tommyB

Some decent line ups that aren't just regurgatated from last year (no names mentioned)

Went down there a few weeks back with a couple of friends and there's no doubt the overhaul has done it some good looks-wise, though it was always a great looking venue. If I'm truly honest I thought the staff were reasonably nice and I did genuinely want it to be good but we ordered 3 Mojitos and, from ordering it took them almost 20 minutes to turn up at our table and we were the only customers in there! Not only that but they were poorly made. Constructively speaking I think that this bar should strip back and get some basics right before writing cheques they can't cash

Big ups guys, been following your stuff since the Ils release and have been hugely impressed with what you're doing. Vote has been cast

Sorry, that wasn't a personal competition to see how many times I could say unique in one sentence!

I'm not knocking them for running a business, what I'm knocking them for being devoid of any responsibility to our city. Another prime example, I went to Manchester this weekend to go to a house party. Was chatting to all the folks there and asked them if they ever went clubbing in Sheffield. They laughed at me. When I asked them to explain why, they said exactly what I wrote before, that there's nothing they can see here that they can't see there. Sheffield has become a non-entity on the national scene and that is a real shame. Of course 99 out of 100 punters will choose a big name over a local DJ or act, what I'm saying is that it would surely make Sheffield a little more unique if these clubs were mixing it up a little and trying to do something a little more unique and bringing in locals that those ***** in Manchester can't just expect to see over there. Yes it would be slightly risky but the rewards would be massive should people from other places start wanting to come here again. All that has happened is that the market threshold for these clubs is just sheffield and a few small towns on the outskirts

Before I begin I would just like to state that this is all my own opinion and I base what I say on what I have observed over my time here. I've lived in Sheffield now for 8 years and I have never seen the state of our nightlife in as poor a state as what it was up until last year. When I first moved here, the city was vibrant with both small and big nights not just competing but working together to give the city a real image of buzz and a projection of quality. The big nights like Gatecrasher, Saturdays @ Bed and Sushi brought together local and wider known talent and, underneath them lay such a great support of quality smaller nights; Phon-etics, UG (back when it an ethos), Tuesday Club, Scuba, Remedy, Lights Down Low, Dub Central, Riddimtion, Head Charge....... I could go on but you get the point. These were the nights we could call our own. That brought and developed sounds within the city, and introduced us to the new, exciting sounds we may have never heard before. Of late, Sheffield has had no small venues to put on these kind of parties. Venues have come and gone with most reverting to some kind of knockout R&B sound in order to pull in the masses. Out of the smaller nights I mentioned before, only UG, LDL, Riddimtion and Dub Central still exist (and I will say fair credit to all of them for that), but out of those four only Dub Central and Riddimtion still stand by their original convictions and from UG and LDL, neither is half the night they used to be, no matter what anyone says. And I'm not blaming them (totally). Both have been messed around from venue to venue and, from all accounts led up the garden path at points, but neither has done themselves any favours at the same time. LDL just let itself get stale and UG saw the dollar signs and forgot what it was originally about. On the other hand, Tuesday Club seems to be playing the "how many times can we book the same DJs in a year" game!!! Ok, harsh words and I'm sure I will receive a certain amount of backlash. But to counter that I will point out that, with the disappearence of Sushi / Gatecrasher / Bed (all the big nights that I mentioned earlier), it was natural that others would have to move in and fill that void and, I'm not gonna blame either Tuesday Club or UG for doing just so. At least both these nights are our own and that is something we can be proud of. It can also be said that both these nights were unlucky as they became big at a time where there were very few smaller nights providing any real obvious talent for them to pick up on. Then came Plug. I'm not gonna go to deep into how I feel about Plug but leat's just say I don't see them nurturing any real Sheffield talent artistically (at least TTC and UG have kept faith with Andy H / Stoaty and brought in Alan Chapman / Kickflip etc) and every line up seems to be directly aimed at knocking out competition. My opinion. I don't even know what night is what or where they really want to go with what they're doing. They just put on big names. Again, I'm not just trying to spot the negatives here. In a perfect world Plug would be praised for the names and acts thay have brought into the city. Some awesome worldwide talent. But in a city that had no backbone of its own dance music wise, surely that's where there responsibility lay first? Surely, these nights should have been trying to take our artists and use their muscle to throw them out onto the bigger scene? Just a thought. If that was the case, surely more people would come from outside that city for our nightlife and surely the market for all thses nights would become bigger. Why would someone from Manchester have wanted to come clubbing in Sheffield? It's not like they have been able recently to see much they can't see there! Anyway, now the picture has been set, i would like to make my main point, which is that last year I finally saw a wealth of new, small nights fighting and managing to impress themselves into the mindset. I can now list off names of several smaller but really quality little nights that have begun to get this city moving again; Club Pony, Kabal, Natural Shy, Razor Stiletto, Bass Bar, Walls of Balls, C90. All of which rely on that base of local talent alongside well chosen acts from outside. From the last year all the best nights I can remember were at these nights and the majority were from Sheffield acts playing alongside the bigger names; Paul Epworth @ Club Pony where I thought the residents totally out played him, Michael J Coxx @ Razor Stiletto, M.I. Loki's outstanding live show before FreQ Nasty @ Natural Shy, and more recently the R8 Records launch party at Bass Bar. All cementing the fact there is some great talent coming through in this city. May I also mention that fact that Kabal has really taken the mantle too. Inspired line ups, always fresh and nearly all coming from our city. Yes, having places like DQ, The Harley and The Runaway Girl have helped massively in this, and yes we need to places to bring in the bigger names consistently but I do believe that the best things are built from within. I'd just love to see the bigger nights and venues use their muscle to help project an image of homegrown quality to the world rather than all the apparent inner city squabbling that seems to have hidden our once great clubbing city into the shadows of rubbish places like Manchester and Leeds (joke). Bring on 2007/2008

The Harley runs 3 of the best independent nights in Sheffield with Wall of Balls, Club Pony and Natural Shy, and for that needs applause. I agree the bar has gone downhill slightly, and I definitely agree about the staff, but Stormy is indeed right- vote with your feet!

To suggest West St live does remotely good cocktails is laughable and, should you know a thing about drinks you would understand that, the less ice in your glass the quicker it melts and detracts from the drink. Plus the temperature is essential as you use it to balance flavours. Clearly you just want more booze, and I'm not sure you're the kind of customer they're looking for anyway, so you might as well drink in Wetherspoons. As for 23, I have drunk cocktails all over the world and they're not bad but recently have let themselves down with some poor drinks. I've never drunk at the Ivory so I can't comment on theirs.

Blimey, she turned up then!

Do you work there?!!

Where is the Dam House, I've never heard of it!!

2 steps without a doubt!

7 spices is amazing, haven't been to the other one

Yeah ebay is actually not a bad idea

i wonder where that happened before!!