The new London bar that’s an antidote to all things ‘capitalist, shiny and clean’

Former burlesque dancer and tattoo artist Roxy Velvet has dipped her toe into the world of hospitality, collaborating with the trio behind Soho’s iconic Dram to launch All My Gods, a new rock’n’roll bar in Bethnal Green. Eloise Feilden gets the lowdown.

Opened earlier this month, All My Gods riles against the picture-perfect Insta aesthetics of so many venues.

Velvet criticises the “fast fashion” feel of these bars, which have cropped up in line with the rise of “billionaire culture and AI”; something “capitalist, shiny and clean” which her new venture is very much an antidote to.

Instead, Velvet and co-founders Chris Tanner, Martyn ‘Simo’ Simpson and Jack Wallis have created All My Gods as a love letter to the dive bars of their youth.

In its inception, Tanner says the idea was to create “a cool space to listen to some rock music, play some pool and drink some White Claws” – an easy hangout spot for their mates, and without any frills.

And the four of them have had fun with it. About the name, Chris says: “All of our referencing is very late 90s, early 2000s metal and new metal. The name for us doesn’t really mean anything, it just kind of sounds like a really fucking cool rock band.”

But while the bar’s name has no specific reference, each decision behind its concept and space has been meticulously thought out.

“Every single thing that was done with the design, the furniture, the layout, the menu,” Velvet says, was done to create a “free and easy atmosphere”. All My Gods does not take bookings, and the venue is bar service only. The result? “People talk to each other all the time.”

“What it means is people actually have to come up to the bar, and they have to ask questions, and they have to communicate with other people. They’re not sitting at the table using a QR code, ordering from a menu on their phone, you know?”

The space itself makes all the difference. Velvet says: “I’ve noticed it’s a big, wide open space, so there’s lots of room to move around, and people are going to the vending machines and to the pool table, and everyone’s just chatting to everyone else.”

Tables outside can be pushed together or pulled apart, which is particularly handy when the bikers descend on the bar.

Even the decision to avoid social media has been a thoughtful one. All My Gods does have an Instagram account, but Velvet plans to stick to one single post. “We do repost stories that people post, but social media is a bit of a trap isn’t it – once you get into it, you have to keep it up.”

Instead, she wants to “let people come and find out for themselves” what All My Gods is all about.

The bar is very much a “counter” to the kind of place where you have “loads of influencers posting pictures of themselves”.

Velvet says the concept has been perfectly realised in its first few weeks. “It’s fallen into place exactly as we expected. It’s not a surprise, but it’s a pleasant surprise, when people rock up on a Harley.”

All My Gods will host monthly socials for Dalston’s Bolt Motorcycles and has been booked for an afterparty for a group of London roller skaters who were drawn in by the “fridge full of buzzballs”.

“Those are exactly the kind of crazy cats that we want to open the place up to and have coming to visit us,” Velvet says. She’s also in discussion with a female motorcycle group to bring some “punk girl energy to the place”.

The ultimate goal is to one day achieve dive bar status. Tanner says this isn’t a term you can bestow upon yourself; “It’s a given moniker – it’s a herald that you’re gifted after 30 years of existing in your space. It’s not something you wake up in the morning and go ‘we’re a dive bar’.”

With no social media presence, the four founders of All My Gods have set themselves something of a challenge, but Velvet is confident that the bar will go the distance, one day joining the greats of London dive bar culture. Or, as she puts it, the “slow burn to legendary status”.

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