"***Horrible customer support and lost…"

***Horrible customer support and lost £250 - beware***

Having been a regular user of Pirate Studios for a number of years I was shocked to find out that our bands rehearsal was cancelled for "attempting to tamper with CCTV", and £250 had been taken from my bank account. Attempts to contact support to resolve the situation were met with a flippant and rude response that also resulted in myself being banned from using Pirate rehearsal rooms, purely because I had sent an email to their "Security" department (I was explicitly told in the 1st email from them I was not banned provided the £250 charge was successful)

With such a claim as serious as what has been levied against us there has not been any proof of it occurring and we cannot seem to take this to anyone else in the company.

General problems you may encounter in these rooms:

- Missing cables for Amps, Mics etc.
- Shoddy drum kits with bodge job repairs (hi-hat pedals being held together with tape)
- Non functioning AC in rooms that have no windows
- Mismatched amplifiers for intended purpose (pairing a tiny bass amp in rooms with drum kits and much more powerful guitar amps)
- Broken equipment that has not been replaced in the room, such as microphones, PA channels
- Equipment different from what is stated for the room on website, sometimes resulting in vastly different gear that is not suitable

Avoid Pirate Studios and go to a real rehearsal room ran by people who are actually present and don't try to commit daylight robbery - they are happy to take money from musicians pockets if they think they can get away with it

"The assistant was so helpful "

The assistant was so helpful , skillful and kind ! We are so pleased !

"Rehearsal studio that repeatedly cancels its bookings at short notice"

I've been using Pirate at Wembley since 2020 but I've now had to stop. They cancelled my booking on Monday Feb 17 at 11.00am. I was informed on the preceding Saturday night (Feb 15) by text. No specific reason given - just a blithe "We're sorry, but sometimes things change" message. This is the THIRD time this has happened. They did the exact same thing on May 6 2023 and again on Feb 6 2024 and now Feb 15 2025. They even have an option on their dropdown menu when you are giving a reason for claiming your refund: "Pirate cancelled your session". Either they have no concept of what it entails to get four working musicians timetabled to be in the same place at the same time. Or they simply don't care. Either way they are clearly not in command of their business model. Luckily, we were able to get a last-minute booking at The Arch studio in Stamford Brook where they provided a room at less-than-24-hours notice with better equipment for about the same price. It's not as convenient as Pirate, but my band will be rehearsing at The Arch in future. That's enough of Pirate for me.

"Camden studios awful"

Play button was dodgy hardly worked properly, decks were in terrible condition and staff were extremely rude. I like pirate however this has completely changed my outlook

"(noisy) Recording studio"

I booked a recording session in Notting Hill, UK as I wanted to record vocals with my condenser mic. I could hear: people talking, drums and bass coming from some other session, doors opening and closing, trains passing by! It's one thing to say that rooms are not treated but this is quite similar to the situation in my living room.
I wouldn't call this a "recording studio" as there is nothing you can effectively record in there.

"best DJ studio going"

I had an issue, but it was sorted quite swiftly, we were back up and running in no time. best studio going about for djs

"Shocking gear / customer service "

Bristol… Yesterday we Set up gear / fired everything up to find One speaker in PA was giving out huge distortion…. Then turned up guitar amp up to volume and the cabinet was F**ked, farting all over the place..
Overall the sound was abysmal…
I made a complaint this morning only to be told nothing can be done as we should have reported it at the time and we would have been moved to another room...
There are no staff in the building so we would have had to wait for them to arrive and then waste another hour breaking down and resetting drums again..
By then we would have had 2 hours rehearsal time left.. which would include 30 mins breaking down drums AGAIN and packing them up..!
Customer service appalling just like the equipment provided…!!!!

"The problem is lighting u cant see what…"

The problem is lighting u cant see what you are doing with the amps and pa also when i arrived the drum kit wasnt set up so had to spend 10 mins trying to set it up not great ...

"Car park scam and Lack of equipment"

Car park scam and Lack of equipment, first visit there, No visible screen in reception or signage about parking, and security man never mentioned it, got a £60 fine, also was told a full kit was in the room, when we turned up there were no symbols. total waste of time and got a £60 fine, I don't recommend using at all.

"Staff was very helpful with my unfortunate situation "

Staff was very helpful with my situation great as always