Soho’s Room 86 brings Tokyo’s listening-bar culture to Wardour Street with Toki-O Nights

Room 86, a new venue on Wardour Street in Soho, opens this September with a music series called Toki-O Nights that draws on Japan’s kissaten listening-bar tradition. The idea is that recorded music is played through a high-fidelity system and given the audience’s full attention, rather than functioning as background to conversation or dancing. Social listening has gained traction in London over the past few years, with a number of bars and venues installing dedicated hi-fi set-ups and programming nights designed around close listening. At Room 86, the audio equipment is supplied by top-tier Japanese audio brand Technics, and Toki Japanese Highballs – the drink customarily served in Tokyo listening bars – will be available throughout each evening.

The opening night on 9^th September is ticketed, hosted by DJ Kay Suzuki and titled Tradition Remixed: How Japan Made Foreign Sounds Its Own. The evening is structured around two curated sessions, during which Suzuki will discuss the records he has selected and the influences behind them. In between, attendees will be given an explanation of the Highball’s place in Japanese drinking culture and the method behind preparing one, before making their own.

Later in the month on 23^rd September, there’s a second night that’s free to attend and features Tokyo-raised, Paris-based DJ Alex from Tokyo, with music from 7pm. Alex began his career in the Japanese city’s underground club scene in the early 1990s and has since worked internationally, with much of his output centred on the exchange between Japanese and European music cultures. His set at Room 86 is expected to move across deep house, Detroit techno, jazz, soul, disco, Balearic and Japanese selections.

Both events follow the traditional structure of a Tokyo listening bar, where the sound system, the atmosphere of the room and the Japanese Highball are central elements. Kissaten culture dates back to the early 20^th century in Japan, when cafés and bars invested in expensive audio equipment and extensive record collections, allowing customers to hear jazz and classical recordings that were otherwise difficult to obtain. The model has been revived and exported in recent years, with listening bars opening in cities including New York, Berlin, Melbourne and London.

Organisers say guests at Room 86’s September sessions will have the opportunity to win complimentary Toki Japanese Highballs and Technics prizes too.

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Room 86 opens on 9^th September 2026 at 86 Wardour Street, London W1F 0TQ. For further information and updates, visit the bar’s website here.

For further information or to book tickets for the opening night with DJ Kay Suzuki, visit here. The second event on 23^rd September 2026 is free to attend.