Fabric (stylized as fabric) is a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

Farringdon, London Farringdon is an area of Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington, situated immediately north of its border with the City of London. The term is used to describe the area around Farringdon station. Historically the district corresponded to ...

, England. Founded in 1999 on

Charterhouse Street Charterhouse Street is a street on the north side of Smithfield in the City of London. The road forms part of the City’s boundary with the neighbouring London Boroughs of Islington and Camden. It connects Charterhouse Square and Holborn C ...

opposite

Smithfield Market Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly Wards of the City of London, ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City in ...

, the club was voted World Number 1 Club in ''

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

azine''s "Top 100 Clubs Poll" in 2007 and 2008 and ranked World Number 2 in 2009, 2010 and 2017. Fabric was closed down and its license was revoked by

Islington Council Islington London Borough Council, also known as Islington Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Islington in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majo ...

in 2016, after two drug-related deaths at the club. Following a campaign to save the club it was permitted to be reopened with increased security and restrictions.

History

The club was founded by Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie and opened on 29 October 1999. Fabric occupied the renovated space of the Metropolitan Cold Stores. Smithfield Meat Market stands and operates from a site directly opposite. The area's construction took place in Victorian times alongside nearby landmarks

Holborn Viaduct Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it (which forms part of the A40 road, A40 route). It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London, England financial distri ...

and

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles * Fishing fleet *Naval fleet * Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles * Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada * Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Be ...

Valley Bridge. Fabric has three separate rooms with independent sound systems; two of the rooms feature stages for live acts. A feature of the club is its vibrating floor in Room One: known as a "bodysonic" dancefloor, sections of the floor are attached to 400 bass transducers emitting bass frequencies of the music being played. In 2010, Fabric briefly went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

after its sister club

Matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...

, with whom it had a cross-guaranteed loan, announced it would close for the summer due to financial difficulties suffered as a consequence of continued delays with TfL upgrade of the Jubilee Line. Fabric was put on the market on 1 June 2010. On 24 June it was announced Fabric was no longer in administration and had been bought by the Fabric Life consortium.

2016 closure and reopening

On 7 September 2016, after a review into the drug-related deaths of two people in the club, Leslie appeared in front of the licensing board to defend Fabric's way of handling drugs and drug dealers at their club. Fabric's licence was revoked and it was announced that the venue would be closed permanently. A campaign was launched to secure the club's future, backed and popularised by DJs, musicians, venue-goers and several politicians. London's mayor

Sadiq Khan Sir Sadiq Aman Khan (, ; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting (UK Parliament constituency), Tooting ...

criticised the decision and placed it in the context of the city having lost 50% of its nightclubs since 2008, a "decline

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

must stop if London is to retain its status as a 24-hour city with a world-class nightlife". Following the closure, supporters of the club launched a social media and crowdfunding campaign supporting reopening the club. Over £200,000 was raised toward a legal fighting fund to appeal the council's decision. In November 2016, news reports stated that the council and the club's management were working on an out of court settlement that might lead to the reopening of the club. On 21 November 2016, Fabric and Islington Council reached agreement that the club could reopen with stricter conditions: a new

photo identification Photo identification or photo ID is an identity document that includes a photograph of the holder, usually only their face. The most commonly accepted forms of photo ID are those issued by government authorities, such as driver's licenses, ident ...

system, covert surveillance, a lifetime ban for anyone found dealing or possessing illegal drugs, and no under-19s allowed between Friday 8pm to Monday 8am. Shortly after these changes were made, it was announced that Fabric would halve the number of "FABRICLIVE" bass-driven nights, which included their famous Playaz drum and bass residency, which spiked controversy among fans.

Style

Fridays: FABRICLIVE

The musical genres played at Fabric vary. Friday nights (known as "FABRICLIVE") are dedicated to bass music genres, being mainly

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

since its inception. FABRICLIVE also features genres including

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

breakbeat Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

and

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, and classical music, for the low-pitched P ...

Saturdays: Fabric

Known simply as "Fabric", Saturday nights showcase genres such as

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

. Fabric ale features the club's resident DJs Craig Richards and

Terry Francis Terry Francis (born 28 July 1966) is a British tech house DJ and producer.Bush, JohnTerry Francis Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-06-23 Francis won ''Muzik'' Magazine's "Best New DJ" award in 1997.Comer, M. Tye (1999)Mixed Signals, ''CMJ New ...

. Richards was also one of the Directors of Music Programming, selecting the line-ups for Saturday nights, which have featured appearances by DJs such as

Ricardo Villalobos Ricardo Villalobos (born 6 August 1970) is a Chilean-born German electronic music producer and DJ. He is well known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, and is one of the most significant figures in the minimal techno scene. ...

Carl Craig Carl Craig (born May 22, 1969) is an American electronic music producer, DJ, and founder of the record label Planet E Communications. He is known as a leading figure and pioneer in the second wave of Detroit techno artists during the late 1980 ...

Ellen Allien Ellen Fraatz, known professionally as Ellen Allien, is a Berlin-based German electronic musician, music producer, and the founder of BPitch Control music label. Her album '' Stadtkind'' was dedicated to the city of Berlin, and she cites the cu ...

, and many others.

Sundays: Wetyourself

Sundays at Fabric are promoted by "Wetyourself", a polysexual event that has been running since February 2009. The music policy is underground house and techno, with the occasional

live PA Live PA (meaning live public address or live personal appearance) is the act of performing live electronic music in settings typically associated with DJing, such as nightclubs, raves, and more recently dance music festivals. In a performativ ...

Other ventures

A CD series was launched in 2001 under Fabric Records. It rotates monthly between

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

and

FABRICLIVE From November 2001 to November 2018, the London nightclub fabric ran a monthly mix compilation series. Mixed by a variety of emerging and established DJs, the two series were entitled ''fabric'' and ''FABRICLIVE'' respectively. The compilation ...

, with the series showcasing established and emerging DJs. It is entirely independent and operated solely by Fabric. The full list of titles in the series can be seen at

Fabric discography From November 2001 to November 2018, the London nightclub fabric ran a monthly mix compilation series. Mixed by a variety of emerging and established DJs, the two series were entitled ''fabric'' and ''FABRICLIVE'' respectively. The compilation ...

. On 19 September 2008, Reilly and Leslie opened the 2,600-capacity music venue

. Located in The O₂, it was their first project outside of Fabric. Matter has since closed.

Houndstooth Houndstooth is a pattern of alternating light and dark check (fabric), checks used on fabric. It is also known as hounds tooth check, hound's tooth (and similar spellings), dogstooth, dogtooth or dog's tooth. The duotone pattern is characterized ...

is a record label from Fabric, started in February 2013.

In popular culture

The nightclub was used as a filming location for the first season of the

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is owned by AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary series). Unlike the BBC's ...

thriller series ''

Killing Eve ''Killing Eve'' is a British spy thriller television series produced in the United Kingdom by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three (streaming service), BBC Three. The series follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), a British intelligence age ...

'' (2018–present), doubling as a

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

nightclub in the episode " Don't I Know You?"

Awards and nominations

''DJ Magazines top 100 Clubs

International Dance Music Awards The International Dance Music Awards or IDMAs was an annual awards ceremony held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States as a major part of the Winter Music Conference. The awards were held every year from 1985 to 2020, except for 2017, when the ...

International Nightlife Association's Top 100 Clubs

Notes

References

External links

* *
Fabric Review
{{Authority control Nightclubs in London Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Islington Music venues completed in 1999 1999 establishments in England Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Islington Electronic dance music venues Farringdon, London