Ah that special spot on 23 Pelham Street. From countless life-affirming gigs and hazy club nights inside the venue, to summer sessions outside in the quaint back alley of Cobden Chambers, The Bodega has been one of our city’s chief memory makers over the last quarter century.
Now to celebrate the iconic venue’s 25th anniversary this month, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane with the bands, promoters and staff that have helped this space to endure as a cornerstone of our city’s vibrant music scene and nightlife, by reliving some of their favourite Bodega moments.
Ben (DHP Promoter)
“In a previous life, I was in a band named after an actor who only did extras work. We were lucky enough to support Future Of The Left at Bodega. It’s the only gig I’ve ever seen where the bass player climbed off the stage along the bar, served himself a pint, all whilst still playing note perfect - long live the diamond of Pelham Street!”
Kasper (Divorce / Do Nothing / Ex-Bodega Staff)
“My favourite memory is from a staff party - we played a huge game of hide and seek and it took so long to find everyone! We thought we’d finished it after about an hour but after another hour, someone else appeared from underneath the seating in the main bar having fallen asleep in there! They didn’t even really get to celebrate because we’d already crowned a winner – oops!”
Laura (Assistant Duty Manager)
“The Wytches’ Halloween show two years ago was literally amazing - everyone was dressed up and it was so spooky and angry. One of the best gigs I‘ve ever seen here! There’s too many to pick from over the years but some of my favourite artists that have played here and totally blown me away were Wand and The Murlocs - two that I will remember for the rest of my life!”
Georgie (Girlband! / Ex-Bodega Staff)
“I think the Girlband! headline show was pretty special, but we also did a secret set at Dot To Dot at 3am, which was mad, chaotic and wonderful. Then many personal memories with friends too, we called Bodega home because we spent more time there than our own house! Of course, working behind the bar was always vibes - it’s just the best place!”
Will (Duty Manager / Quiz Host)
“Dot To Dot 2021 - I was on the upstairs bar all day long and it was super busy. It was quite intense and there had been a couple of problems…then Drug Store Romeos came on stage with Vibrate and I instantly felt at ease, like I was in a dream. Later that night, Yard Act played to a completely rammed room with energy I'd never seen from a band. In many ways, it was one of the best live shows I've ever seen.”
Mik (Bar Staff)
“I always remember my early days of The Bodega, being in the original smokers, packed like sardines. Chatting nonsense to the Priest at Pop Confessional and dancing my heart away to club classics on a Saturday. But I will always cherish the moments of meeting people that I now call my friends and seeing bands and artists like Greentea Peng, Theon Cross, Do Nothing and Divorce, the latter of which have recently smashed four sold out nights here. The Bodega has always been home to the homegrown and the hub of togetherness and community - it just makes this city a better place to live.”
Anwyn (DHP Marketing)
“My earliest memories of The Bodega are from 2010 when I was in my first year at NTU. As part of the Music Society, we always chose Electric Banana over Ocean Wednesdays as our midweek social. Soon after that, I was regularly attending and playing at the acoustic night run by Under The Tree in the downstairs bar, but my first gig experience in the actual venue (being a poor student who prioritised Bodega Lager money!) wasn’t until 2012 when I saw Kyla La Grange.
However, one of my most memorable gig experiences was seeing Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes play to a small crowd upstairs in June 2015 - the drummer ended up in the middle of the floor for most of the show, as well as being held up with his kit above the crowd for some of it. The show was the same level of chaos even back then as has been typical of Rattlesnakes shows ever since!
Over the years, I’ve seen some of my favourite artists play some of my favourite shows at The Bodega, on top of the bar being our go to spot for post-work drinks, end of nights after every Dot To Dot and Beat The Streets festival, and first-choice destination for all major footie tournaments since the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Long live The Bodega x”
Steve (General Manager)
“Few of my favourite gigs that I worked at were Doves, Stereo MC’s and Horace Andy.”
Fin (Promotions Assistant)
“Having worked at Bodega for a couple of years already, I was well versed on what a good show looked like upstairs, but Geese's show blew everything else out of the water. I was unfamiliar with their music at that point but the energy in the room and the fact that the singer looked almost identical to one of my good friends (who was jumping around in the audience) shaped it up to be the perfect introduction.”
Ella (Shift Supervisor)
“My favourite memory would be going on our staff trip to Notts County Women FC! Was so lovely being able to watch the football team we sponsor and wear our venue logo on their kit. Felt very collaborative and it was lovely being able to have a drink and chat with the team afterwards.”
Sia (Office Manager)
“The really random rider requests from bands. From a tin of pilchards, towels made into the shape of snakes, jelly moulding, winning lottery tickets…but my favourite was being asked to get 'a very small man immersed in cottage cheese.’”
Anton (DHP Director of Live)
“So many shows over so many years – the legendary ones like The Strokes and The White Stripes, but also the ones that aren’t household names but were still incredible, Song of Zarathustra and The Blood Arm for example. New bands still on the rise like The Meffs & Sprints, and the pure WTF ones such as Lewis Capaldi in the Bodega bar at Dot to Dot!
But I think I’ll go back to 11th April 2000, and the magnificent …and you will know us by the Trail of Dead’s first tour here and my first chance to experience the beautiful chaos of their live show. Fell in love and became friends with them instantly, with that night leading to many adventures. So that’s the one!”
Joe (DHP Promoter)
“We had Ezra Collective play in 2017 - even then you could tell they were something special. It wasn’t even sold-out, but the room felt amazing. Yazmin Lacey on support too! Think you’d need a much bigger venue if you put that line-up on now.”
