Roxy Bar & Screen London

Roxy interior shot

LONDON BRIDGE

ROXY BAR & SCREEN

VENUES, DECEMBER 2006, COMMENTS

If you’re into films and you know bars, what’s the obvious thing to do? For most of us, that adds up to a few beers and a film on a Thursday night. But for Phil Wood (pictured) and Jonathan Breeze, it meant developing a concept, finding space and financial backing, and opening their own bar, restaurant and screen set up in London Bridge.

As well as being more ambitious than your average film buffs, John and Phil have demonstrated an impressive ability to create a definitively exciting and coherent licensed operation - not bad going, particularly since this venture is their first.

Roxy, situated on Borough High Street, is worthy of note for three reasons. Firstly for the strength of its concept: making it a stylish and modern flagship for a new wave of alternative screening venues springing up across London. Secondly, for the material it showcases, which includes some of the most exciting independent cinema and VJ sets currently being produced in the UK. And thirdly, for its technology: instead of opting for a high end home cinema solution, as less ambitious operators might have done, the venue features top of the range, professional surround sound and projection equipment. For quality in design, drinks, entertainment and technology, this informal and engaging venue comfortably ticks every box.

The Roxy that’s been settling into the South London scene since its opening in August first began to take shape in 2005 when, after a long search, Phil and John walked past a site they’d previously clocked as an ideal location for their concept - and noticed a newly posted estate agents’ sign on display. “We were looking for areas where there was a local residential and working population with strong transport links,” says Phil. “This site was perfect for us.”

After months of hard graft, the formerly empty shell has been entirely transformed. It’s now glass fronted, with a view through from the street onto inviting, solid wooden tables laid out for dining. The front half of the space is a dedicated bar/restaurant, with a large bar on the right extending for several metres into the building, towards the end of which the ceiling height lowers and the vibe becomes more intimate. Dark red velvet curtains begin to dominate, signalling that you’re entering the cinema side of the operation. At the back, the room opens out into a 200 capacity square shape in which a jumble of eBay-bought tables and chairs are scattered in front of an off set 4m screen. A powerful, high contrast Digital Projections Mercury HD 3 Chip DLP Projector hangs overhead and high spec speakers, acoustically isolated from the structure of the building, are configured discretely around room’s periphery. Roxy’s owners have invested in technology and saved money elsewhere, but nowhere have their savings compromised the quality or overall feel of the concept - in fact, the opposite is true. With its informal set up, lived-in furniture and dark red and wood palate, the cabaret influence here is obvious. Diffused lighting from multiple table lamps, again second hand, adds a warm finishing touch.

With a background in film production, it was Phil’s experience that had originally provided the catalyst for the project. After studying film at university, he moved to London to work in the industry at a time when digital technologies were starting to significantly influence the film-making process. He produced a few films in digital, experiencing first hand the frustration of the small filmmaker who struggles to secure distribution for his work. “Distribution is still very much controlled by the big companies and you need a big budget to get through that,” he says. At the same time, he recognised that it would be great to be in a position to showcase some of the overlooked material being produced by a thriving grass roots film-making scene. The only problem with this objective was that, on the whole, cinemas don’t make for successful businesses. “We knew we couldn’t rely on film to make money, so that’s how the idea came along for this,” he says. “We realised early on that we’d have a bar/restaurant as our business and the screen/cinema as our USP.” With experience in bar, restaurant and club operation on Phil and John’s collective CVs, the step made practical as well as fiscal sense.

