Our venues

The Bell Pit – 3 Mare Street, Hackney, London, E8 4RP

St Elmo’s – 26 Caledonian Road, Islington, N1 9DT

The Bell Pit

We built our venue/bar/music hub with the TV series Cheers in mind. If you haven’t seen Cheers, it’s about a subterranean bar where everyone knows your name. A home away from home. We wanted to create something like that. A hidden spot in East London where everyone knows who you are. Where you can hide away from the chaos of London life and meet new people, talk music, listen to music, be immersed in music.

On any given day you can come down and find music in the air and people who are glad to see you.

Our venue was built with our members in mind and we like to think of it as a home away from home for the many people that walk through the door every day.

Our opening hours:

Monday to Wednesday 8am to 5pm
Thursday 8am to 11.30pm
Friday 8am to 12pm
Saturday 10am to 12pm
Sunday 4pm-10pm

Music Workshops on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings as well as Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

St Elmo’s

We have now opened a second venue which is just a 2 minute walk from Kings Cross station and would love to see you there. Come and find us at St Elmo’s: 26 Caledonian Road, Islington, N1 9DT.

Contact Us

Nicola Cortese

03/02/2022

I started a course in Jan as a beginner with Thomas and I can already play 5 songs!.. with simple chords :) both Thomas and Fiona are really lovely and they really know how to teach whilst having fun! I'd highly recommend dropping at one of their Thursday's open mic! Tons of fun and talent for free!!!

Jonny Pollard

02/02/2022

Very friendly learning environment, was a bit nervous to play with a group having not played socially for many years, but it was super relaxed, and I learnt a lot in the first session. Looking forward to the next session!

Adam J

01/02/2022

Had a great time tonight! I joined on to the beginners course a couple weeks late, but Fiona was great at running me up to speed before the class. Tom was a great instructor, and managed to get us to cover lots of ground in a short space of time. The group was super freindly and relaxed, and im looking forward to going back next week!

Jakub Špaček

Having played guitar in my past within academic environment I have to say The Guitar Social club opened my eyes with their amazing and vibrant atmosphere with company of great people. Lessons are really fun and easy to follow. Feel really motivate just after few classes and my connection to the instrument greatly improved!

Paula Smith

31/01/2022

Unbelievably great, not kidding.

Marcella Puppini

This exactly what I was hoping it would be. A fun and engaging way of learning a new instrument at a lovely venue, with great people and great teaching. Thoroughly recommended.

hashtagobi

Only been going 2 weeks but it's a great environment with good pacing throughout the lessons. The community is quite helpful + open to learn so it's really a great space for anyone wanting to hone their guitar chops!

Kevin S.

27/01/2022

Is it a guitar school? A social events group? A music workshop for all ages and abilities? An open, non-judgemental route to performing? A holiday club that includes jamming on guitars around the campfire? Well–it's all these and more. The Guitar Social is built around founder & lead tutor Thomas (plus TGS Business Director, Fiona, originally one of its earliest students). Patient and passionate, Thomas and his relaxed, friendly temperament get the best from beginners to improvers and beyond. Personally for me, one core strength of The Guitar Social is that Thomas realises what most tutors and courses never do – we can all learn fast and well when we play whole songs together and discover as a group how to make them work. Thomas and TGS guest tutors will always tend to teach music theory for guitar, and focus too on scales, chord voicings, correct rhythm, licks, riffs, parts, soloing etc, but with a tendency to make it about the fun and learning gains when students jam together on great songs instead of staring at a white board and not playing much music. Jamming songs in similar or mixed ability groups helps TGS students become functioning musicians who have built useful real world skills and experience across many sessions similar to how working musicians rehearse and workshop songs. And you will have the opportunity to build live experience too if you wish – solo or with your term group or with others of your choice, in a safe, positive environment, with friendly fellow students as your audience. Never any pressure and just one example of where TGS delivers extra value. They are really worth trying. I haven't even done full justice here to all the different activities they do.

stu smith

25/01/2022

The coolest club in London!

Colin Taylor

I'm back for my second series of the Joy of the Jam. After not playing with others for over 30 years, these sessions are reminding me just how inspiring and enjoyable jamming can be. Thomas leads the sessions with huge enthusiasm and a great deal of humour. The support of his impressive musical knowledge is ever present - but this never gets in the way of our desire just have fun and be playing.