A new branch of the popular cabaret club, Baby Bathhouse, is to open later this spring on Stoke Newington’s Church Street in Hackney.
Like the original venue in Broadgate, it will function as a daytime café, an evening restaurant, and a club at night with their well-known burlesque performances.
Church Street has become famous for its large number of public houses and restaurants providing a diverse range of food, drink and entertainment. It is also home to a wide range of independent shops and boutiques popular with young families, particularly mothers and their young children.
Tony De Burgh, 44, said: “It is fine as a late night club and a restaurant. We need those places around but I’m not sure about bringing a strip club or something similar to the area, especially since it is near a nursery, a primary school and the street is used for a lot of families like mine.”
“As long as there is no drinking and fighting in the streets it is fine, it is the same as pubs.”
Another passer-by with her six children, who asked not to be named, said she “can’t accept these places” because of her Jewish faith. “I think it will be disturbing,” she said. “The street will be louder and it is something that especially our community is not going to enjoy.”
Milka Meyer, a 36 year-old mother, expressed concern about “the type of people” that might be attracted to the venue. “I have never been a fan of these places because I think it is degrading to women,” she said. “I do not welcome it in the area.”
Suzanne Begly, 27, considers Church Street to be “a very strange place to have a strip club”, but “is not too worried” because she does “not think it will do a good business and it may not last long.”
Konrad Fraczek, 27, said: “It is a good idea because we do need more places to hang out at night. We have a few pubs and restaurants but not a proper night club.”
Despite these worries, the new cabaret venue hasn’t applied for a Sex Encounter Establishment (SEE) License so they will not be allowed to put on strip shows. In 2008 Hackney council which currently follows a ‘nil’ policy responded to the group of local residents carrying out the Stop the Strip Pub campaign.
No campaign has been waged against the Baby Bathhouse and the owners, Tava O’Halloran and Daniel Wright, have expressed in previous interviews that they are happy to be located amidst the vintage shops and record stores.
Hello
As a resident of Stoke Newington and of Church Street …
I think it sounds lovely to have another restaurant on Church Street we are just spoiled for food choices, but do we need another late night drinking bar.
The Gold Bar nearly burning down was one of the best things to happen to Church Street, so why replace it with another one?
It has been lovely being able to walk along the pavement on that side of the road avoiding all the drunk smokers outside the Lion pub opposite but now that is over as we will have people drinking and smoking in the street on both sides.
I look forward to all the comments calling me Nimby and I also look forward to not getting to bed until 2am because of people being kicked out and shouting, I have had it before with the Gold Bar, I’m having it Now with the lion and now the Baby Bathhouse” will just top it all off.
P.S. Every other business that has tried there has failed, I would give up now and open a Tea Rooms.
We are currently putting the finishing touches on 125 Church St. The building,
formerly known as The Gold Bar, has experienced a traumatic year with the back
half of the building burning to the ground. However, like a phoenix rising from the
ashes, following an extensive refurbishment, the glorious Baby Bathhouse will launch
soon in its place.
We have been planning The Baby Bathhouse for some time now and have been
working away to create an atmospheric bar and restaurant for Church St that will be
an asset to our community, and we would like to take this opportunity to share our
plans with you.
The original Bathhouse venue opened in Bishopsgate almost two years ago. With
creativity and dedication, we took a neglected Victorian Bathhouse and turned it
into a popular venue for local businesses, residents and visitors from across London.
We have lovingly run the original venue working closely with local authorities
(City of London Police and Licensing) and our favourite neighbours St Botolphs
Church. When we thought about opening another outpost our thriving, burgeoning
community of Stoke Newington was the obvious choice.
We are truly excited about introducing The Bathhouse concept to Stoke Newington
and we hope that you love the new venue as much as we do.
The new venue will offer you a café / bistro, cocktail bar, restaurant and large,
South-facing (and very sunny!) garden / terrace, complete with cobbled Victorian
inspired walkway and street lamps, oversized gilded birdcages, outdoor seating and
family friendly barbecue area.
Please email us with any questions on baby@thebathhousevenue.com and come and
take a peek. We want to make sure that everyone in the community is happy with
what we are doing and can be confident that we will add to rather than detract from
our area. Both the owners and the staff of The Bathhouse all live in the local area
and we believe in having a great relationship with stakeholders in the community and
local authorities.
The Baby Bathhouse Team