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Picture the scene: it\u2019s 1am, you\u2019ve just finished a bar shift and you walk into The Crobar on Soho<\/a>\u2019s Manette Street. The bar is five-people deep, Black Sabbath are pumping out of the jukebox, and cans of Red Stripe are being grabbed out of a bin. \u201cAh, these are my people,\u201d Simo Simpson says, sighing at the memory of a similar scene at his favourite post-work haunt.<\/p>\n Sadly, The Crobar\u2019s closure (along with other iconic London dive bars<\/a>) marked a sign of the times for late-night hangouts which were left behind by hiked up rent, lack of government support and impossible margins. It marked a huge blow for the people who had become part of a hallowed community of likeminded people there over its near-20 years of operation. <\/p>\n But London has gained a new bar which hopes to go some way to having a similar sort of communal legacy. All My Gods on Bethnal Green\u2019s Paradise Row is the latest lovechild of the lads behind Dram: Simo Simpson, Chris Tanner and Jack Wallis. <\/p>\n All My Gods<\/p>\n The boys are no strangers to opening and running popular bars (seee Dram and Tanner\u2019s Cav)<\/a>. This time, however, they have a secret weapon in the form of Roxy Velvet (\u201cwe call her the \u2018Queen of Vibes\u2019\u201d), the former owner of the all-female tattoo parlour Velvet Underground. She has a background in burlesque and cabaret and an adoration of motorcycles (and thigh-high white leather boots).<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think I\u2019d even closed the doors [to Velvet Underground] when I\u2019d decided I would be dedicating my time to painting and being a good girl,\u201d she says of her better laid plans. \u201cAnd then these boys rang me up and asked, \u2018Do you wanna open a dive bar?\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Yeah!\u2019\u201d Now, she\u2019s a co-founder of one.<\/p>\n Velvet\u2019s involvement has been crucial in building All My Gods. \u201cIf me, Chris and Jack had opened this just us, it would be a disservice to what we\u2019re trying to achieve,\u201d says Simpson, who adds that Velvet was his first call when the wheels began to kick into motion. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause of the cultures we wanted to tap into, we wanted to make sure that we had somebody who could help us,\u201d continues Tanner, touching on the sort of local communities \u2014 from tattooists to bikers \u2014 the bar hopes to attract. \u201cAnd that’s when the conversation about Roxy came about.\u201d<\/p>\n When Velvet opened her tattoo parlour in 2016, it was as much a statement about macho culture in tattooing as it was a place to leave arrogance at the door \u2014 all things she has instilled in All My Gods. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to have that place that brings in people from all different kinds of life that\u2019s more natural, casual, a fun place to go and somewhere you can go on your own too,\u201d she says. \u201cIt has a lot of female energy too, which is important \u2014 girls like drinking<\/a> and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll and motorbikes and getting messy as well.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a313 glasses of fine champagne<\/strong><\/p>\n All My Gods<\/p>\n When it comes to its drinking scene, London has had what feels like a sanitisation in recent years, with old fashioned, late-night boozing being replaced with quiet, esoteric early nights. But All My Gods, alongside neighbours Rasputins<\/a>, Blondies<\/a> and Helgi\u2019s, feels like the perfect antidote. <\/p>\n \u201cDrinking has become an art,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cI\u2019m not throwing shade; there is a place for that in London. But I think we\u2019re missing the point of what drinking culture is in this country. My favourite concept ever is your local pub \u2014 how do we do derivatives of that?\u201d <\/p>\n Tanner agrees: \u201cThere is a craving for these irreverent, naughty spots.\u201d<\/p>\n That said, Tanner is cautious of calling All My Gods a dive bar \u2014 after all, dive bars can\u2019t really be orchestrated as such. \u201cWhat makes a dive bar a dive bar is 34 years of mismanagement and unplumbed toilets,\u201d he says, eliciting laughs from his colleagues. \u201cI\u2019m reluctant to tap too much into the idea of a dive bar: it\u2019s more of a rock bar, an ode to that culture, a neighbourhood spot. Teenage me would be over the moon to be operating it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"All](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/All-My-Gods.jpeg\")
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