Hackney Church (St John at Hackney) — Attraction in London

Absolutely hate this venue. It seems like it would be lovely, but: it's horrifically boiling (I know it's probably a protected building or whatever, but they don't even have any fans or portable ACs in there) staff (esp security) are always pretty rude and unhelpful you can't see from the balcony (there is a large metal bar directly in the eyeline to the stage, regardless of what level you're at. The best view is actually stood at the back behind the seats) They clearly seem to go way overcapacity? Both times i've been there it's been packed to the brim, and I imagine this is made worse by the promoters reserving a ridiculous amount of the balcony space for guestlist.. Horrid prices. London venues are always bad, but £6.25 for a 330ml can is a lol. And they try and charge £1.50 for cups. Toilets downstairs are too few. They have portaloos outside but don't really tell you this / don't always let women use them. There are more toilets upstairs but you can only go up there if you have balcony tickets.

Really wanted to like this venue but both times I've been there it's an absolute rip-off that just leaves me feeling angry and frustrated. You shouldn't be able to sell tickets for a balcony where 3/4 of the seats can't...

Venue gets so hot, it's a battle to stay and watch the show. I saw several people need treatment from St John's ambulance. Many more had to go outside and pretty much everyone I saw was sweating or suffering from the heat. That's despite doors being open and fans blowing, it's a bit off putting seeing people in distress when at a gig. Make shift bar is expensive and makes a noise from cans being opened , the nearby fan also makes a racket. Bottled water is actually some strange liquid in a can and is room temperature, not great given the heat. Stage is very low so most people struggled to get a good view. Toilets were outside and consisted of some porter loos and urinals, not screened off so anyone walking by gets a good view. Was more security than expected, but seemed to work well, they will want you to put your bag in the cloakroom unless it's very small. The hall does look good to be fair but think it's my least favourite venue I've been to, doesn't really seem like much thought has gone into having it be suitable for a...

The facilities were perfectly adequate and the sound quality was pretty good (nothing to write home about though). That's where the 2 stars come from.

Otherwise, I almost feel compelled to rate this venue one star, because I finally got to see deadmau5 live and I almost couldn't enjoy any of it with how uncomfortably hot and stuffy it was.

I'll admit I'm not particularly good at dealing with heat, but a lot of people around me seemed to be struggling with it too. It was around 19ºC outside, and inside it felt like it was well into the 30s with high humidity to boot.

They kept handing out cups of water to the front row, but if you were bang in the middle like me you were S.O.L., and even then there was only so much a cup of water could have done to help.

I will say I'm shocked at the recent 5 star reviews. Either I just happened to be in a particularly bad spot, or they weren't sober enough to really notice it. So I suppose if you're planning on coming here you ought to make sure you're...