The Premises

A really good rehearsal studio with different sized rooms-​really clean too! plus the bonus is the little café attached where you eat a good meal and grab a few beers before or after the session. (The best fillet of lamb and lamb shish in the area!) and full of pop icons who are rehearsing there.

Too much bland trustafara-​fare for too much money. The breakfast was not all that and three times what I pay elsewhere. Simply too pretentious (without being campy) for my tastes. Nice people work there but this is a place only a tourist or wannabee who heard about Shoreditch and Hoxton/​All saints-​Spitalfields would write home about. The impression is that it should work more on food quality and less on vibe. From what I’ve heard though the studios ARE all that though. My review refers to the food at the Café.

Small and efficient, just what I needed.

Absolutely top notch eggs benedict here. The waitresses are attentive and pretty, always a winning combination in my book! For the celebrity connoisseur, sift through the legends from Nina Simone to Spiritualized go through the mixing desk, though an appetite-​dampening picture of Jamie Cullum features on the café’s wall of fame. What does Sophie Dahl see in him aside from an expanse of air where her eyes don’t meet his. Sorry bitchiness aside, this is a bonzer butty location.

The premises backs on to music studios so the walls are covered with signed pictures of famous people. If you didn’t know about this little gem you woudl just walk straight past it.
The food is wonderful. The have really unusual dishes which you wouldn’t expect to see in a café, the breakfast are amazing too. So expect to pay a bit extra.
Its very small so you may have trouble getting a sit.

Great Breakfasts — the owner of the café is fantastic. You can sit there for hours too. Rammed every day of the week.

The Premises also has a café/​bistro on the Hackney Rd entrance. It features many photos of the great recording artists that have worked in the studios, and it has a nice intimate atmosphere as well as an outside seating area.
I only got coffees from here but they were well made and the staff were really nice and friendly. The food comprises a meze bar, charcoal grills, fresh fish and vegetarian, which sounds fantastic. I can’t wait to go back and eat here — and maybe even run into the next chart topper.
You can catch the number 28 or 48 buses from Liverpool St or the 55 from Old St.

‘The Premises’ is comprised of two recording studios, a host of rehearsal studios, storage lock-​ups, and a café out front (a business unto it’s own and listed separately in the directories). Putting the recording facilities to one side (we’ve never used them and so can’t really comment) the rehearsal studios are most definitely the key feature of this complex.
Varying in size from ‘small’ rooms easily capable of accommodating a five-​piece band and their sound, to gargantuan (by London standards) studios with dance-​floor and stage areas, these spaces will set you back £12-£14 per hour (inc. VAT), assuming you’ve paid the nominal £10 annual membership fee. This does not however include hire of back-​line, the costs of which add up remarkably quickly. Regulars will generally be hiring a lock-​up for their equipment at a very reasonable monthly charge, but availability at any point in time is far from guaranteed.
Organised into three four-​hour slots each day, evening slots are hard to come by at short notice, most being taken a month or so in advance (honestly, how many bands can get all their members together on a week day afternoon?). But why are people this eager to part with their hard-​earned cash for what is essentially a room without the cranky neighbours? Well, let’s start with the impressive Mackie Active PA Speakers and wedge monitors. Add to that a decent stab at sonic damping and sound-​proofing, a neat and tidy building with air-​conditioning in every studio, a lift (oooh), and helpful staff and you start to see the attraction — the café is just a bonus! Some garage band members may also reel at the lack of damp musk, but if you just can’t practise without it, they do have one room that’ll suit. You might notice the management touting their solar-​powered ‘green studio’ credentials, though I rarely see it generating much more power than is consumed by my bass amp, let alone the whole studio.
For those who like to name-​drop (like myself), this place does see it’s fair share of famous clients. I’ve seen/​heard the likes of The Klaxons, Unkle, James, and even Courtenay Love (ARGH!) rehearse here. Also Cass (former Skunk Anansie bassist) can often be seen in the hallways, though I’ve never asked him what he’s actually doing there; just loitering I suspect.