Islington-born DJ Rod Gilmore is soft-launching new Holloway Road venue One Eighty One this weekend

“BORN and bred” Islington DJ has said his new venture will be “more accessible” than the run-of-the mill “pretentious listening bars”, as he opens a record shop-come-café and bar in Holloway Road.

Rod Gilmore, who now lives in Avenell Road, is soft-launching the venue this weekend.
One Eighty One will be a “neighbourhood hangout” selling records and coffee by day and becoming a bar with a DJ at night.

“It’s a kind of a listening bar,” he added. “But some of these listening bars can feel a little pretentious. We want this to be accessible, and completely non-exclusive.

“People can be too anal about cocktails and craft beers and it becomes exclusive in that way, but the same is true of audio. Of course we want it to sound great, but to me, good music played well in a nice, friendly environment is more important than ohms and amps and the thickness of cables for sound quality.”

Mr Gilmore recalled buying his first record, Green Door by Shakin’ Stevens, from a shop in Angel. “I wish it was something cooler,” he joked.

He started DJing aged 16, encouraged by his friends, and after going to university became a club night promoter, organising parties at venues in King’s Cross and Shoreditch.

Mr Gilmore at One Eighty One

“I think the highlight for me has been getting to work with people I consider genuine heroes: Jazzy Jeff, DJ Premier, [and] Gilles Peterson. You realise they’re totally human, regular people, and you connect over music,” Mr Gilmore told the Tribune.

He has since worked in venues such as the Jazz Cafe, and Truman Brewery in Brick Lane, but his dream has been to open a place of his own in Islington, which he said “has an incredible music history and legacy”.

“From the Sex Pistols to Bob Marley playing at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park – incredible venues like the Hope and Anchor had everyone from the punk and post-punk scene. U2’s first ever gig, New Order’s first ever gig.”

Mr Gilmore is an avid record collector, with around 10,000 vinyls now in his ownership, and would like to have people playing from his collection in the shop.

The venue, located at 181 Holloway Road, has undergone a mass transformation over the past several months, with the final licks of paint being applied a few days prior to opening.

He said: “It’s incredible, it’s really exciting, mad stressful, but really amazing. We had a meeting with the staff today and I showed them the photo of what it looked like four weeks ago.

“It was someone’s office and gym, and painted entirely black, the walls, the floors. It looked insane.”

He has crowdfunded £5,000 to contribute to the costs of fitting out the now wood-panelled venue, and has been looking for further donations.

“Part of it was to get the word out and give the community a means of getting behind it in advance, and feeling like they’re part of it,” said Mr Gilmore.

“If we don’t hit the target, I will make it work anyway.”