Discover the best Salsa Clubs in London.

Hi folks. Salsa clubs in London proliferate. New ones are opening by the minute. You cannot go anywhere, even a normal club, without having Salsa being mentioned.

To other mere mortals you hear 'Let's try out some of these clubs in London this week and do some exotic, sultry, sexy dancing', while to us this is just a way of life which we die hards frequent every week, where we can practice our dance steps and moves.

Luckily for us in London there are many clubs to choose from, perhaps too many (if there is such a thing as too many clubs) and we are spoilt for choice, thank goodness.

Anyway what I will do is to introduce you to those which I consider to be the best to go to, and will also give you a listing of as many of the other clubs as possible. So here goes.

i. - SOS.

The Club Night

Of the Salsa Clubs in London, this one run by Leon Rose, Tamambo and the SOS team at the Venue is Mary Ward House, 5 Tavistock Place, London WC1 is unique. The day is Sunday.

There are classes from 6:30pm - 8pm and are for all levels and they are taught "On the 1". The club starts immediately afterwards until 11:00 pm.

There is always a good atmosphere and enthusiastic crowd and the dancers are very good, some of the best in the country.

Dancing is done "On the 1" and "On the 2" and you will see some flashy footwork. If you are now starting dancing lessons you may be intimidated. Don't be.

One of the best places to find good dancers

Remember these are some of the best dancers who have been dancing for years, so just dance with someone who is your own level.

However this is one of the best places to go if you want to improve very quickly (depending of course on how often you dance) and if you are taking lessons on 2 then there many people who you can dance with. I consider this to be one of the best Salsa clubs in London in this respect.

Prices: £7 Class and Club £6 Club only

For up to date information please check the website: Leon Rose Clubs

The Classes

Bar Salsa at 96 Charing Cross Road W1, has Salsa literally every night but the best club night is on a Monday and is run by Super Mario and Susan Montero and is one of the busiest Salsa Clubs in London.

There are classes from 7:00pm - 9:00pm sometimes finishing a bit later and are forall levels.The classes are taught "On the 1" and the club which is free before 9:00pmstarts immediately afterwards until 2:00am.

The Club

The atmosphere at the club is fantastic. Since Super Mario and Susana took it over about a year ago it has become the place to go on a Monday night.

It's like being at a Club on a Caribbean holiday but in London.

There are dancers of all levels who enjoy their dancing and do so with much enthusiasm. People dance there mainly "On the 1" but there are many who dance "on the 2".

It is my favourite place to go at the moment and I make sure I go every week as I consider this to be one of the best Salsa Clubs in London.

They play lots of Cuban and New York Mambo "On 2" Salsa music with a splattering of Reggaeton, Merengue and the new dance that has hit the UK, Bacahta.

If you like a place that buzzes, friendly people and fantastic atmosphere you won't regret it. Another one of my 'best Salsa clubs in London'.

For up to date information please check the website: Mario's Clubs

iii.- MamboCity.

Another Salsa Club in London is the MamboCity Club nights run by Robert and Jean White the Salsa Congress Promoters and events organisers. They have club nights at various locations and they seem to be acquiring various upscale venues on a regular basis. The venues where they have club nights are:

• The Prodigal in Wood Street, London,EC2 on a Saturday. Located in a lovely wine barbut with enough space to dance, the night starts off at 8.30 pm with a Salsa class anda Bachata class (by Inaki Fernandez) run simultaneously and then the Salsa club starts immediately after until 3:00 am. This club is every 3 - 4 weeks.

• Ealing Town Hall, London W5 every Friday.There is a class from 8:30 pm and every night there is always a special guest either an instructor, performer or DJ, and birthday celebration by horoscope every month. After the class the club goes on until 1:00 am.

  There are 3 dance areas and lots of room to dance. They sometimes have the Christmas party and Valentines day party there when the place gets packed and I always find that the atmosphere is really great then.

• Bootsy Brogan, Wembley HA0 every Thursday. There are classes at 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm and after the class the club runs until 11:30 pm.

• The Gallery in Hendon, London NW4. This is MamboCity's latest venue and there are club nights every Thursday until 11:30 pm and the first Sunday in every month until midnight.

  The Gallery is an upscale location with a lavishly decorated nightclub, a long bar which seats 120 people and a restaurant. I was there on the opening night in the first week in January 2006 and there was a good turnout with a performance by Cuban Salsa world champions Janet and Raphael.

Robert and Jean occasionally organise clubs nights at various locations around London and the best way to keep up to date is to go to their web site: MamboCity and sign up for their newsletter.

MamboCity - Another one of the good Salsa Clubs in London.

Salsa Fusion, which is now based in 229 Great Portland Street, London, is one Saturday club night which I highly recommend. This is one of the more established Salsa Clubs in London.

Formerly based at the 'Notre Dame Hall' in Leicester Square, until about 4 years ago when the venue was taken over for another unconnected event, it was 'The Place' to go on a Saturday night (every 2 weeks) with the queue sometimes stretching around the block and you had to queue up from about 8:30 pm to get in by 10:00 pm (doors opened at 9:00 pm), otherwise you had to queue up until 12:00 pm to get in when the early birds left as it would be full up by 10:00 pm. However when it moved to it's present location it lost a lot of its clientele (including myself) as the 'Notre Dame Hall' had its own special atmosphere which the present venue did not have yet.

However just about 6 weeks (end of Feb 2006), I went one Saturday and noticed a certain vibrancy about the place. I went back the following fortnight and it was the same. The place seemed to have a constant buzz about it just like the old days. I had a word with Stephanie who has been running Salsa Fusion since 1991 and she said people have just starting to come back again through sheer word of mouth. Last week on 8th April 2006, Salsa Fusion celebrated its 15th Anniversary.

There are two rooms. The Fusion Room where they play Timba, Reggaeton, Merengue, Latin Groove and a bit of Salsa, and the main Salsa room. There is normally a Free Salsa Lesson in the Fusion room at 9:15 pm by different teachers, while the dancing starts in the main Salsa room and then there is dancing until 2:00 am in the early hours of Sunday. There is a large wooden dance floor and the rooms are fully air conditioned. On some weeks there is a band.

Salsa Fusion has recovered its magic. There is a tremendous atmosphere, 4 fortnights on the trot tells its own story, and this is one Saturday night Salsa Club in London that I highly recommend.

For up to date information please check the web site: Salsa Fusion

Information for other Salsa Clubs in London including links to the relevant sites will be given as we develop this site. Please bear with us as we gather the relevant information.