Club Empire, a new weekly club night priced between £5 and £8, will open at the Empire Tavern on Mare Street in Hackney on 7 November, Mixmag reported on 15 October.
The night will run from 10pm to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. After 10pm the pub will switch into Club Empire with what the operators call a “curtain draw”, turning the restaurant and bar into a late room with low lighting, a disco ball and a custom Blaze by Sonance sound system, Mixmag said.
“Speakeasy-style late-night spot” is how Mixmag described the format. Flagship events will use a “four hours with…” billing, bringing extended DJ sets from “unsung heroes and special guests, some you’ll know, and some you won’t” from London and the rest of the UK. The launch-party line-up had not been announced when Mixmag and Resident Advisor reported the plans on 15 and 16 October.
Operators also plan label takeovers and nights with external promoters from the UK underground scene after the launch, Mixmag said.
The Empire Tavern itself opened on 20 March 2026 at 289 Mare Street, next to the Hackney Empire theatre, on the site of the former Britannia pub. It is a joint venture between Taverns East and the East London Brewing Company. Broadsheet reported at opening that co-owners Jamie Tack and Ronnie Finch had worked with the Hackney Empire as landlord, and that weekend late hours already ran to 2am with a listening booth and vinyl. Club Empire brands a late programme inside that room. It is not a separate building.
Hackney Gazette covered the pub’s March opening in detail. It reported burgers, Sunday roasts and East London Brewing Company beer as the core offer, Flying Horse Coffee by day, and a mezzanine event space with a “haudio booth” nodding to the owners’ music backgrounds. A retractable front looking onto Hackney Town Hall Square was designed for about 50 people outside. Weekday hours were listed as 9am to 11pm, with Friday and Saturday already running to 2am and Sunday midday to 10.30pm.
That existing late licence is what Club Empire is building on. The November programme does not invent a new club building on Mare Street. It brands the after-10pm hours, lowers the ticket price and books longer DJ sets. For Hackney’s theatre crowds next door, the pitch is a short walk from the auditorium into a room that is still, until the curtain draw, a diner.
Ticket prices of £5 to £8 put the night well below typical East London club entry. Whether that price holds once guest DJs and label takeovers arrive will be clearer after 7 November.
Resident Advisor carried the same opening window on 16 October, describing Club Empire as a new East London venue due the following month. Mixmag’s report supplies the November 7 date, the Friday-Saturday hours and the ticket band used here.