Phonox

The club that was born when London was losing venues

When Plan B turned off the lights in Brixton, the usual gesture was to consider another dance floor dead. In its place, The Columbo Group—the operator of XOYO and The Nest—reconverted 418 Brixton Road and opened Phonox on September 4, 2015, with Julio Bashmore and Ptaki in charge of the first night. The instruction was not a superstar lineup, but a method: one dance floor, a great system, and a DJ playing all night long. Andy Peyton formulated it without embellishment: he wanted smiling people facing the music, not with their backs to the selector with their phones held high. The club was born in the midst of a wave of closures and opted for the opposite of the headliner model: underground programming, long sets, and a room designed to stay.

Darkness, Funktion One, and DJ booth at dance floor level

Peyton visited Plan B before closing the operation and decided to empty the basement of the second dance floor. Below remained a chill-out with seats and sofas, far from the hit of the Funktion One; above, a dark cavern with intense lighting, horizontal lasers, and a DJ booth at the level of the dance floor. The capacity is 550 people: enough for the night to push, little enough to keep the DJ in sight. On the club's website, the request is clear: do not photograph or record on the dance floor. The phone is not confiscated, but the instruction is to dance.

Residencies that sustain the weekend

Saturdays started with the open residency of Jasper James, then a techno DJ from Glasgow with an Essential Mix and a show on Rinse, and with guests who were often not announced. Later, HAAi took over those Saturdays and became one of the faces most linked to the venue. Fridays stabilized as marathons and, over the years, as 4 Fridays at Phonox: a month of residency with its own guests. Through that format, Peach, Daytimers, Saoirse, Ross From Friends, Jayda G, Midland, Objekt, or Elkka have passed. In the DJ booth, Ben UFO, Helena Hauff, Laurent Garnier, DJ EZ, Sherelle, Call Super, Optimo, Palms Trax, and A Love From Outer Space have also played.

A decade of close-knit clubbing

DJ Mag put it in its Top 100 a year after opening, crowned it Highest Climber in 2017—up to 32nd place—and Best British Small Club in 2018. In 2025, at ten years old, it rolled out an anniversary program and premiered the short film A Nightclub for London, with Moxie, Elkka, p-rallel, and Sean Johnston talking about the room, the sound, and the musical line of Brixton. It remains two minutes from the Brixton tube, with a usual closing time of 4:00 AM on the weekend and relaxed dress code: jeans and sneakers yes; suits and costumes, no. The building is no longer Plan B, but the pact with the dance floor has not changed: a single room and DJs who stay until the end.