Hampstead village is an effortlessly atmospheric kinda place, any day of the year or time of the day.

Yet on Monday night, with a relentless sheet of fine December drizzle helping amplify the twinkly shimmer of festive lights, it felt especially so.

Up in the warmer confines of the small, darkened room above the iconic Horseshoe pub, the hubbub of celebratory cheer and fine creative revelry could be heard emanating once more. Chatter, laughter and collective song from a standing-room-only crowd signified the return of one of London’s original ‘black box’ theatre spaces, formerly known for 50 years prior as Pentameters.

This was the opening shindig for the newly christened Circle & Star Theatre, an ambitious and suitably exciting new stage for cabaret, comedy and experimental theatre, playing for a nightly capacity of just 50 seats.

It’s been brought to life by a group of friends, fronted by comedian Steve Furst, who hosted the opening cabaret night under his all-singing alter ego, Lenny Beige. Furst has a bulging little black book of top showbiz compadres, who he’s been lining up for an impressive debut season.

Highlights in the weeks ahead include queen of female singing impressionists, Jess Robinson (main pic above) doing her Elton - and many more - for a ‘12 days of Jessmas’ special next Sat 20th Dec, an intimate interview with former Bake Off host Mel Giedroyc (21st Jan), conversation and jazz from Jay Rayner (22nd Jan) and a kids matinee with David Walliams (17th Jan).

As well as being an enticing new local option for Hampstead residents and ‘tourists’ like me venturing up from the lower Camden foothills, the arrival of such a theatre says a lot about where entertainment is heading in the rolling cost-of-living, hospitality-meltdown, constant-digital-distraction maelstrom in which we collectively find ourselves.

While the place has been scrubbed up considerably (they apparently removed multiple tonnes of rubbish, including the skeletons of two dead cats 🙀 during the refurb), it’s still ultimately an unassuming room above a boozer, painted black. Purposefully intimate and local, not West End and grand, it presents the chance to enjoy a night with your favourite performers that feels like a genuine personal experience, as opposed to an 02 Arena-scale rockstar stand-up event.

Back to basics, with a 2026 twist: a love of the stage, the thrill of live performance, the camaraderie of a good pub theatre crowd. But full digital streaming facilities also nod towards the operational imperatives of making such a small scale venture actually work. Takings from the entire first season are a fundraiser to employ a dedicated GM for the venue early next year.

There were the inevitable howls at the eviction of the Pentameters founders, Léonie Scott-Matthews and Godfey Old, back in July. But with the space in disrepair and unpaid rent reportedly dating back years, this reinvention feels like exactly what such a historic local fringe theatre space needed to ensure its viability in today’s fast-evolving entertainment landscape.

It’s a reboot that sees Hampstead’s many talented residents lining up stage left to perform. The launch saw Robbie Williams songwriter Guy Chambers belting out Let Me Entertain You at the piano, vocalist David Mcalmot jumped up to the mic to sing George Michael beautifully, and talented pianist Natasha Panas accompanied cabaret instigator Aidan Sadler as a preview for the regular Weird Wood cabaret events coming to the venue monthly, too. We’re truly spoilt.

There’s a sensibly-priced £25 pre-theatre menu downstairs at the pub, and show tickets won’t break the bank either - if you can get hold of them before they sell out.

With all the talk of in-person ‘experience’ being more important that ever in our scroll-addled lives, it feels to me like the Circle and Star is pointing towards the future of pub theatre by making a virtue of its modest size and means.

Of course not every crumbling pub room has quite the wealth of local talent and luvvie support to draw upon as one located in Hampstead, but if the model can work here, then the appeal of playing intimate rooms to big stars will only grow, and with it, the potential to see more up-close-and-personal shows and venues thrive.

Places that really do possess the atmosphere and human creative connection which we all crave, still to be found on our high streets.

As we tip towards a New Year, and in a climate that’s experienced as (at best), more than a little stressful, I’m keen that Camdenist continues to reflect the topics and concerns of you, the readers.

You’ve already said you’d like more live music events - something that is slowly, but surely, getting lined up. So watch this space.

But what else would you like to see? Some people say more politics and local opinion, particularly when it comes to issues like the massive redevelopment plans for towers in some parts of the Borough.

Others are set on our traditional focus on culture, and campaigning for institutions like pubs, music venues, restaurants and more - the very fabric of our lives when out from the confines of home or work.

And, as the main story this week reveals, events and arranging more places for locals to meet up and have experiences is a priority for others.

So let me know your preferences (and comments) in this weeks poll, and let’s see what we can do in 2026…

MUSIC: 🎧 Stalwart London hip hop promoter and DJ, Spin Doctor, has realised his lifelong dream and this week opened his very own vinyl emporium. One Eighty One is a crate-diggers’ paradise by day, plus a buzzy neighbourhood bar and hangout by night, up on Holloway Road. Expect exclusive DJ sets while you enjoy boards of meat, cheese or topped crisps, with all cocktails for a tenner, draft beers at £5.50 and glasses of wine at £6. There’s a big launch party tonight and then plenty more celebrating going on over the coming days, as this Kickstarted-funded venture already has an enthusiastic community behind it.

XMAS:🎄Uplifting seasonal event alert! Head over to King’s Cross this Sat 13th Dec at 1pm with your wind, brass or percussion instrument tucked under your arm, or simply your best singing voice ready to go, and join 500+ others in the Big Christmas Wind Orchestra & Choir annual event, back for its 14th year. Hark!

MUSIC: 🎸 Witness the return of Camden music royalty at KOKO on Mon 15th Dec as Pete Doherty brings his post-Libertines punk poetry outfit Babyshambles to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their classic Down In Albion LP on the legendary Palais stage for a one night only bash.

DRINK: 🙂 After years of protracted delays, the Guinness Open Gate Brewery London finally flung open its, er, gates, yesterday with a big public bash, just in time for to catch some festive merriment and accompanying craic. It’s got to be worth nosing around, (let alone a spot of eating and drinking), even with the inevitable tourist hordes, so do let us know what it’s like if you get down there first…

FOOD: 🥩 Want to find out what dinner at the hot new Hawksmoor, inside the opulent Midland Grand Dining Room, is like? Well Hot Dinners just gave the restaurant - and its phenomenally luxe Martini Bar - a thorough road test.

ART: 📸 With nightlife culture under pressure, the new free exhibition of photography and painting from 18 different artists, Party People: Figures on the Dancefloor, is an act of preservation, as well as celebration, of Britain’s most dynamic creative communities. The show runs to 16th Jan in the foyer at the Roundhouse, and depicts the vital importance of our after dark spaces for artistic expression, community building, and cultural identity.

COMEDY: 😂 It might be Christmas, with associated sky-high prices and uncomfortably rammo venues, but you can still see the cream of UK stand-up artists for just a fiver in the West End. Rebecca Maree: In Conversation with Shazia Mirza, Nick Helm & Rosie Holt is at Drury Lane’s Top Secret Comedy Club early doors tonight, Fri 12th Dec.

DRINK: 🍹 NW5’s fermentation microbrewery Wild IS Earth returns tonight, Fri 12th Dec, with a special Kombucha Aperitivo evening including a tour of the facilities, kombucha cocktails, low-intervention wines, plant-based small eats, global grooves, and a gentle space to connect.

We’re keen to help build a thriving ecosystem of decent London newsletters you might like, which focus on topics like the ones we cover here in Camdenist. This week, we’re shining a spotlight on The London Palette, an in-depth weekly look at some of the most interesting developments in the capital and plenty of things to do, written by Hackney-based career reinvention guru Bybreen Samuels.