crawl, downstairs could conceivably be the night's main destination. A cool, candlelit bricked vault with piped soul and clusters of beaten leather sofas, it's still self-consciously cool, but cosy and with a conscience.

Later this month they launch Makes No Difference on their walls, an exhibition in support of the Huddleston Centre, raising funds and highlighting the value of community centres. Art with heart, a bar with a history and a round for under a fiver? You can stay.