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New venue opens on Barfly site in Camden following a tough summer for live music in London

Hospitality and nightlife collective The Columbo Group has opened its latest venue on the site of renowned indie venue The Barfly.

The Camden Assembly, which opens today (Thursday), will offer nightly live music which the owners say will showcase a mix of emerging and established talent with an ‘unpretentious’ atmosphere.

The 400-capacity site, which is located on Chalk Farm Road in the heart of Camden, is the second live music venue that Columbo have opened in Camden this year following the reopening of The Jazz Cafe in May.

Speaking to the Evening Standard back in August, Camden Assembly’s head of music, Andy Peyton, said: “We want this venue not to be a monument to the glory days of indie, or the glory days of Camden, or the glory days of The Barfly.

“Instead we hope it will be a forward-thinking reflection of the eclectic tastes young people have today, something Camden and London can be proud of.”

Dalston burger brand Lucky Chip will be serving up food from the Assembly’s kitchen, adding to its independent outlet in Dalston and its residence at the Old Queen’s Head pub, which is another Columbo Group venue in Islington.

Founded in 2006 by Steve Ball and Riz Shaikh, the Columbo Group began with the Old Queen’s Head and now boasts ten hospitality venues across the city, including The Nest in Dalston and three Blues Kitchen outlets in Camden, Shoreditch and Brixton.

The opening of Camden Assembly comes following a difficult summer for London’s live music venues after the closure of both Fabric and Shapes over the summer raised fears that overzealous policing and housing planners were choking the life out of the capital’s world-renowned nightlife.

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