Fostering Community through the Arts: Honey Dip Bar

Tara Davies (left) and Robin Henry (right) are two of the folks behind Honey Dip Bar, located right above Dough EV.

Meet Robin Henry, the booker and one of the minds behind Honey Dip Bar! Located above Dough EV in the former Taproot venue, this is the new spot to be for local music and art shows. “OEV has always been the core of art and culture in London,” Henry says. “It's not a fancy neighborhood, it's a working class neighborhood, and where there's working class people, there's always good art. Our ultimate goal is just to be a gathering space for the arts.” Honey Dip had its soft opening on June 12, with an official grand opening on June 21.

Robin Henry self-describes as “an artist, an anarchist and a punk,” and has spent the last odd decade in OEV sharing an art studio and print shop with Rezonance Printing and Soft Flirt. He says Honey Dip came from “a clear need for art and music spaces in OEV,” and with the former Taproot venue up for grabs, it was a great fit. “The two people who own downstairs, Tara and Aaron, are deeply community oriented. It was such a natural progression, and they were so thoughtful about how they wanted to move through this space and what they wanted to bring to the community that it doesn't even feel like we've had to establish ourselves. It just fit naturally.”

OEV’s strong sense of community is one of its strongest assets, according to Henry, and fostering that is one of the major keystones of Honey Dip. “No matter where you go, people will talk about community; in OEV, people do it. They don't need to talk about it, it happens,” he says. “If we're able to make that [community] here in London, and some kid doesn't have to move away to feel like they belong, that’s the purest thing I could ever imagine.”

Honey Dip has only been officially open for less than a week, but Henry considers both the opening events a major success. “If we’d been open for 10 years and those two events happened, I’d think ‘well that’s the best it’ll ever get,’ and those were our first two events. It’s been a dream come true and we’re literally just getting started.” Looking to the future, organizers at Honey Dip want to start hosting daytime programming, like art workshops or community gatherings, so they can offer something both before and after dark. 

Honey Dip already has multiple events on the schedule, including open mic nights and multiple shows. “We're encouraging local promoters to approach us, we're trying to make it affordable for those people to rent, so that you can have a legit venue and a really good bar, without the huge barrier of entry,” Henry says. “Keep an eye out for our events, and if there's an event that you want to see happen, but it's not happening in this neighborhood, come and talk to us. We want that event to happen.” Honey Dip can be best reached at their instagram, @honeydipbar.