The space is a two storey Victorian Warehouse on Leonard Street and the rosta is an eclectic one. They take you from breakfast to late night dancing via cultural showcases, talks, classes, cabaret, film, art, ping pong, brunch and fresh new music. They aim to ‘turn the conventional arts institution on its head’ with a mish mash of events, exhibitions and social activites.

The Book Club ground floor

A dip into next months schedule reveals a month long exhibition of the work of music photographer Lawrence Watson (in conjunction with his new Photography Retrospective book), the White Mink Album Club launch with festival DJ Chris Tofu – an electro swing night where the vintage and 21st century collide, a Secret Wars live art battle, a ‘Little Bazaar’ Sunday Market and a life drawing class.

‘Fusing boozing with brain power’ The Book Club also manages to hit the culinary nail on the head with a rotating daily menu and off-the-hook cocktails.

The ceiling made of 20,000 light bulbs has to be seen to be believed. The Book Club is the slightly smarter, more savvy sibling of the Queen Of Hoxton.

(It’s definitely worth noting that today I had sliver rare thin steak, mushrooms in butter and thyme, new potatos drenched in Hollandaise and a smile.)

Click here to see what’s going on at The Book Club.

The same study revealed that despite forking out hundreds of pounds, nearly a third of all who attend festivals admit that they struggle to remember which bands they actually saw due to alcohol, with a fifth confessing to seeing less than 6 hours music throughout the weekend. A hardcore 8% claimed to spend 20 hours watching bands.

It should come as no surprise after reading the previous post to learn that 29% said their main concern was looking good.

Formerly the domain of skint hippies and roaming travellers in tie dye and body paint, todays festivals are a sparkling world of designer wellies, hot tubs, wasted celebs and cocktails.

The very excellent Lovebox Weekender commissioned a survey of 3,000 festival fanatics to discover just how much was being spent on attending music festivals in 2009. It will come as no surprise to learn that a hell of a lot of cash is being poured into looking the part and getting suitably wasted at festivals. The poll reveals that the average punter will spend an enormous £600 on a festival weekend, with tickets cited as the biggest expense (£140), followed by drinks (£130), travel (£100) and food (£60).

Female festival fiends are apparently being influenced by the ‘Alexa Chung’ effect, and spending an average of £170 before even leaving the house. A third of all female respondents admitted to spending £220 on a new, pre-festival kit of designer wellies, waterproofs, tents and outfits.

Looking festival fit has never been so expensive.

Lowri Clarke

Read our preview of Lovebox Weekender here.