'Your own tiny club with more control of the music': why young Londoners are triggering a karaoke boom

It is a truth universally acknowledged that almost every karaoke night is the work of one incredibly keen individual and several other, slightly more begrudging individuals. One such individual is Isabelle McMahon, 30, who has been known to attend karaoke as often as four times a week. “But that was the Christmas period, so it’s to be expected,” she says.

“It’s always good fun and it bonds you with the group, whether that’s in a booth with your friends or randoms at the pub [at public karaoke]. You can go from not knowing anyone to being able to have a chat with anyone in the pub because you’re the girl that did Sophie Ellis Bextor.”

Isabelle is among those driving a karaoke boom in the capital. Several London venues are reporting a rise in popularity, and some are even having to extend their karaoke offering by building new booths and rooms to accommodate the increased demand.

Ollie Tansley, 24, who runs the Friday karaoke night at Oslo in Hackney, says he’s definitely noticed the increased demand. He has even developed a cast of regulars who attend week on week. “I worked New Year’s Eve this year and if I’m honest the karaoke room was filled to the point we had more people singing than in the actual club room next door,” he told the Standard.

Meanwhile, another incredibly keen karaoke-goer, Cem Ibrahim, 34, is so protective over his local Hackney karaoke spot that he refuses to name it publicly because it already gets so busy. “It’s a very weird little pub, “ Cem says. “It's not very Hackney at all, you get a lot of the local weirdos that go in there.”

Cem describes his karaoke night as a raucous yet well-regulated night of public karaoke (in front of a pub full of people, instead of a private booth), ruled with an iron fist by a woman called “Nicky the Strict”. Nicky the Strict takes paper song requests, notes them down on her chalkboard and berates anyone who doesn’t make an effort. “In between every song, she screams at the audience and she's like ‘If you're not singing then you've gotta be dancing!’”

This newfound love for karaoke is non-discriminatory: both pubs with public karaoke and venues that focus on booth karaoke (where you pay for a private space for a set amount of time) are reporting a boom in bookings and attendance.

Karl Johnson, who looks after marketing at the Sebright Arms, says he’s seen the popularity of Sebright’s Friday night karaoke: “Hit new heights in the last six months.”

Over in Finsbury Park, the bosses of beloved ten-pin bowl and karaoke venue Rowans say that karaoke at Rowans is “more popular than ever”, with staff having witnessed everything from large groups to duos coming to perform — and even the odd solo karaoke-er, too.

Electric Star pubs (who own The Star of Bethnal Green, The Star of Liverpool Street, etc) have been scrambling to meet the demand for karaoke in their pubs, expanding The Star of Bethnal Green’s karaoke programme to include five new rooms, and offering free open mic events at their Liverpool Street, King’s Cross and Shoreditch venues. “Karaoke in pubs, it’s the perfect combination,” says founder Rob Star.

This came as a delight to Australian expat Jess, 30, who has always loved karaoke but saw her obsession flourish when she moved to London in 2022. “My friends rue the day I discovered the Spreadeagle in Shoreditch,” she laughs. “I’ve absolutely been saying I’ve noticed an uptick in cool people going to karaoke…not that it’s ever been uncool. But a moment is bubbling.”

So, why now? Karaoke has existed within pubs for as long as karaoke machines have existed, and London has never been short of karaoke nights. Singing lover Reuben Pinder, 29, believes it’s a reaction to London’s nightlife going down the toilet. “It could be a reaction to the death of the nightclub and the death of the house party,” he says, “people are now essentially booking their own tiny nightclub with more control over the music.”

There has been much discussion over the lack of third spaces for young people in London, as well as a dearth of late-night venues.

According to one 2024 survey, half of Londoners reported having to end a night out before midnight in the past year because there was simply nowhere else to go.

Moreover, it was revealed that one in two Londoners hadn’t thrown a house party in the last 12 months, with 25 per cent of respondents citing renting someone else’s property as the reason why.

But even without late night venues or house parties, those blues have got to be shaken loose somewhere.

“With less people going clubbing or on big crazy nights out at the moment, it’s a low-stakes way to let off some steam,” Isabelle reckons. “It’s good fun and bonds you with the group. You can go from not knowing anyone to chatting with everyone in the pub because you’re the girl that did Sophie Ellis Bextor.”

And when the average price of club entry or event tickets in London hovers around £20 these days, it can actually work out cheaper to host a private party in a booth with you, your friends and a few microphones. “Going out in London is so expensive that it’s nice to invest money, time and effort into something that will one hundred per cent, deffo be fun,” says Isabelle.

“If you’re queuing for a club and someone doesn’t get in, or one person in the group didn’t get tickets, there’s more risk of a let down,” she adds. “But most karaoke is literally just you and your friends singing, so it’s guaranteed fun.”