Jacob (Assistant Duty Manager)
“My first proper gig was at The Bodega; I think this had a real effect on my obsession with live music. It was a three-piece punk band and I was introduced to stage dives, crowd surfing, mosh pits… needless to say I was hooked! Must've been around fifteen years ago.”
Amelia Hope (Indie Wednesdays DJ)
“Best gigs I’ve been to at Bodega would be Sea Girls in 2021 and Wunderhorse last year! I’ve got too many good memories to pick from but DJing my first Indie Wednesdays after going to so many as a student was very special - the energy of Bodega crowds are the best in the city! I’ve met some of my favourite people ever at Bodega, so wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Sancho Panza (Artist)
“I have met so many of my best friends at The Bodega, with Sancho Panza and Wizards Can't Be Lawyers both being formed in the smoking area! My favourite gig we played was the first one back after the pandemic, 29th August 2021. It was so good to party with everyone after so long. My favourite gig I've seen at The Bodega would be The Wytches Halloween 2022 - those guys were sublime!”
Sam (Promotions Manager)
“Feel so lucky to have seen some amazing gigs and nights in these four walls over the years! It’s so cool being able to see artists go from 220 people to arenas within a few years (like Sam Fender and Easy Life), but my personal highlights were gigs from Palace, Julia Jacklin, The Big Moon, Spring King and Boy Azooga (and buying 20 Greggs sausage rolls for IDLES!). There’s nowhere else like The Bodega!”
Sonia (Resident Bar DJ)
“It was not your “normal” gig at the Bodega, I think then known as The Social. I went to see (or more accurately experience) a talk by the legendary Bill Drummond of The KLF. He had brought in a massive oil painting, a real masterpiece of work he had said! But instead of discussing it, he had decided to cut it up into sections, each of which auctioned off to those in the audience at The Social. With the objective, from what I recall, being that it shouldn’t be worth anything anymore, however it was now a shared collective prize!
I wish I had bought a piece of this puzzle for sure, but to experience this at the now Bodega is priceless as it will always stay in my memory!”
Jess (Bar Supervisor)
One of my favourite memories at Bodega was going to Backyard Festival which was put on by my friend (and fellow Bodega Bar Supervisor) Louis! It was so fun seeing some of my friends’ bands play throughout the day, and it was also where me and my girlfriend first met!”
Guy (Head Engineer)
“Too many to mention but highlights include Coldplay (supporting Terris), The White Stripes, The Strokes, Scissor Sisters and finally, Conor from Bright Eyes falling off his chair mid-gig!”
Tom (Venues Promo)
“Two of my favourite memories recently are seeing The Nightingales supported by Ted Chippington in 2022 and Do Nothing as secret headliners for Dot to Dot in 2021. I'm glad we can still proudly host gigs by influential older artists and great new bands (and I'm happy Chris from Do Nothing finally got to crowd-surf here!).”
Theo (Bar Supervisor)
“My favourite Bodega memory is coming in to work a gig for a band I didn’t know, and finding out the opener was World of Pleasure - one of my favourite bands - on their first UK tour.”
Maddy (Production Manager)
“I was in my second year at Uni here when me and my best pal, Alex Blake, decided to start a band: Cherry Hex & The Dream Church (RIP). We weren’t going to do any live shows, just remain a bedroom band in the safe enclosure of our house. But then we’d been asked by none other than The Bodega to support BORNS at his sold-out show, so we thought we had better give it a go - it was The Bodega after all and we loved it! The show was great, the crowd were amazing and after that, we got the itch. We were back the month after supporting Oscar and then a month later again supporting Let’s Eat Grandma! I 100% wouldn’t be singing in my new band Midnight Rodeo now, nor would I have worked for the good ship for the past 7 years, if it weren’t for that night!”
Karl Blakesley (LeftLion Magazine)
“I’ve had some incredible memories made at The Bodega over the years. From messy Pop Confessional club nights, winning Shrek & The Sopranos themed quizzes, to the most bizarre Album Launch Party for Working Men’s Club at the height of lockdown, to even watching the Lionesses’ Euros triumph in the downstairs bar.
However, in terms of a favourite, I have to go back to my very first Dot to Dot Festival in 2015. From watching The Amazons play to a near empty room (except for fellow Reading-based outfit Sundara Karma who were there to support them) at 2pm, to then watching two of my hardcore favourites in Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Hotelier at 2am the following day, The Bodega granted me - and to this day continues to grant - a near-private audience with some of my favourite bands.”
Rob Green (Artist)
“The Bodega has such a special place in my heart! My first ever gig was there in December 2011, opening with Lazy Habits. A year later in December 2012, I did my first ever ticketed headline gig to launch my EP, Learn To Fly - which sold out! That packed venue and the unbelievable crowd really lit the fire of my career and my music. The closeness with the audience in Bodega, the low stage and wicked sound always makes for an unforgettable show - so much so that ten years later in 2022, I knew that Bodega was the right place to mark ten years since my first ticketed headline and my first headline after two years of lockdown.
That night in Feb 2022 was the night of storm Eunice, and there was a lot of speculation that nobody would turn up - after all it was the biggest storm in over a decade. But people came from all over that night and still packed out the Bodega. My favourite moment was us all singing ‘Life Goes On’ - a track I released in lockdown about accepting life and moving forward positively - jumping, chanting the hook and shaking the room. For me it marked a real moment of hope, that live music could make a comeback after the devastating few years for the industry.
That venue stands as a rare grassroots opportunity for artists to build, dream big and establish a fan base - long live Bodega!”
The Bodega are celebrating 25 years all month long, including a very special sold out show with Sleaford Mods on 30 November 2024.
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