Printworks London — Local services in London

Update 28 Feb 2022 After my feedback and the reply below, sadly nothing has changed after recently returning with a friend. Having to 'optimise storage' due to 'being a large venue' does not make sense - it would if it was a small venue. I have worked in hospitality before at music festivals, film festivals and in bars and hotels and this is nonsense. Printworks could easily have a cloakroom or much cheaper lockers if they wanted. Sadly the focus seems to be more on making as much money from customers as possible despite already paying circa £40 for a ticket. During summer it is not so bad but during winter, and without the night-tube running, you need a coat. My friend and I reluctantly opted to get a £7 locker only to be told they were not available so we had to take a £10 one - costing us £5 each just to store our coat.

Nov 2021

Firstly, the actual venue is amazing. Great sound, space, lots of bars and well signposted from Canada Water station.

As per any venue, it's the staff and prices that can occasionally let it down.

Customer service relating to tickets, FAQS etc is poor - no-one responds to queries online via email/social media, and if they do it's very brief and doesn't actually answer your question properly.

When you go in, no staff are consistent. Some are strict, some aren't. A group of guys outside didn't even look at our Covid passes on your phone.

Yet, when we got to security, I had to give up my chewing gum as it 'wasn't allowed' but the guys I gave some to were allowed to keep theirs and take it in. One even had a metal fork (no idea why but it was hilarious) and was allowed to keep it and take it in!

Lockers are an EXTORTIONATE £7 for small or £10 for large, on top of a £10 deposit! This is ridiculous, especially in winter. People obviously are wearing coats there or have bags as it's freezing, but inside the venue it's hot, so they need to take their clothes off and put them somewhere. Having a locker helps; or you have to freeze outside or dehydrate inside. This is quite shameful of management.

Thankfully, inside they do have free tap water from a couple of tanks at the bar which is sensible and forward-thinking. Otherwise, bottles of water are a very expensive £3.50. Pints of beer are a reasonable (for a London venue) £6.50 and halves are £3.50. Yet, a 300ml can is £5.50 which doesn't make much sense. Staff at the outside bars seem to be very miserable compared to friendlier staff inside.

If Printworks just sorted a couple of common sense things out it...

Very impressive venue apart for the sound was a bit of a letdown.

Venue: 9/10 Lighting: 10/10 Sound: 7/10 Security: 9/10 Food: 2/10 Drinks: 9/10

Venue is obviously a unique setting. It's been pulled of extremely well and it's impressive for that reason alone. Lighting is mindbending. That said I always like to see change and upgrades so keep at it!

Sound was disappointing. There were some sweet spots down the center of the to further towards the front, but your usually getting bias from one channel over the other. Constant crowd chattering as well which ruined it a bit but can't pin that on the venue. The speakers them selves were top, I just wish they were suspended from the walkway or Village Underground style for better coverage.

Security was everywhere all of the time and they were actually a real friendly bunch of people. Not sure what's going on here. Doesn't seem quite right for a UK venue/event. Amazing.

Food looked sh**e. Couldn't actually buy any as the queue would have made us miss half the music! Wish there was more options, more capacity and more space for eating. Things could be done here!

Drinks. I mean seriously impressive again. Top quality drinks for your favourite brands. Peroni as the default pint? Please! Cocktails were great. Prices were high but lower than I expected so I cant really complain here either. Plenty of bar space with a max 2/3 minute wait for service for cracking staff.

Sort the sound out and it would be a 5* and I would definitely be going back whenever I can!

Worth noting half my friends didn't get any signal inside which was an issue. Vodafone worked fine. Temperature was...

A legendary venue which you should have visited at least once in your life, but a few minus points in the organisation and things to watch out for! It’s easy to find, the location is huge, at the bars and food trucks it’s cold, so take a jacket with you. There are lockers for 7/10£. The information on the web page is wrong about that you might have to show your ID if you look under 25, when you get there there’s a “no ID no entry policy “. You’d have to wait in a queue to enter. The security check guys are slow and the rules are really stupid, so take as less as possible with you. My tiny hand sanitizer and hand creme were taken away. Apparently you can kill someone with 10ml hand sanitizer. Except the security check guys the security was friendly. Great DJs, great lights, but I was a bit disappointed about the sound system. It doesn’t sound clear. On first floor it’s a bit better, on the second even worse. It’s either the positioning or the quality of the sound system. For example, when someone is taking in the microphone you don’t understand anything. It’s hard to fill such a big room with good quality sound, but somehow they manage it at Ibiza. The atmosphere is great. There are two stages, the main one is much better. Drink prices start for about 7£ for a pint of beer, the bar staff as slow as the security check, but there are loads of bars, so just go further. I would...