Ya gotta End up somewhere (End, The in general)

Member Name: spacelamb

Product:	End, The in general
Date:	24/01/01 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: people & tunes

Disadvantages: gets sweaty very quickly

Remember Ebeneezer Goode? Of course you do. Remember Mr C, the Shamen's frontman? Of course you do. (Naughty naughty, very naughty). In fact if you believed The Sun, he and his cheeky tune were responsible for the whole of the UK's drug problem in the early nineties, so I jolly well hope (young man) that his name is now ringing bells.

Sorry, there was a point to all this. After a time, Mr C became (inevitably) rather bored of inciting EVIL DEALERS TO SELL DRUGS TO CHILDREN AS YOUNG AS THREE OUTSIDE NURSERY GATES, and decided to open a perfectly respectable nightclub instead. The End.

...no wait, I didn't mean I'd finished, that's the name of the club...ho ho...

For me The End represents all the best things about London clubbing, not least the music. They mostly cover techno and hard house, with a trance chill-out room - but have also been known to have D&B nights, and Twice As Nice (garage) is a regular Sunday afternoon event. Their sound system must surely be the best in the city (if you lean on a bass bin it practically spits you off).

It's quite a small venue, but it merged with its sister bar AKA last weekend (literally, not in business terms) which should allow a whole lot more lounging space. The main part of the club consists of only one main room and a chill-out area (containing the only bar). They tend to be sensible about the door though, and only let enough people in to give the club a cosy, rather than crowded, feel. But don't imagine you're going to be able to sit down.

For really big DJs (who generally appear in the summer months) buy your tickets in advance, or get there stupidly early. Last year we failed to get tickets for Laurent Garnier and Sven Vath (on the same night! - price £15, which is quite average for The End). We began our own queue at 9pm, feeling kind of geeky, and were finally let in at 11.30. Most of the queue behind us were turned away, which just goes to sh
ow...um...it's good to be a geek.

(That was actually one of the best nights out I've ever had. Garnier had a live saxophonist with him for tunes from his most recent album - Unreasonable Behaviour - and it sounded absolutely divine).

Security at the door is surprisingly tight (though no dress code), but once inside they overlook a multitude of sins. Yes, you do get a lot of pillheads in there. If you like that scene you'll make friends for life; if you don't, I think you'll find you're having such a good time that you don't even mind the bloke next to you giving you clamped-teeth smiles every few seconds. What you don't get is drunken twats, and that is surely something to be thankful for.

If you behave yourself (or not?) you might even meet Mr C. He plays regular early-night sets (well, 9-10) and then wanders about the place smirking at people. Hurrah.

HOW TO FIND IT!
Get off at Tottenham Court Road tube and go down NEW Oxford Street (not the one with the shops). You should pass Centre Point on your right (that really tall building). Walk for about 5 mins until you get to an unmbrella shop (no, really!) and turn into the next road on the right (West Central Street). All you can see is a scary-looking car park, but turn left round the corner and hey presto! Boom boom boom...

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