The best techno clubs in London

London is a thriving powerhouse of techno, regularly drawing in some of the biggest names in the scene while also nurturing some of the newest talents.

If a night of raving to relentless, thudding grooves in a dimly lit room represents your idea of a banging night out, we’ve got the venues you need to have on your radar. Whether it’s a marathon of entrancing minimal or shedload of earsplitting industrial you’re after, London’s techno scene has got it all.

So put on your raving shoes, get the black t-shirt and black jeans out the wardrobe and head on down.

Corsica Studios

Cocooned beneath two railway arches in Elephant and Castle, Corsica Studios is exactly the kind of place you want to listen to techno in: dark, stripped back and immediate. Its capacity of 500 means its the ideal place to get beneath the skin of techno’s up-and-comers, as well as catching rare, personal sets from some of the scene’s biggest names – the legend Jeff Mills has graced its booth in the past. There’s a pounding Funktion One soundsystem in both rooms – the main area and bar, as well as the smaller, rough-edged second space – which keeps the heads bobbing and feet shuffling until sunrise (Corsica’s excellent soundproofing means it’s licensed until 6am on Fridays and Saturdays, and 3am every other day of the week). Dive into the deep end and check out one of its Jaded events, which kick off at 5am on a Sunday, no less.

4-5 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB; corsicastudios.com

Printworks

Printworks opened in 2016 and has quickly become an essential fixture of London’s clubbing scene. Set within a former newspaper printing factory in Surrey Quays, it’s a 5000-capacity behemoth with a hulking skeleton of exposed metal, bound together by a network of spaces and hidden corridors – the ideal backdrop for some mind-bending techno, then. Its versatile roster of DJs and artists was world-beating from the off with Nina Kraviz and Ben Klock among its earliest incumbents and it has excelled with techno, with Rødhåd, Daniel Avery and DJ Nobu being particular highlights.

Surrey Quays Road, SE16 7PJ; printworkslondon.co.uk

XOYO

Another clubbing institution, Shoredtich’s XOYO has been drawing in a discerning, party-ready crowd since the turn of the decade. You can rely on it for a eclectic selection of sounds, throwing out everything from grime to house to electro, but it’s the groove-laden techno that warrants it a place on our list. In fact, the Ben UFO residency of summer 2018 sums the club up nicely: an astute selector of techno who isn’t afraid to shoot off some curveballs. The subterranean main room is where it all goes off, but it’s always worth wandering upstairs to check out the smaller second space to find a hidden gem. (An aside: you’re handed a card as you walk in asking you not to take pictures or videos during the night. While there are always at least a few revellers who can’t resist the odd Snapchat, most people adhere, which helps you lose yourself in the music.)

32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AP; xoyo.co.uk

Phonox

Phonox, one of Brixton’s newest clubs, is already one of its best. It does the basics and it does them well: a capacity of 550, a Funktion One soundsystem, a penchant for extended sets and only one room open on Fridays (another small room opens on Saturdays). But its with its roster of DJs that things become really interesting. The focus is predominantly on house – Jeremy Underground is one of the resident DJs – but there’s also a healthy dollop of techno on its lineup. Phonox should be a club for the heads who like their music wide-reaching, often boasting sets from staunchly experimental, techno-rooted artists such as DJ Nobu and Perc.

418 Brixton Road, SW9 7AY; phonox.co.uk

Fabric

Undoubtedly the best known club in London and an ever-reliable port of call for some ribcage-rattling techno. In fact, it’s good for just about any type of electronic music you want to spend the night dancing to. The soundsystems are world-beating and it’s easy to get lost within the humongous space for what feels like days, especially as the DJ sets have a tendency to run throughout the night and then well past sunrise (you better cancel those brunch plans). The joy of Fabric is expecting the unexpected but if you’ve a hankering for some techno, check out its Forms series, launched in January, or just keep an eye out for the one of many renowned techno DJs that populate its schedule, from Ricardo Villalobos to Ben Klock.

77a Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ; fabriclondon.com

Oval Space/The Pickle Factory

By day, this is an unassuming back alley in Cambridge Heath. But by night, thanks to Oval Space and The Pickle Factory, two clubs under the same ownership, it turns into a pulsing enclave of dance music goodness. Both clubs are stripped back spaces, open to interpretation from whoever is organising the show. The techno nights pride themselves on drawing in some of the biggest names in the scene while also bigging up some of the most compelling new producers. The Oval Space’s extravaganza in collaboration with Machine in February 2018, featuring James Ruskin, Regis, Ben Sims, Sigha and Kirk Degiorgio, is a fine example of the kind of eye-boggling lineups you can expect.

29-32 The Oval, E2 9DT / 13-14 The Oval, E2 9DU; ovalspace.co.uk

Union

If you want to dance and you want to dance for a very long time, Vauxhall’s Union is the place to go. It’s renowned for its mammoth opening hours, which see parties every night of the week stretching from the dead of night well into the following morning. Techno fiends should head down on Friday nights to catch one of the Wrong! marathons, where they’ll find a diverse, welcoming crowd grooving to underground techno well into Saturday lunchtime. For techno with a big beefy helping of tech house, the Monday night Desire parties come highly recommended.

66 Albert Embankment, SE1 7TP; clubunion.co.uk

The Nest

Nowhere does basement raves quite like Dalston, and The Nest is one of the area’s go-tos for the electronically inclined. With a tightly packed 350-strong capacity and a formidable Martin Audio soundsystem, it’s the perfect location for some techno. There’s a lot of house on at The Nest but it’s also home to one of the freshest techno nights around, Room 303, which will be making its London debut at the venue in July 2018. The first incumbent will be Etapp Kyle, signed to Berghain’s in-house label Ostgut Ton, which is pretty surefire sign of an excellent artist.

36 Stoke Newington Road, N16 7XJ