I want to be entertained

Most people have heard of Cardiff’s crazy Saturday night life. The combination of the University and the boozed up Welsh obviously make for a great photo opportunity as Maciej Dakowicz (nope, not a Typo..), a photographer who lives in Cardiff has found.

Capturing the lighter side of a night out, Maciej has managed to snap over fifty images of Cardiff’s Saturday nights. He has managed to capture the brilliance of a night out without focusing too heavily on the bad points.. It makes for a very interesting collection and a great insight into nightlife and the tom foolery people get up to.

Probably worth a look if you are interested. Search for Maciej Dakowicz Flickr.

In my humble opinion, The Mill Stone in Macclesfield has a lot of the essentials of a great ‘night out’ pub:

Jukebox: Its funny how such a small edition can make a pub fantastic. The edition of a juke box where you can put on all your favorite songs on is a truly great addition.

Atmosphere: You tend to get a lot of really great people in the Mill Stone. I’ve had some really great pool tournaments in there. Really good laugh.

Drinks: Average price, but they doo all the important beers.. Fosters, Guinness and a good selection of spirits.

Pool Tables, Dart Board and Football on the Telly: Yup pretty self explanatory this one, but it can really help with a nigh out if there is something to do while you s

The good old Aussies have come under fire for a Melbourne drinking hole has started offering drinks to women who remove their underwear.

The Saint Hotel in Melbourne is currently promoting a night called No Undie Sundie: A once a week event where woman are encoraged to take off their underwear and hand it over to whichever dirty, letchy old barman is working that night in order to recieve a $50 drink voucher.

The Saint Hotel is no stranger to controversy – in June the pub was slammed for hiring a dwarf to pour free liquor down patrons’ throats.

I guess the more publication these sorts of places get, the more that it will happen.. I for one am strong believer that as long as the woman are not forced or coaxed into the deal, its up to them.

And in the end of the day– nice girls don’t remove their pants infront of horrible letchy barmen.

OK, if neither Wetherspoons nor The Grapes suit your fancy, you have a great range of other places. Here are my favorites:

1. Litten  Tree: Pretty much Wetherspoons  re-labeled. Cheap drinks, music and usually a fairly decent crowd really easy to get in no matter how drunk you are. Happy days.
2. Casa: Uber stylish and over 25s only, this place is the bee’s knees. It’s full of little booths and VIP sections. Drinks are predictably expensive, but its a great little place. Pity they knocked down the Wimpy fast food restaurant to build it though.
3. Surgery: A fairly decent rock night out. Sticky floors and buy one get one free bottles. The inner student inside everyone will love this place.
4. Chicago Rock & New York New York: No exactly my favorite places in the world, but might still be worth a look. You might be wise to steer clear of the mirrored stairs if you have had a few though.

OK, so if you want to move the partying up a notch, you are pretty limited for choice. Your best bet would be Zanzibar.

Being the only decent club in Stafford Zanzibar has the major advantage as pretty much everyone from Stafford heads there after dark.

You can usually get in free before 10:00 although sometimes you can grab some fliers off people in the street that give you free entry after 10:00 or a free drink or something.

Special note: don’t annoy the bouncers in Zanzibar. I have seen too many people being dragged by their haunches and literally thrown out the door. It can be a little rough.

Ok, I did a series on Telford a couple of days ago, I thought it went quite well, SO figured i would do another series on Stafford.

After being a student in Staffordshire University for 4 years, I think i more than qualify to talk about every hidden gem and decent drinking hole in the area.

To start off with (as always) there is a Wetherspoons. Nothing special here.. Just a standard wetherspoons pub in an old picture house. It makes for a pretty good location, with plenty of cheap drinks, seats and some pretty decent old movie posters on the walls (I still need to find a copy of The 50ft Woman Poster).

Moving on You can sample some pretty awesome live music in “The Grapes” pub, situated fairly close to the Wetherspoons. The Grapes has had some pretty decent surprise live acts that tend to just turn up whenever. Pop in and have a look-see if you are into live music, jam nights, and all-round rock awesomeness.

More on Stafford tomorrow.

If you are after a less ‘leary’ night then you could always check out Telford’s wealth of quiet pubs. There are plenty of them in Telford.. but you do have to hunt them out a bit.. probably best off asking a Taxi Driver where to go. Other than the Wetherspoons in the center, I would recommend the Lion Inn in Priorslea- Plenty of real, local ales in a small, traditional looking pub.

Telford also has a giant Cinema with plenty of screens, so if you are after a movie and are in the Telford area, I would head for the Odeon. The main shopping center seems to have all the major shops if you are up for that kind of thing.

So that was Telford in 3 posts.

If you don’t fancy a night in Pussycats, your best bet would be the Coco Lounge. First off, the place is a bit of a dive.. It can get so unpleasantly hot in there it becomes quite important to have an ice cold beer in your hand, just to keep cool. You then spend half of the night alternating between the dance floor for 20 minutes then diving outside or under one of the woefully inadequate air conditioners.

The RnB room can get pretty nasty too.. It gets absolutely crammed full of people all sweating like anything, the regular people that go there seem to like it that way though..  Personally I would prefer it if it had some decent ventilation. That’s me though..

So yeah, I worked in Telford for a while and thought it could do with a bit of a plug as a decent night out.. As glum as it sounds, Telford is infact brilliant.

The brilliant Pussycats in Wellington (close to Telford) has 2 massive rooms: one for RnB and one for the most awesome glow stick induced trance music. Bring plenty of cash though.. It gets really expensive and there isn’t a cash machine for miles.

The major down side to Telford is that there is nothing in the center. By nothing I mean absolutly nothing. The Wetherspoons shuts at around 10:00 and from there you are best off getting a Taxi (or drive if you are still sober) to Wellington (about £6.00 worth). Because the shopping center will be shut and the there is nothing but car parks for miles.

There will be more on Telford tomorrow. Stay Tuned

I know a previous poster along with others have a difference in opinion on Wetherspoons, but I can’t think off the top of my head where better to start off a night. Think about it..
If you were new to an area, don’t know the night life at all and want to show your friends from back home a good night out in town. What better place to start..
You are pretty much guaranteed a good crowd there, cheap drinks (although I admit a little stale sometimes) and you can always ask someone at the bar where the best place to head after a few.
I usually start a night off in Wetherspoons no matter where I am. I don’t stay for long, but it always makes a great meeting point.
I guess my point is: Saying All Wetherspoons rubbish is nothing short of well, rubbish.