Departure (Bar, Restaurant, Club)

2 Crutched Friars, Fenchurch Street, City of London, London, EC3N 2HT
Cuisine: Bar
Tel: Not on file
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Departure Review
On a Friday evening, dodging rain showers and London Lite distributors, we arrived at Departure Bar – a tuckaway on Crutched Friars in Aldgate. Lying strategically between the City and Essex (via Fenchurch Station), Departure is clearly aiming to serve the caste of humanity who passes through these two constituencies.
Descending into this crimson cavernous club/bar we encountered small groups of office workers: chattering, chilling, playing pool, slurping and snacking at the end of the week. The venue features varying seating arrangements from club styled booths to low lounge benches along a small but workable dancefloor. The pool table, located next to the bathrooms allows enough space to play and socialise without hindering anyone else’s good time.
But if anything was to hinder a good time, it was probably the “classic” house music that blared from the speakers to the point where I honestly thought my head might blow off; if you must use hand signals to communicate and it’s not even 8PM – the music is too loud dude.
Another slight hindrance to the good times was the Mai Tai served up sans ice, or my partner’s Margarita – with suspicious bits of mint leaves floating around in it…hang on…wait that was a Mojito. Our shared Hot Platter featured the usual morsels of deep fried breaded items – mushrooms, scampi, chicken wings etc. – sided with, you guessed it - sweet chilli dipping sauce. Also on offer are Club Sandwiches, Burgers, Oriental Platters and chips which manager, Mark says are “the best in the world.”
Departure offers many promotions and can be hired to both small and large parties. Thursdays and Fridays are club nights with rotating DJs playing various forms of house music and open till late. The last Wednesday of each month is Open Decks night with amateur DJs welcome to try their hand at the ones and twos.
City workers unite!...read more
Customer Reviews for Departure
Average (based on 5 votes): 5
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The following customer reviews are not endorsed by Fluid London and are simply those of users who wish to publish their independent experiences of Departure.
“The night I went it was good, but found the bouncer very rude and aggressive, put me off from going again.”
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delores, London (11 years 15 days ago)
“I went there on a Saturday morning around 5am and all they played was hard core Electro tunes - what about us Funkadelic ravers?”
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Dior smith, bedford (13 years 2 months 25 days ago)
“We came here early for free, but that was cool as the pool table was out. Crowd started to generate around 3 and the real after party settled in around 4-5 am. Space: 4 areas, including the more relaxed zone round the bar; plenty of seating for chilling; music: choice, creative electric tunes for uninterrupted dancing - all this, topped off with stepping out into blue sky and sunshine, made for a night to remember.”
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Caroline, London N7 (13 years 5 months 23 days ago)
Show all user reviews for Departure
“The reviews preceeding this have made a significant oversight. The departure is home to Londons best Sunday morning. If you are the type to venture for an extended platform upon which to truly exhaust any residual saturday night sparkle you could do a great deal worse. The DJ on 2 separate occasions has been outstanding, surpassing the bland talents on show earlier that night at the cross/ egg with a very fresh synth infused jacking hip house set (for want of a better pigeon hole). If you are clued up on the london club circuit but yet to experience this after party I would stongly suggest you reserve the energy to do so. I believe it is on most weeks opening at 5.30 am.”
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JR, London (13 years 11 months 12 days ago)
“Had a great time at Departure but had to leave early to get the train home in full swing happy hour!!! arrrgghhh. will visit again. ”
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julia, reading (14 years 4 months 28 days ago)
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Additional Information
- Cuisine Type: Bar
- Dress Code: Not Specified
- Group: (Independent/Freehouse)
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