The Best Karaoke Rooms in London

You wouldn’t look twice at Karaoke EPOC. Hidden in plain sight on Brewer Street in the centre of Soho, this BYOB karaoke bar looks like a run-down launderette from the outside. Stepping inside gives nothing away, either, as you’ll encounter a second-hand Japanese bookstore stocked with manga. But if you work your way to the very back of the store, you’ll find the door to Karaoke EPOC – tucked far enough away from the street that nobody will hear you butcher ‘Crazy in Love’.

Jihwaja, just south of the river, is a place that’s made for a good time. Boasting some of the city’s best Korean food at exceptionally reasonable prices, and with a free-pouring attitude to soju, Jihwaja is a hell of a night out; with multiple karaoke rooms, set up with everything from Motown to K-pop, you could easily find yourself staying here until closing time, or until they run out of bottles of Kirin Ichiban – whichever comes first.

Mama Shelter has been causing a stir in the city’s hotel scene since opening in September 2019 in east London. This party-forward hotel chain, which began life in Paris and has now spread across Europe, has a reputation that precedes it, with its Philippe Starck design, raucous bars and free movies – of all kinds – in its rooms. Guests in the London hotel get an extra bonus: one free hour in the soundproofed karaoke rooms, where you can run through the hits as wild as you want without fear of a noise complaint from next door.

Known more for its addictive pork buns and long, snaking queues, BAO – with its latest restaurant in Borough Market – has entered new territory with the opening of a karaoke room. With a tailor-made platter menu, pitchers of cocktails and buckets of Taiwanese beer, BAO’s sleek modern space might just be the most in-demand karaoke room in the city. Grab as many friends as you can for the karaoke feast of a lifetime – bookings start from six people upwards.

Not so much a karaoke room as a karaoke pub, the Coach and Horses, in Soho, is the place for a proper Cockney knees-up. Complete with a piano and a deck of song sheets, this quaint little watering hole comes alive on a Sunday afternoon, with regulars and newbies alike belting out the classics of yesteryear. Even watching the crowd as the songs start up is a spectacle in itself, but the urge to join in is irresistible – before you know it, you’ll be up on the table, having somehow picked up all the words to the Lambeth Walk.