“FROM TYPSY TO SOBER IN ONE WEEK”
SOHO TO VAUXHALL – FRIDAY 14TH TO SUNDAY 23RD MAY SPECIAL BAR REVIEW
We definitely lead quite a hectic life, balancing work and play very delicately, although in the pursuit of our passion for clubbing & reporting on the most diverse and prolific gAylist scene we find ourselves within, the “bread & butter” end of our socialising, the bars, sometimes get overlooked. Indeed in recent weeks & months our devotions to clubbing events often see us fail to cover the tireless contribution that a whole host of venues make to our socialising scene in both the gay village hotspots in the capital, Soho & Vauxhall. Therefore, in a slight break in tradition, we take you through a week in our lives encompassing some of these special social hip hangouts, in what was to prove a considerable shift & change in our perspective on a major aspect of our life, that for too long had dominated our social activity and only during this dramatic week of realisation, steered us in a new found & wholesome direction, this review as much a personal reflection as anything else.
So how did this direction change come about? Well, to give you the full flavour of our enlightenment, we have to take you back to the second weekend of May, when the ensuing “Love Weekend” was set to tempt us into all five of its club happenings, as well as a special pre-party at host bar Rupert Street, although with plans to head home straight after work to change, in advance of our weekend of love activity, laid to waste, we were instead pointed in the direction of Soho and what was to become a booze driven bounce around three of our favourite bars. First stop was that pre-party host hangout Rupert Street, a venue that holds dear memories for us and is always generally our anchor watering hole in the west end socialising splendour that is Soho, arriving, on this occasion, not long before 7 p.m., in expectation of the start of the “Love Weekend”. However, with the usual decoration & production absent, coupled with the lack of information as to the D.J. that would be spinning the sounds, 7 p.m. became 8 p.m. became 9 p.m. without anything remotely pre-partying in fashion or mood occurring.
Having changed our plans to encompass this pre-party, we were more that disgruntled with the lack of activity, instead choosing to swap our bar allegiances for the more palatable offering that was Profile Bar on Wardour Street and the splendid sounds of Friday resident, Gaydar radio’s very own Phil Marriot, who was to considerably brighten our evening with both delightful conversation and tremendous tunes, not least a magnificent remix of a favourite track of ours “Disco Electrique”, which had first been brought to our attention by Brent Nicholls and a tune that continues to dominate our personal playlists over nine months down the line. It is fair to say that Profile Bar has become a real favourite of ours and particularly on a Friday when it proves to be the perfect curtain raiser to any weekend, although it would be fair to say that generally ours tends to start on a Thursday in the hands of Minty & co at Industri. However, the sophistication of Profile Bar always strikes resonance with us and certainly gets a thumbs up recommendation.
With our night now back on track, we headed across to Covent Garden hostelry, The Box Bar, where the magnificent D.J. Minx was mastering the music, playing a whole host of our favourite tracks to tempt us to stay the distance. And with the refreshments flowing, we were certainly getting in the mood, sinking more than a jar or two, yet delighting in the amazing atmosphere in this very gAylist gathering of a place, the crowd always extremely pleasing to the eye and exuding the kind of quality seen rarely anywhere else. And that quality also extends to the gorgeous bar staff, who always make us feel so welcome, this Friday frolic being no exception and were it not for the draw on the impending “Love Weekend” of main events, we would have definitely seen out the rest of our night in the hands of The Box & D.J. Minx behind the decks.
But back it was across to Rupert Street we headed, in search of our belongings and prepare to trek home to start our weekend of clubbing proper, although upon arriving back to our Soho base, we were delighted to see Lovechild resident D.J. Phi Hewson behind the decks, serving up a vocal drenched collection of scintillating sounds that certainly extended our stay way past our plans, but so good was Phil’s performance & the atmosphere in Rupert Street under his direction, that we simply couldn’t resist, even if we were unsteady on our feet from over exuberant liquid consumption, not entirely sure we were stringing sentences together smoothly. Then, in an instant, we were Vauxhall bound & heading for a rendezvous with Micky Galliano, we by now very much worse for wear yet ravenous for audacious & outlandish activity, not just in the clutches of Barcode, but next door in “Love Weekend” opener Onyx, savouring the necessary snippets of both before heading home.
