HERE at Outernet — Local services in London

I went to HERE for the first time yesterday to see Marvin Humes' day party for his Noughties Baby DJ show with a couple of friends. My knowledge of the venue was next to none, and after reading some other reviews / horror stories, I was a little worried about what was awaiting me.

With that in mind, I wanted to leave a review because my experience was almost entirely positive and I felt it would be good to redress the balance for others who might be going to an event there soon and don't know what to expect.

So let's start with the positives. It's right outside the Elizabeth Line station for Tottenham Court Road. The event started at 3pm and it started on time, although they were well prepped before then as they were going along the short queue that had formed, scanning tickets and checking ID (as it was an 18+ event) before we went in.

The security staff were polite and approachable, and the bag check all went fine. The venue itself is down four flights of stairs. For those who are disabled, they do have access lifts for those that can't use the stairs.

There are toilets and two cloakroom facilties - one on the mezzanine area overlooking the main auditorium and another next to the main auditorium. As other reviews mentioned, with the cloakroom, you basically use a touch screen app which you enter your phone number into and which takes a small photo of you, and at the end of the event, when you go to pick it up you just give them your phone number and you'll get it back. Very clever system and less chance of losing paper tickets etc.

Now, drinks. The bar was at the back of the auditorium. Very well run and easy to get to. I just had soft drinks throughout the event and they were decently priced for a London venue (£2.50), but what was also good was that you kept your cup throughout the night and they just refilled it as and when you needed. Much more environmentally friendly.

So, the venue and event itself. It's a decent sized layout for a more intimate venue, particularly one that's hosting more clubbing style events than gigs, although if anything it actually reminded me of Islington Academy a lot. As mentioned above, it was a day party I went to from 3pm - 8pm, so I can only really offer my feedback when I say that the vibe and atmosphere was really fun and uplifting, no one was kicking off or taking it too far, and - shock horror - no one was on their phones all the live long day (on which note, it's in an underground basement so no phone signal, but you can get Wi-Fi).

And the show was excellent - Pretty Hood from Kiss FM and Melvin Odoom from Radio 1 did warm up DJ sets, and Marvin's main show was excellent, made full use of the big LED screens showing videos to all the songs in his set, he had dancers, a few surprise guests (Dizzee Rascal and his JLS bandmate Aston Merrygold) and it was just a really fun and nostalgic event with loads of great songs!

I think my only bit of constructive feedback for next time would be to suggest maybe some seating areas for those that need a break from dancing / standing as and when needed, but I know from other reviews management have replied to that they are looking into that. But that aside, I had a really good time at HERE, I'd be happy to come again, and it's a venue with a lot of potential to be one of the best in London...

I went to see Sailor Moon last night and while the show was a 5/5 and made the entire night worth it…the venue was far from it When I arrived, there was a long line as we waited for the doors to open. We were then asked to divide into VIPs and the general audience, which was fair enough.

However once the line started to move, the staff then asked for all the standing ticket holders to come in first which was odd. Then once I had my ticket scanned it turned out it was cancelled Now I had received an email a few days prior explaining that due to some technical difficulties, my original seats in the mezzanine were unavailable and I would have seats in the stalls which is fine, but can’t be helped

But the staff didn’t seem prepared for this whatsoever and were under the impression that we would receive new tickets, so we were asked to wait by the side while everyone else went in, but even then people were still being held up as there was some confusion with who gets wrist bands and some VIP people were still stuck in the general admission queue so it was a complete shambles and it felt like a waste of time splitting everyone up like that.

Eventually, we managed to get in, and there were the usual bag checks and staff emptying water bottles for some reason I’m aware this happens for concerts, but I struggle to see the point of this.

Once we got inside the main area, the staff went off to find free seats for us, which they eventually did, but it took some time. Again, we received an email about this days ago, so this should have already been planned, but it wasn’t, for some reason.

Because of all the hoohaa at the entrance, I didn’t have time to get any of the merch or a drink as the show started as soon as I sat down. There was no intermission either so I was a bit stuffed. The doors opened at half past 6 with the start time at 7 but it took about 45-50 minutes for everyone to finally get inside, and the show didn’t start until half 7 since it had to wait for everyone to be seated.

Also, we were asked to use light sticks at one point which would be bought at the show however because getting in was a nightmare, many people didn’t have them including me to get this which is a shame because I was really into it.

The seats weren’t any better either, I don’t normally mind theatre seats, especially from older buildings because it is what it is and I never had any discomfort with them. But these were very uncomfortable, I could feel my bum going numb which never happens and they kind of felt flimsy like they could just collapse at any minute.

Despite all this I loved the performance and the actresses put out quite a show which caused all the grievances I had to be washed away however, I can’t escape the fact that it was let down by the venue what with how they conducted themselves.

I’ve never seen a venue struggle this much before and I hope this was just a one-off. I don't understand why they can't take a leaf out of other theatres and just let people in like normal.

Either way, the show was amazing and I'm just happy I could enjoy it although I think I'll stay clear of this venue...

I'm a wheelchair user, and went to see the Sailor Moon Super Live show last night. Staff were friendly and helpful the whole time. I honestly cannot praise them enough. We paid for VIP tickets, and they offered us the option to use the seats we purchased or to use the accessible seating on the mezzanine. We decided to go ahead and use our seats. They were happy for me to get my merch and drink, be seated, and then take my chair into the cloakroom. Now for the first negative. The seats are truly awful. They're uncomfortable and small, and feel like they're going to break when you sit on them. During the show came the second negative. There were a couple points during the show where the performers mics cut out. It's a reasonably small venue, and the actresses were loud enough that it wasn't a huge issue with us being in the second row, but probably more noticeable if we'd been on the mezzanine. One more positive to add, though. As part of my VIP ticket, we get to do a very quick meet and greet with the cast. I had my husband as my carer, but it would be very hard for us to get a photo, and let me get my high five and quick meet. The staff offered to take the phone to get a picture, so my husband could push my chair and I could get my meet and high five. We didn't even need to ask, and I really appreciated this. I'm used to not getting quite the same experience with things like this, but they really tried to make sure I could get a similar experience to everyone else. Overall, the issues were minor to me, and the staff really went...