Pub and music venue in Islington, London
The Lexington is a pub and music venue on Pentonville Road in Islington, London that opened in 2008. The bar specialises in bourbon, as well as American craft beer. The building it is in was built over 1875 to 1876 and was originally known as The Belvidere Tavern.
History.
18th and 19th centuries.
The building now housing The Lexington was erected in 1875–6. It was then known as "The Belvidere", and was a new construction for the earlier tavern of that name on the same site, which had been there since about 1780. It was designed by the architect W. E. Williams and built by Robert Marr. Writing about the older tavern in 1882 in Notes and Queries, Edward Spencer refers to a discussion society "held there weekly, and some of our greatest ornaments of the bar and legal profession have there tested their oratorical skill" and that "in the parlour of an evening were once seen many of the authors, painters, artists, and literary men of the period."
20th century.
In the 1940s the pub, now called "The Belvedere", was used as a venue for auctions by Henry Butcher &amp; Co.
In the 1990s it was a tapas bar called "La Finca" which held salsa classes and nights upstairs.
21st century.
In the mid-2000s it was a bar called "Clockwork" that hosted drum and bass DJ nights, and the occasional rock gig.
The Lexington opened as a pub and music venue in 2008. The bar specialises in bourbon, as well as American craft beer. The venue area is upstairs, with a raised back section by the bar. The front of this has bench seating, but facing away from the stage.
On Monday evenings the pub has a music quiz, previously sponsored by Rough Trade, that is usually hosted by Paul Guided Missile.
The Lexington was particularly badly hit by a reform of London business rates in 2017, with a proposed increase of more than 200 percent (the average for London music venues being about 38 per cent). The venue challenged this and managed to get somewhat of a reduction to an increase of 118 percent.
The venue's existence has been threatened further by the . The Lexington were among the beneficiaries of the Cultural Recovery Fund administered by Arts Council England, announced on October 12, 2020. The venue stated that those funds “will go some way in mitigating the financial damage and debt accumulated over the last seven months of closure” but that they are “still in serious peril” as they were only awarded 40% of the funding they applied for. In November the Music Venue Trust announced a campaign which highlighted the 30 UK music venues deemed still in crisis, one of which is The Lexington. The venue had a crowdfunder to raise what was still needed.
The current manager is Delia Sparrow of Mambo Taxi, Ye Nuns and Phantom Pregnancies.
References.
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