But our week of bar bravado was only just beginning, as more jaunts between Soho & Vauxhall were to ensue, first on the Sunday, courtesy of Rupert Street and a lively Alessandro who treated us to an evening of magical music and in the company of the beautiful bar staff that included the lovely Luca, the sexy Sylvester & the ravenous Remi, which all but rounded off our superb “Love Weekend”, even if a D.J. pal of ours had us agonising over an Abba lyric test, which had us treading tip of the tongue tantalisations in pursuit of the answer, our anguish receiving strange looks by Remi & co. With our lyrical test unresolved, a trip south of the river back to Barcode & the “Sunday’s” special night, with saucy Steve Artis spinning the sounds, was an unplanned stop although the exploits of four clubs & too much indulgence was taking its toll on our alertness and sense of mind.
Then, the very much sealing of our fateful yet fulfilling change in perspective was an unplanned & extraordinary expedition into Soho, the following Tuesday with clubbing pal Joel, an innocent drink turning into a veritable feast of frivolous refreshment fuelled activity, encompassing trips to Rupert Street, Profile Bar, Freedom & eventually Barcode, our night ending in relative sobriety but encountering a few bumps along the way that began to make us think carefully about the drive behind our bar hopping socialising and the evils that it can sometimes turn up. And it was after a few words of observation on our weekly homage to tip top social splendour Industri, in the hands of Minty in masterful control and Brent Nicholls bashing out the beats, that our reflection on the few days just gone resulted in a revelation & reassessment of an element of our lifestyle.
So, our next weekend of socialising was on us once more and a return to the circuit bar hopping that has become so characteristic of our Friday, but with that refreshing new look to our exploits and what & crisp clean & clear direction it was that we had made, enjoying everything that we had done before, although with the pleasure of remembering each & every delectable moment from start to finish. It all kicked off in style at Rupert Street in the hands of the best bar crew around, we benefitting from exemplary service in swish & striking surroundings that are hard to beat, but always being up for a challenge, once again in the space of seven days, we were Profile Bar bound, where Logan Schmitz & his troupe of SuperMartXe-ites were holding their “Hot Wheels” pre-party event. And by gosh do these guys know how to hold a great warm up event, not only festooning the venue with profuse production, but pulling out plenty of stops with drop dead gorgeous dancers & glorious give-aways to ignite interest in its events, attracting quality crowds & press alike, this evening being no exception, especially when fab photographer Chris Jepson appeared clicking his camera naughtily in our direction. In fact everything about the evening at Profile was perfect, Phil Marriot’s music, Logan’s Michael’s & Mauricio’s hospitality, Elektra’s & Enrique’s cutting of a considerable dancing stride, all fantastic, but the for exorbitant pricing for our soft option of lime & soda that would probably drive anyone to drink.
But no Friday would be complete with a trip into The Box and yet again the delightful D.J. Minx was spinning the sounds, our sobriety virtually intact right the way through, meaning our trip home via Vauxhall was as safe as can be and dropping in on Barcode was an absolute breeze, the team were turning out, along with mega international D.J. come club promoter Wayne G, the new venture “Bump”, serving up 70’s, 80’s & 90’s pop inspired music intermixed with more uplifting & commercial house that saw the space well & truly rocking. And it was Barcode that was to also end our weekend of revelation, firstly in the hands of Brent Nicholls in Soho and then Ellliot J Brown in Vauxhall, we enjoying each visit just as much sober as otherwise.
