Stoke Newington's The Drop bar taken over by Field Day / Shacklewell Arms / Lock Tavern holding comp

586 Ltd, the company behind London music festival Field Day and excellent venues The Lock Tavern and The Shacklewell Arms have added The Three Crowns and its basement The Drop on Stoke Newington Church Street, north-east London to their portfolio.

Local legend has it that the basement space was used by the Kray Twins to carry out their most gruesome crimes, but The Drop, to be re-named The Waiting Room in February, is one of Stoke Newington / Dalston’s nicest basement haunts. A non-leaky ceiling and a bar made of something sturdier than chipboard would be enough to see the space walk that prize, but it really is a gem, if an underused one. We expect the booking policy – handled by Casper C of Field Day, BleeD and Bloggers Delight, who has made The Shacklewell Arms pretty much the best place for good new music in London – to be brought a little sharper in coming months.