The Market Tavern

1980s–1995

Dark, sweaty and years ahead of the arches

Before the arch clubs, there was the Market Tavern. Beside New Covent Garden Market on Nine Elms Lane, it took advantage of the market’s early licensing to become a legendary after-hours haunt through the 1980s and into the 90s: dark, sweaty, cruisy, and – by common account – the best place to dance in south London. It kept the hours of the market porters, which meant it kept the hours of the clubbers too.

The Market Tavern proved that Vauxhall could hold a serious late-night scene, laying the ground for the clubland that followed. It closed in 1995, just as the arches were about to take up the baton.