Where Music Comes First
Spiritland began as an idea born from trips to Japanese listening bars — intimate venues where music is played with reverence on exceptional equipment, where people come to truly listen. In 2014, founder Paul Noble, a former BBC Radio producer and music consultant, brought that concept to London.
The first Spiritland took the form of a residency at Angela Hartnett's Merchants Tavern on Charlotte Road in Shoreditch — a Victorian warehouse and former apothecary with soaring ceilings and a cocktail bar. Alongside co-founders Patrick Clayton-Malone and Dominic Lake, Noble installed a stunning Tannoy speaker system powered by valve amplification and invited London's most respected selectors to play.
The concept was deceptively simple: exceptional music on exceptional equipment, with exceptional food and drink, in a beautiful room. No dancefloor. No velvet rope. No compressed MP3s. Just the pure, uncompromised experience of hearing music as it was meant to be heard — while enjoying a cocktail named 'Go Hartnett Or Go Home'.
From that Shoreditch residency, Spiritland grew into a permanent home at King's Cross, a Royal Festival Hall restaurant, a Mayfair headphone bar, and venues in Lisbon — but the ethos remains unchanged.
“To sit and engage with a piece of music, to experience the emotions the artist was going through when they made it, is such a luxury. This is a journey people want to go on.”
Paul Noble, Founder & Creative Director
