Clubs

‘It’s cheaper. Nicer. Safer. Much easier to park.’ Gary Sewell of Sintillate isn’t talking about the latest nippy hatchback but comparing Saturday night clubbing in the heart of the City with the pitfalls of partying in the West End. ‘Going out in the City can be a better night altogether, and you don’t get all the other things that go with the West End,’ he says, mentioning ‘the 20 street teams trying to hustle tourists and passers-by into their venues; the fickle party crowd always hopping from one club to the next, so it’s hard to build an atmosphere; and alarming door and drink prices. People get fed up with being charged £7 for a beer or £11 for a vodka and Red Bull.’
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Gary and his brother Glen know ‘West Wonderland’ intimately, having promoted Sintillate in up to 100 venues over the past nine years, including the likes of Aura, Pangaea, The Embassy, Tokyo Joe’s, Sugar Reef and Red Cube. They’re not about to turn their backs on the West End entirely (a new Sintillate party starts at Studio Valbonne in Kingly Street on Friday), but the phenomenal success of their Saturday nights at Revolution Leadenhall suggests to him that ‘the City is the future’.

‘We needed to create a destination venue,’ says Gary, ‘somewhere to spend the whole night, and Revolution is fantastic for that.’ The Revolution vodka bar group spent £5 million converting an imposing former Midland Bank opposite the Lloyds Building into a spectacular three-floor venue which opened in September. It has a 50-metre bar on ground level, a dancefloor in the basement and an amazing vault (complete with the original safe-deposit boxes and ten-inch-thick steel doors) for those who fancy a private dining experience.

The vault doesn’t come cheap, and many of their regulars choose to book £500 minimum-spend tables around the dancefloor (‘but you get five bottles of spirits rather than two or three in many West End clubs,’ explains Gary), yet clubbing in such salubrious surroundings needn’t be expensive. Admission is £7 before 9pm and a two-course dinner can cost just £10, while £5.50 buys a double vodka and mixer at Revolution.

Like other Square Mile clubs, its competitive bar prices aren’t increased at weekends. But you’ll need to be on the Sintillate email list and get there early to join the dressed-up twenty- and thirtysomethings at their funky house and electro, R&B and disco night. By 10pm it’ll be one-in, one-out, but hardly anyone leaves. ‘It’s like we’ve taken a big West End club and planted it two miles east,’ says Gary happily.

A year ago, nobody would have dreamed that a 900-capacity City club night could sell out every weekend. Until now most successful Saturday nighters in the City have been monthlies which appeal to specific nationalities or relatively specialised scenes, as there’s little passing trade. DJ Ritu’s brilliant Bollywood night, Kuch Kuch, packs Alibi each month; fans of ’70s and ’80s soul are drawn to Soul Network at Apt, the Kpop Team attract Korean and Oriental clubbers to Abacus, which is where the Asiana magazine crowd get in carnival mood on Saturday. Meanwhile, venues like Agenda cater to crowds which are almost exclusively Bulgarian or Ghanaian, Mauritian or Russian. These ‘A’-list venues are among eight clubs in the City owned by Novus Leisure and programmed by Barry Eaton.

As a DJ and experienced promoter (remember Ping Pong Pussy?), Eaton understands what established promoters look for and is keen to attract established club brands, which is why he’s pushed for Novus’ largest venue, the 850-capacity Abacus, to install a Funktion One sound system, and been rewarded by Ministry of Sound stalwarts Soul Heaven moving in there from April 5.

Generally speaking, the Square Mile has few residents to worry about, unlike Shoreditch up the road, and many more promoters are considering the area. ‘The City used to be so quiet at weekends,’ chuckles Eaton, ‘that the police probably used to be have a nap in Snow Hill station on Saturday nights, but most venues are busy now. We vet the nights closely to ensure that there’s no trouble,’ he adds, ‘but the police are well aware that City nightlife is going to grow and keep on growing.’

Sintillate is at Revolution Leadenhall and returns on March 15.
Asiana presents Samba Night is at Abacus on March 8.