My 2 Pints
This city is awash with themed nights nowadays. 70s nights and 80s nights are the major culprits, those eras seemingly having the most outlandish and kitsch combination of music and fashion. 90s themes are sparse and only really in what can barely be called classic 90s music, the fashion aspect is only 90s if the venue is actually 20 years out of touch. 60’s or earlier doesn’t really cut it either, as even though some of the music is still popular today the word Mixer can never be as cool as Disco or Rave.
The Renaissance Rooms down in happy-go-lucky Vauxhall astutely takes great advantage of the current fad. Vauxhall strikes me as a kind of place that’d be quite rough on a night out. I’m not sure why, as it’s notorious for its lively gay scene. Although I’ve not tried (probably because of the unfounded assumption that it’s rough), I wouldn’t expect there to be a hetero scene breaching on anything similar. This means that the Renaissance Rooms venue, albeit not out of the way, only a few minutes walk from the bus/tube station, is a lone gunman amongst the wild west of the night. What I mean is, if you’re looking for an unplanned bar-hop kind of night, you won’t find it here. If you come here for the night, you’re there for the duration.
The £12.50 (Friday) and £15 (Saturday) entry fee alone sees to that. And even if you’d just won the pools say, there’d be nowhere else in the area to spend it, save perhaps one working men’s style pub, so malnourished of punters, it might as well advertise itself with a ‘Free Beatings for the Blind’ Banner. Besides, the Renaissance Rooms fans know what they’re getting themselves in for, many come dressed up in disco gear, or neon coloured spandex. Then of course there are the people who’ve somehow mistaken the Roller Disco for some sort of make believe Olympic roller-skate dancing training camp.
That’s basically the issue, although it is a bar, it does have a licence to sell alcohol, and people do drink and get drunk there, I wouldn’t advise it to be seen as one. Obviously you can’t have a drink in your hand whilst rolling about, and if you are to do any rolling (if not, what’s the point of paying £15 for the privilege?) you get so hot and dehydrated, that your drink of choice must be water should you not wish to collapse in the middle of the rink, and have 30 middle aged women on a hen night, circle you like a cheese-fuelled nightmare of your mum’s 50th.
Having said that, if the venue is seen as an event, like a trip to the zoo, a museum, or paintballing, then it is a fun night. Who needs to get drunk anyway, just have a good time.
You’ll certainly tick that box.
BEER SELECTION: Poor. Only a couple of bottles or cans to choose from, but water should be all you’re after. ***
COST OF A ROUND: £15 in, but only water from there means a cheap night. ****
STAFF: Hardly any, just behind the bar working their asses off. ***
FOOD: It’s a club, no food. ***
SKIRT RATIO: Very good. Mix of tasteful with tasteless, everyone’s having fun and therefore friendly. ****
Overall: Great night, lot’s of fun. Cheap too if you don’t drink. ****
Renaissance Rooms - Vauxhall - Brought to you by James Wormald -