Jolene Listening Bar: Hackney’s Natural Wine Cellar of Sound
By Rafi Mercer
New Listing
Jolene, is one of London’s most respected listening bars — explore more in our London Music Venues guide.
Venue Name: Jolene Listening Bar
Address: 74 Green Lanes, Newington Green, London N16 9EJ, United Kingdom
Website: jolenebakery.com
Phone: +44 20 7018 3533
Jolene has long been a name tied to bread and wine in London. The bakery-café offshoots scattered across North and East London have made their reputation on natural ingredients and low-intervention philosophy, flour dust mixing with natural wines poured late into the evening. But on Green Lanes, under the familiar Jolene banner, the team has built something a little different: a listening bar where sound and wine share equal billing. In the growing constellation of London’s audiophile venues — from the wood-and-vinyl ritualism of Brilliant Corners to the playful unpredictability of Mad Cats — Jolene’s Listening Bar positions itself with a kind of quiet grace, folding its already-beloved food culture into the vinyl-first listening tradition.
Step inside and it doesn’t shout. The room is subterranean, dimly lit, pared-back in style. Concrete, wood, and shelves of records arranged like they belong to a devoted collector rather than a designer’s blueprint. The walls seem to swallow the outside noise, leaving only the turntables and speakers to shape the room’s pulse. It feels like a cellar built not just for wine but for sound, a space where reverberation is tamed and intimacy amplified.
The system is, of course, the heart. Hand-tuned hi-fi speakers carry a warmth that fits the Jolene ethos: natural, unforced, textured. Vinyl cuts drift from ambient to deep jazz, dub to Brazilian MPB, selectors weaving long arcs that never jolt the flow. It’s not as purist as Spiritland, but nor does it lean into the chaos of Shoreditch’s late-night dens. Instead, it sits comfortably in the middle — a place where listening is treated with respect, but never stripped of conviviality.
Wine anchors the experience. Jolene’s reputation for natural wine is already solid, and here the bottles seem to glow in the half-light, lined up with the same pride as the vinyl. The list changes regularly, producers celebrated not for fame but for authenticity, each bottle with as much story as the records spinning on the decks. Glasses arrive cloudy, alive, textured; reds with a rawness that mirrors the bassline, whites that hum crisp and clear like a well-cut high frequency. Pairing a glass with a record here feels less like indulgence and more like ritual.
The food mirrors that same philosophy. Small plates, seasonal, unfussy — charcuterie, anchovies, grilled flatbreads, vegetables roasted until they sing. Eating here never intrudes on the sound, but supports it, fuelling long hours of slow listening. It’s a continuation of Jolene’s larger project: to take what is natural, honest, and carefully crafted, and make it communal.
The crowd is a mix of Hackney locals, industry heads, and those who’ve followed Jolene’s trajectory from flour to funk. It’s younger, looser than the pin-drop reverence you’ll find at Dalston’s high temple of sound, but more attentive than a casual bar. There’s a generosity to the room — wine poured for strangers, nods of recognition when a rare cut floats through the speakers, selectors who shape nights like conversations.
What makes Jolene Listening Bar compelling is how seamlessly it fits into London’s layered culture. It doesn’t feel imported, nor does it feel like a side project. It feels necessary, inevitable — a bar where the natural wine revolution collides with the city’s hi-fi listening movement, each enhancing the other. It’s a reminder that listening doesn’t have to mean austerity, and that wine doesn’t have to mean distraction. Together, they create a space where detail thrives.
Walk back up to Green Lanes and the city rush resumes — buses, fried chicken shops, kebab houses, the bustle of North London life. But for a while, you’ve been underground, in a cellar where sound and wine reigned, where records and bottles shared the same reverence. Jolene Listening Bar doesn’t need to announce itself loudly; it only needs you to step inside, sit down, and listen.
Rafi Mercer writes about the spaces where music matters. For more stories from Tracks & Tales, subscribe, or click here to read more.
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