Velvet Needles: Hidden Grooves and Shoreditch’s Quiet Luxury
By Rafi Mercer
New Listing
Hidden Grooves is one of London’s most respected listening bars — explore more in our London Music Venues guide.
Venue Name: Hidden Grooves
Address: Virgin Hotel, 45 Curtain Road, London EC2A 3PT, United Kingdom
Website: virginhotels.com
Phone: +44 20 3859 0300
Spotify Profile: N/A
Walk too quickly down Curtain Road and you might miss it entirely. Hidden Grooves isn’t shouting for attention; it’s waiting for the right ears. The entrance — just a brushed-metal door in the corner of the Virgin Hotel — opens into a room that feels both retro and perfectly current. Think velvet armchairs, low brass lamps, and the sort of carpet that dares you to take your shoes off.
Virgin Records’ DNA hums through the place without becoming a gimmick. The shelving is lined with records — not as set dressing, but as living, playable inventory. Jazz, post-punk, Brazilian bossa, Balearic electronica — each sleeve shows the slight scuffing that comes from real hands and real plays. There’s no shrink-wrap perfection here; these records have been lived in.
The sound system is tuned for intimacy, not volume. Twin Technics decks sit like twin altars behind the bar, feeding into a warm analogue chain that makes even the silences feel rich. No part of the room is sonically dead — the far corner is as alive as the front row.
During the day, it’s a quiet refuge from Shoreditch’s rhythm. Hotel guests drift in with coffee; locals duck in for a late lunch and end up staying an hour longer than planned. Evenings bring a gentle shift — guest DJs work vinyl only, mixing as much for texture as for tempo. It’s not a dance floor, but you might catch yourself swaying all the same.
The real magic here is in the pacing. Sets breathe. Tracks are allowed to end properly. A Coltrane ballad doesn’t fade — it concludes. The bartenders don’t just pour; they glide, never interrupting the room’s flow. If you come with company, you’ll talk softly without realising it. If you come alone, you’ll feel no need to fill the air.
Hidden Grooves feels like it’s giving Shoreditch something it didn’t know it needed — a place to remember that music can be the main event without being loud about it. You don’t leave here amped; you leave tuned.
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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