For help in getting the cinematic experience right, Roxy’s owners turned to specialist installers and AV consultants Kaurus, a company that more commonly works in post-production TV than installation and whose highly technical, professional approach exceeded even the operators’ high ambitions. Phil and John knew from the outset that they wanted Roxy to be better than any bar or gallery in London, at the same time offering an attractive set up for world class VJs. “So many pubs have got digital projectors and they’re rubbish. But at the top end, digital is virtually indistinguishable from film - the Odeon in Leicester Square and Brixton’s Ritzy have got digital projectors and the quality is excellent. From the start, we allocated a big chunk to appropriate AV equipment. If we were gong to make it a unique selling point we needed to get it right.” With relatively little technical expertise, they entrusted the specification process entirely to Kaurus, who after looking at a number of options suggested that a Yamaha Professional, multi-zone configurable audio system comprising a DME mixing engine, XP5000 amplifiers, an ICP1 remote control system and the company’s recently launched installation series speakers - as well as, on the visuals side, the powerful, high contrast projector and the Harkness Hall acoustically transmissive floating screen - would be appropriate. Roxy’s owners agreed.

Converting a relatively narrow and modest space with challenging acoustics into a venue capable of delivering an exciting and dramatic 7.1 audio / visual experience was no simple task. To overcome the acoustic issues, Kaurus devised an ingenious AV package. At the heart of the system, the remotely controlled Yamaha DME24 digital mixing engine (with MY-8ADDA96 card) provides all input, output and control EQ and allows the sound to be shaped and controlled with great flexibility across, and independently within, the three customer areas.

Five XP5000 power amplifiers drive a total of nine installation series speakers. The system is fed via a Marantz DVD player that also functions as a CD player, with a hard disc system feeding audio into an AV mixer that also provides inputs for the regular VJ nights.

What this means in practice is that the venue can be run as a whole or split down into three zones (entrance, bar, cinema), each fed by any of the audio sources, be that DVD stereo, DVD 5.1, CD or MP3, at any one time. Through the small, soft key display unit - the DME24’s user interface - staff can select exactly what they need with minimal fuss. They thus have the flexibility to run full on sound in the cinema with lower levels at the bar and entrance; 5.1 surround at the cinema and a stereo down-mix from the 5.1 in the bar entrance; or a curtained off screening with 5.1 with a separate music source at the bar/entrance. Of this last option, says Phil, “We turn the lights down, draw the curtain, and you’ve pretty much got a perfect cinema where you can have a drink or smoke or dinner if you want as well.”

Roxy’s complete set up is working well through seven nights of trading and after a launch deliberately devoid of hype customers are getting familiar with the offer: open from 12pm-12am, with feature films from Sunday to Tuesday, background visuals Thursday and Friday and flagship screening events on Wednesday and Saturday nights.

At the weekend, the club plays host to England’s only weekly VJ showcase with the world’s top VJs and AV acts (Anyone, the Light Surgeons) coming down to the venue to play intimate sets. Along with the VJ sessions, Phil describes Wednesday’s Roxy Presents... as “the main thing I was interested in doing.” A series showcasing quirky, off kilter work that rotates around a monthly schedule, it gives friends, young directors, DJs and creatives the chance to connect in a lively social setting - with not a scrap of pretension in the place.

This accessibility is something that Roxy’s owners are definite about. “We’ve worked in a lot of trendy cocktail bars in London and we really didn’t want any of that style of pretension here,” Phil says. “We want Roxy to be a local bar where regulars will feel comfortable putting their feet on the furniture,” What’s good about Roxy’s set up, he continues, “is that unlike places like the Rex or Soho house where they’ve got a separate screening room, here the screen is part of the bar. So as well as the people who come here for the screenings, we get people coming in for a drink or some food who’ll end up watching a bit. They might like it or hate it, it might engage them or might not. I hate this perception that there’s a right and a wrong way to consume film. The key, I think, is that the film is about what you make of it.”

This encouragement of freeflow debate is representative of the kind of democratic, comfortable atmosphere that’s been successfully created at Roxy. The team has taken its knowledge of film, its interest in emerging visual arts, a commitment to good food and drink (manifest in things like the regularly updated selection of beers from Borough Market’s Utobeer) and a strong service ethic, but wrapped it all up in a very unique vibe. In doing this, and in achieving a triumph of both style and content, they’ve created a very attractive new option for a night out.

Words: Alex Eyre

Images: Jim Ellam

From: December 2006 Issue

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