Looking to seal yourself in a room with friends/work colleagues and butcher belt out all-time anthems while draining an ice bucket of White Claw? Sounds like you need to find yourself a karaoke bar pronto — so you'd better thumb through our selection of some of London's finest.
Lucky Voice, Soho, Liverpool Street, Holborn, Islington, Waterloo
Lucky Voice has been emboldening folk to strain their vocal cords for 20 years now, and their five London venues — each with neon-lit private rooms featuring "Thirsty" buttons for drinks service — are a slam dunk for birthdays, work dos, stags and hens. Handily you can browse the song catalogue online, make sure they've got your jam, and perhaps squeeze in a few months' rehearsal time. You'll also find two private karaoke rooms powered by Lucky Voice at the Bat & Ball 'social playground' in Covent Garden. Lucky Voice
BAM Karaoke Box, Victoria
Believe the spiel, and BAM is Europe's largest karaoke venue — well, it does have 22 karaoke rooms, each styled differently, and able to contain anything between two to 40 wannabe Freddie Mercurys. Anytime your gob's not busy bleating out Bieber/Beatles, you can stuff it with chicken wings, potato tots and devilled eggs (how very 70s!) BAM Karaoke Box
Moyagi, Oxford Circus
Oxford Circus cosplays as Akihabara in this super stylish haunt, where you can do your worst to K-Pop standards in the secrecy of a red strip-lit room among people who love you enough to let you keep singing. And if they start having second thoughts, they can always beat a hasty retreat to the shoji-screened elegance of the Hidden Bar, with its sochu-spiked cocktails. Moyagi
Karaoke Epoc, Soho
As authentic experience as you're going to get on this side of the globe, Karaoke Epoc houses a congressional-sized library of Japanese, Korean and Mandarin/Cantonese tunes (plenty of English language too for the cowards), which you can sing in banquetted booths, fuelled on yakitori, Nissin Cup Noodles and citrus highballs. Karaoke Epoc
Molly MC's, Waterloo
A karaoke joint like no other, the boxfresh Molly MC's channels a trad Irish boozer — rustic wood panelled rooms, gallery walls littered with photos of old skool pubs — and lashings of live Irish music. The difference here is that each of the 'singing rooms' comes armed with a SINGA karaoke kit. Keep the Guinnesses and prawn fritters coming — this could take a while. Molly MC's
The Star by Liverpool Street
Karaoke bottomless brunch, free karaoke Tuesdays, kids karaoke, open karaoke .... Karaoke is in the blood of The Star by Liverpool Street, which has six private rooms (the Disco Room, Star Room, Gold Room, Jungle Room, Pink Room and Backstage Room) and a catalogue of over 20,000 songs to flick through from. If you're eating here, the Chuck Burgers look particularly good. The Star by Liverpool Street
Mama Shelter London, Shoreditch
In the karaoke universe, one back catalogue does not fit all — something Mama Shelter recognises with its three party packages: the K-pop Collection, the Musicals Experience and Divas Unite. Whether you choose team Blackpink, Wicked or Kylie, a private Japanese-style karaoke room with with three jugs of Mama cocktails, bottles of prosecco and wine await you and up to 14 accomplices. Oh mama. Mama Shelter
Boom Battle Bar, Oxford Street, Wandsworth, The O2, Aldgate, Ealing
Somewhere amid the riot of shuffleboard, prosecco pong, axe hurling and AR darts, Boom Battle Bar's London locations also squeeze in Boom Box Karaoke, where 'secret shower singers' are emboldened to go public (well semi-public anyway), with a choice of over 100,000 songs. Boom Battle Bar
Playbox, Boxpark Croydon
The touchscreen tech in these Boxpark booths doesn't merely allow you to choose from thousands of tunes, but also control the lighting — the closest perhaps you'll get to rigging the stage at The O2. This being Boxpark, the street food game is strong, too. Boxpark Croydon itself also plays sometime host to (in?)famous Barrioke nights, in which Shaun Williamson slips on a shiny jacket, and gets a sea of people singing along to Mustang Sally. What a time to be alive. Playbox
Peckham Levels, Peckham
Say kon'nichiwa to a menu of over 80,000 songs at this private Japanese-themed karaoke room nestled in Peckham Levels. Choose a one- or two-hour slot and replenish yourself between bouts of singing with the top tier street food from Little Baobab, Matsa's and The Grub Club. Peckham Levels
The Cocktail Club, Shoreditch
If you require a mai tai or two to give you the Dutch courage needed to pipe up with Sweet Caroline in front of your boss, then you could do worse than The Cocktail Club. All the packages include a welcome drink, a bartender at your beck and call, and a wallpaper/disco ball combo that would be a bit much in your living room, but is just the ticket here. The Cocktail Club
Bow Street Tavern, Covent Garden
So popular is karaoke these days, even some traditional pubs are turning their hand to it. Case in point, the refurbished Bow Street Tavern, whose Records Room accommodates up to 30 people as they croon their way through Taylor Swift's back catalogue. Bow Street Tavern