So, you may ask, what is the reason for this review? Well, for us not only does it highlight some of our favourite bar hangouts that carry our full recommendation, whether it be the vibrancy & superb service at Rupert Street, the sophisticated & swish surroundings as well as tip top music offer at Profile Bar, the gAylisting crowd that Covent Garden venue The Box attracts, especially on a Friday when alfresco drinking can rarely be bettered, back across in Soho where Saturday clubbing warm ups reign supreme in the hands of Barcode, or down Vauxhall where bigger sister delivers social splendour excellence from Thursday’s Industri through to their Sunday special. Yes, we cannot praise these venues enough and we just love enjoying each & every one of these bars with our new found outlook on life, our sobriety and all the benefits it brings, as true enlightenment and praise thanks to the perspective provided by a pal. (DISCO MATT)
SOHO TO VAUXHALL – FRIDAY 14TH TO SUNDAY 23RD MAY SPECIAL BAR REVIEW
We definitely lead quite a hectic life, balancing work and play very delicately, although in the pursuit of our passion for clubbing & reporting on the most diverse and prolific gAylist scene we find ourselves within, the “bread & butter” end of our socialising, the bars, sometimes get overlooked. Indeed in recent weeks & months our devotions to clubbing events often see us fail to cover the tireless contribution that a whole host of venues make to our socialising scene in both the gay village hotspots in the capital, Soho & Vauxhall. Therefore, in a slight break in tradition, we take you through a week in our lives encompassing some of these special social hip hangouts, in what was to prove a considerable shift & change in our perspective on a major aspect of our life, that for too long had dominated our social activity and only during this dramatic week of realisation, steered us in a new found & wholesome direction, this review as much a personal reflection as anything else.
So how did this direction change come about? Well, to give you the full flavour of our enlightenment, we have to take you back to the second weekend of May, when the ensuing “Love Weekend” was set to tempt us into all five of its club happenings, as well as a special pre-party at host bar Rupert Street, although with plans to head home straight after work to change, in advance of our weekend of love activity, laid to waste, we were instead pointed in the direction of Soho and what was to become a booze driven bounce around three of our favourite bars. First stop was that pre-party host hangout Rupert Street, a venue that holds dear memories for us and is always generally our anchor watering hole in the west end socialising splendour that is Soho, arriving, on this occasion, not long before 7 p.m., in expectation of the start of the “Love Weekend”. However, with the usual decoration & production absent, coupled with the lack of information as to the D.J. that would be spinning the sounds, 7 p.m. became 8 p.m. became 9 p.m. without anything remotely pre-partying in fashion or mood occurring.
Having changed our plans to encompass this pre-party, we were more that disgruntled with the lack of activity, instead choosing to swap our bar allegiances for the more palatable offering that was Profile Bar on Wardour Street and the splendid sounds of Friday resident, Gaydar radio’s very own Phil Marriot, who was to considerably brighten our evening with both delightful conversation and tremendous tunes, not least a magnificent remix of a favourite track of ours “Disco Electrique”, which had first been brought to our attention by Brent Nicholls and a tune that continues to dominate our personal playlists over nine months down the line. It is fair to say that Profile Bar has become a real favourite of ours and particularly on a Friday when it proves to be the perfect curtain raiser to any weekend, although it would be fair to say that generally ours tends to start on a Thursday in the hands of Minty & co at Industri. However, the sophistication of Profile Bar always strikes resonance with us and certainly gets a thumbs up recommendation.
With our night now back on track, we headed across to Covent Garden hostelry, The Box Bar, where the magnificent D.J. Minx was mastering the music, playing a whole host of our favourite tracks to tempt us to stay the distance. And with the refreshments flowing, we were certainly getting in the mood, sinking more than a jar or two, yet delighting in the amazing atmosphere in this very gAylist gathering of a place, the crowd always extremely pleasing to the eye and exuding the kind of quality seen rarely anywhere else. And that quality also extends to the gorgeous bar staff, who always make us feel so welcome, this Friday frolic being no exception and were it not for the draw on the impending “Love Weekend” of main events, we would have definitely seen out the rest of our night in the hands of The Box & D.J. Minx behind the decks.
But back it was across to Rupert Street we headed, in search of our belongings and prepare to trek home to start our weekend of clubbing proper, although upon arriving back to our Soho base, we were delighted to see Lovechild resident D.J. Phi Hewson behind the decks, serving up a vocal drenched collection of scintillating sounds that certainly extended our stay way past our plans, but so good was Phil’s performance & the atmosphere in Rupert Street under his direction, that we simply couldn’t resist, even if we were unsteady on our feet from over exuberant liquid consumption, not entirely sure we were stringing sentences together smoothly. Then, in an instant, we were Vauxhall bound & heading for a rendezvous with Micky Galliano, we by now very much worse for wear yet ravenous for audacious & outlandish activity, not just in the clutches of Barcode, but next door in “Love Weekend” opener Onyx, savouring the necessary snippets of both before heading home.
