It’s a Friday night in 2016, and you just wanna get lit. You message your peeps in that immature WhatsApp group, and ask: “What’s the motive, gang?” Someone might send a flyer or just say the venue, and that is the night. We’d link up for pre-drinks at someone’s yard—YouTube music videos on repeat in the background, on the TV—and we’d leave out absolutely steaming.
During this period, for a lot of young people in London, Shoreditch and Dalston reigned supreme: Ace Hotel, Birthdays, Visions and random bars open until stupid-o’-clock kept the night alive. But as the years went by, gentrification, licensing and policing all imposed on the power of the night. Add Covid and a cost-of-living crisis to the mix and young people today don’t have the same luxury of being spontaneous and having a great night. Each generation has had spaces where their culture thrived, or where they bred new grounds for something exciting. It’s nearing 2026, and I no longer have that capacity to be spontaneous, but on December 12, at Wingstop UK’s music event, Flavours—even as a press attendee, I was enamoured with how great and reminiscent this night was. Hosting Flavours at a venue like Village Underground, which prides itself on being a space segueing underground acts and parties from smaller venues to big shows, tells you how necessary a space like this truly is.
Costing just £1 to get in, Flavours is an affordable, accessible event, serving a set amount of free drinks per partygoer, providing free first-come-first-served food from Wingstop, and offering cash prize incentives throughout the night. From grime icons to new starlets of its ever-changing scene, to DJs representing everything from UK rap and drill to dancehall and Afroswing, it was a cross-generational celebration of Black British music, special for many reasons.