Reflex, Birmingham

Went to Reflex a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised. For the first time in history we encountered a reasonable bouncer, who agreed to overlook the fact that a couple in our party fell a bit short of the dress code, and did so in a very good-humoured manner. Inside the club was busy but not packed, I'm an '80's music fan so the entertainment was first rate, and the crowd seemed generally friendly and up for a good time. The only down note is mentioned by others below - completely short staffed at the bar. And if the owners think they are saving money this way I'd suggest they are wrong as a couple of extra hands behind the bar would have meant they'd have served loads more drinks and taken in far more than the extra staff costs. Overall an 8/10, a rating I wouldn't have dreamed possible when we were queuing.

13 Aug 2007 17:24

The Queen Mary, Embankment

A friend and I foolishly attempted to go to the Queen Mary last Friday. The deck looked at most half full, but because this is London the bouncers were running one of those queues to try to make it look all exclusive and desirable. But it was a nice evening and people seemed to be coming and going, so we figured we'd wait a bit. After 20 mins (during which the number of people who left was easily twice the number they'd let in) we were next in the queue. At which point, out of the blue, a bouncer came from the inside of the boat and announced, "There's about 50 people too many on board, so we have to wait for them to leave before we can let any more people on." We declined the tantalising opportunity to continue to wait.

There's nothing I like more than attempting to go into a crappy pub, then being treated like a dog by a team of bouncers who I am quite certain would struggle to spell "cat" if you gave them the "c" and the "a". Do yourself and the rest of London a favour, don't ever go to this pub, and with a bit of luck it will go out of business, and the bouncers and management will die of starvation (or stupidity).

12 Jun 2006 15:41