But our week of bar bravado was only just beginning, as more jaunts between Soho & Vauxhall were to ensue, first on the Sunday, courtesy of Rupert Street and a lively Alessandro who treated us to an evening of magical music and in the company of the beautiful bar staff that included the lovely Luca, the sexy Sylvester & the ravenous Remi, which all but rounded off our superb “Love Weekend”, even if a D.J. pal of ours had us agonising over an Abba lyric test, which had us treading tip of the tongue tantalisations in pursuit of the answer, our anguish receiving strange looks by Remi & co. With our lyrical test unresolved, a trip south of the river back to Barcode & the “Sunday’s” special night, with saucy Steve Artis spinning the sounds, was an unplanned stop although the exploits of four clubs & too much indulgence was taking its toll on our alertness and sense of mind.
Then, the very much sealing of our fateful yet fulfilling change in perspective was an unplanned & extraordinary expedition into Soho, the following Tuesday with clubbing pal Joel, an innocent drink turning into a veritable feast of frivolous refreshment fuelled activity, encompassing trips to Rupert Street, Profile Bar, Freedom & eventually Barcode, our night ending in relative sobriety but encountering a few bumps along the way that began to make us think carefully about the drive behind our bar hopping socialising and the evils that it can sometimes turn up. And it was after a few words of observation on our weekly homage to tip top social splendour Industri, in the hands of Minty in masterful control and Brent Nicholls bashing out the beats, that our reflection on the few days just gone resulted in a revelation & reassessment of an element of our lifestyle.
So, our next weekend of socialising was on us once more and a return to the circuit bar hopping that has become so characteristic of our Friday, but with that refreshing new look to our exploits and what & crisp clean & clear direction it was that we had made, enjoying everything that we had done before, although with the pleasure of remembering each & every delectable moment from start to finish. It all kicked off in style at Rupert Street in the hands of the best bar crew around, we benefitting from exemplary service in swish & striking surroundings that are hard to beat, but always being up for a challenge, once again in the space of seven days, we were Profile Bar bound, where Logan Schmitz & his troupe of SuperMartXe-ites were holding their “Hot Wheels” pre-party event. And by gosh do these guys know how to hold a great warm up event, not only festooning the venue with profuse production, but pulling out plenty of stops with drop dead gorgeous dancers & glorious give-aways to ignite interest in its events, attracting quality crowds & press alike, this evening being no exception, especially when fab photographer Chris Jepson appeared clicking his camera naughtily in our direction. In fact everything about the evening at Profile was perfect, Phil Marriot’s music, Logan’s Michael’s & Mauricio’s hospitality, Elektra’s & Enrique’s cutting of a considerable dancing stride, all fantastic, but the for exorbitant pricing for our soft option of lime & soda that would probably drive anyone to drink.
But no Friday would be complete with a trip into The Box and yet again the delightful D.J. Minx was spinning the sounds, our sobriety virtually intact right the way through, meaning our trip home via Vauxhall was as safe as can be and dropping in on Barcode was an absolute breeze, the team were turning out, along with mega international D.J. come club promoter Wayne G, the new venture “Bump”, serving up 70’s, 80’s & 90’s pop inspired music intermixed with more uplifting & commercial house that saw the space well & truly rocking. And it was Barcode that was to also end our weekend of revelation, firstly in the hands of Brent Nicholls in Soho and then Ellliot J Brown in Vauxhall, we enjoying each visit just as much sober as otherwise.
So, you may ask, what is the reason for this review? Well, for us not only does it highlight some of our favourite bar hangouts that carry our full recommendation, whether it be the vibrancy & superb service at Rupert Street, the sophisticated & swish surroundings as well as tip top music offer at Profile Bar, the gAylisting crowd that Covent Garden venue The Box attracts, especially on a Friday when alfresco drinking can rarely be bettered, back across in Soho where Saturday clubbing warm ups reign supreme in the hands of Barcode, or down Vauxhall where bigger sister delivers social splendour excellence from Thursday’s Industri through to their Sunday special. Yes, we cannot praise these venues enough and we just love enjoying each & every one of these bars with our new found outlook on life, our sobriety and all the benefits it brings, as true enlightenment and praise thanks to the perspective provided by a pal. (DISCO MATT)
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