London Clubs

Like a good dessert or post-dinner cigarette, the after-party is regarded as an essential part of London clubbing – sometimes eclipsing the main event. Today, the city is awash with after-hours fun. Big events provide 'official' after-hours playgrounds, and clubbers admit to holding back during the main event in anticipation of the 'real' party.

Since licensing hours were extended in 2003, the frame of partying has been reset – it's no longer all about Saturday night – you can find a heaving dancefloor any hour of the day or night. Like your music hard and pounding in the darkness? Or ticking away in a listed Victorian toilet at lunchtime? It's about preferences; working hours, what time your other half/parents/kids expect you home. Barney from Lost Souls is one promoter who has benefited from the extended licensing laws:

'The change has created the ability for promoters to cater for all types of clubbers at all times of the day and night. We get a lot of people coming to our day parties who work in bars or other clubs and want to unwind after work. We also get people who want to go clubbing but don't want to turn in as the sun is rising. Flexible hours allow us to do that.'

Club Aquarium, the den of after-party iniquity, houses three of London's most notorious: D-Late, Insomnia and Redlight, all rammed week in week out. Rich NxT is a promoter and resident at D-Late:

'People definitely hold back for after-parties. One reason is because they are forced to! Many establishments in Shoreditch and Old Street have to close at 3 or 4am. Even warehouse parties have to close at 4.30-5am. So people are already forced into the 'next place' if they want their night out to carry on even a bit longer.'

This could be one reason for the success of places like the Aquarium. Clubbers can turn up to D-Late at 5am and dance till 11am, safe in the knowledge that the night will run and run. Rich NxT believes the after-party hype is about people craving variety:

'If your night out is longer and spread out, you see different mates, hear different styles of music and experience many types of venue; be it cocktails at one venue, sound systems at another or craziness at the last, each place has a unique feature. 16 hours out in three different places is a lot more fun than 10 hours at one.'

Rich agrees that there are those for whom a night out lasts all weekend:

'There is another group of people who just want to carry on until Sunday morning, afternoon or night. For me this is an extension of when you all used to go back to your mates house after a club. 24 hour licensing has allowed this to happen.'

Legal after-parties have spread like a rash since they were given the green light, but lately there has been a shift away from the 'carry-on' and a movement towards the day-time party. secretsundaze, the day-rave that has sold out nearly every venue it's appeared in is a case in point. Punters tend to be the connoisseurs, the 'serious' clubbers, those with techno in the blood. They want a party peopled with a compos mentis crowd not after-party munters, and to be able to dance without getting hassle from people who have been rolling for days. Barney from Lost Souls realized people treating the event as an after-party was detrimental:

'When we first started doing Saturdays at Public Life, under the name 'Bogged Out' our clientele was mainly the after-party crowd – but they could be quite edgy. As we open at 11am some people were in a right mess by the time they showed up and really should have gone to bed hours before. People in a normal state were put off coming and there was sometimes attitude or just too many wasted people. We were losing regulars, less women where coming because they felt intimidated and the venue was not happy because those who had been out all night were not buying enough drinks. The parties were not fun to run most of the time.

Earlier this year we relaunched 'Bogged Out' as 'Lost Souls: Techno Club'. The change in dogma re-branded our party from an 'after-after-party' to a 'day time party'. We wanted fresh-faced ravers at our door at 11am after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast. Since the change we have had a much better party, the atmosphere is friendly, there are lots more girls and less really twisted people.'

Whether it's a marathon-type weekend you crave, or a dip in the deep waters of techno after a picnic in the park, if you'd rather get your dancing done before dinner and be in bed by midnight or sprawl through the weekend in a cross-eyed daze, trailing sweat and sambucca into work on Monday, London will oblige you. In these heady days of anything-goes clubbing, the choice is yours. You can fit your fun around your commitments and get your dancefloor fix whenever you need it. London clubbing caters for all. That's part of the reason it's so bloody great.


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