Flambe (Flambe Cocktail Bar (Lytham))

Member Name: abyznw

Product:	Flambe Cocktail Bar (Lytham)
Date:	06/12/08 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great drinks, nice venue

Disadvantages: Rude staff, slightly expensive

Flambe is a Champagne and Cocktail bar in Lytham for people over 21. It is part of the Chicory brand who also have an upmarket restaurant and cafe in the area.
It is open 5 days a week, Wed, Thurs & Sun from 6pm to 11pm, and Fri & Sat from 6pm to midnight. It is situated above the Chicory restaurant on 5 Henry Street, Lytham, Lancashire FY8 5LE and can be contacted on 01253 737111. I recently went there for a friends birthday and thought I would write a review!

The place: Flambe is quite a small venue, just one floor with one bar, a small amount of standing space and about ten leather sofas to sit on, so when it gets busy it can be a bit of a squash! The lighting is always very atmospheric, but a little too dark for my liking, and the décor is very modern and contemporary. It has a relatively central location, just off the main square in Lytham, so it is close to a number of other bars, pubs and restaurants, but miles away from any clubs!
Apparently Flambe also occasionally features DJs and local bands (They recently had a band called On The Edge playing there, but the place is so small I have no idea where they fit them!).

The punters: The majority of people at Flambe tend to be in their late 20s, being 21 we seemed the youngest there by quite a few years. It is the sort of place to go if you want to get dressed up - definitely not a trackies and t-shirt kind of place, more cocktail dresses and dress jeans. It's often the place to go after dinner at one of the many nice restaurants in Lytham (such as the Chicory or Portofino's - which is across the road).

The drinks: I stuck strictly to cocktails, so unfortunately I can't comment much on the other drinks, although it seemed that they had a wide range of wines, champagne, spirits and a few beers, all at varying prices. The cocktails are definitely the best feature of Flambe, I stuck to my usual Cosmo but there were over 15 on offer, ranging from the fruity to the extremely alcoholic, and also the alcohol free! Price wise they are a little on the expensive side at £6, but I think they were definitely worth it.

The staff: The biggest gripe I had with this place was the staff. Me and my friends stood at the bar for at least 10 minutes before getting served, despite the fact that the place was not horrendously busy, we were right in front of the bar man and till, and repeatedly tried to make eye contact with him. He deliberately didn't make eye contact with us (no idea why!), and by the 3rd person he served before us we were starting to get annoyed. The only reason he served us in the end was because a nice guy who was about to get served insisted that the bar man served us first seeing as we had been waiting there longer. Another member of staff took our 'empty' glasses off us - two of us were still using them, and they didn't ask if we had finished with them.

My opinion: Overall I really like Flambe - it is trendy, fun and sells a great variety of drinks. The venue is small but has a really nice vibe, and it is a great place to go for after dinner drinks. On the downside it can be expensive, and the staff were really quite rude, but I would still recommend it.

Summary: Overall a nice place to go for a drink after dinner.