London bars refreshed with TW AUDiO
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Famous as the home of early gigs by the likes of Adele, Amy Winehouse and Franz Ferdinand amongst others, The Lock Tavern is counted among the British capital’s best loved grassroots music venues. Meanwhile, sitting in the heart of the East End market district of Spitalfields, The Gun is a local institution that first opened its doors in 1929. Both venues are now enjoying a renaissance courtesy of London-based sound installation specialist Flipside, and sound reinforcement systems by TW AUDiO.
“The Lock Tavern is a great venue - one of my favourites out of the whole group,” says East London Pub Co. co-founder, Bradley Lomas. “It’s a venue with such rich heritage and history and of course it’s been very big on the music scene. In projects like this the quality of the sound system can often be overlooked but we wanted to create a space that would be great for up and coming artists and bands - for people to be able to use that space better and to enjoy having a really high-quality sound system.”
Working closely with TW AUDiO UK, Flipside delivered on all expectations. “We dedicate ourselves to working in small to medium sized installs,” explains co-founder James Cooper. “Our focus is on providing excellent service to a customer base which is not necessarily looked after so well by the more traditional industry. The projects and customers who fall through the gaps - they’re our people, and it means we can be entirely honest and deliver the technology that we know is ideal for each project.”
All live music at The Lock Tavern takes place upstairs in an intimate space now served by four compact but powerful M8i enclosures. “We needed something that would offer great performance, that was essential,” says Cooper. “The M8i is a phenomenal box for what it can do in a pretty small format.” Low-end extension is delivered by a single B14i subwoofer - enough to cope with the most demanding of gigs or dance nights. “The B14i is fantastic,” says Cooper. “It’s built in under the stage and it really fills the room.”
The Gun plays host to a diverse mix of people, from tourists to traders and city professionals to locals enjoying the continuous regeneration of East London. “Music is really important in the venue, with different kinds of music at various different times of day,” says Lomas.
The venue has been entirely transformed as part of a £2.2m refurbishment, including the TW AUDiO system suspended behind the bar. “For The Gun, we upscaled from M8is to two T20is, which are absolutely rocking the venue,” says Cooper. “Plus we have two B14i subs which fit nicely under a single sofa! One B14i sounds huge, but if you put two together it sounds even bigger. The system is amazing in that space.”
(Jim Evans)
