There has been yet more things in the media and on the news in the past week about alcohol and how its wiping out the planet, killing everyone who comes into contact with it like its anthrax. Newcastle City Council are doing their “we’re doing something about it” part, by slamming the promotion that The Attic or “people at the Attic” decided to run.

The Attic decided to house a “lets all get drunk” style of night, called Trashed which was supposed to run every Tuesday. However The Council have now decided that this is far too extreme, calling a night trashed and advertising it with statements such as “If you are sober enough to drive home at 3am we’ll give you your entry fee back”. The night got cancelled.

There is some group of losers called “Balance” who are the first alcohol agency aka the “we dont want you to have a good time” brigade. Their director, Colin Shevills said something interesting which was:

“This is one of the most outrageous and irresponsible drinks promotion offers I have ever witnessed. “Two things worry me about it: the alcohol is so cheap and it makes it seem totally harmless, which it is not.
“The thing that is new to me is that it seems to be rewarding people who get the most drunk.”

OK MR Shevills, i ask you, have you EVER had a night out in Newcastle? I dont think so. If you have, then you will find that MANY of the bars offer drinks promotions, free shots on entry, buy x and get y free, the list is endless. So why has this been singled out? Is it the name, Trashed? Maybe.

OK, so the bar should probably not encourage binge drinking, that is fair enough. But why do these people not understand you have to be an adult to buy alcohol, and if i want to drink myself into oblivion then i will. If i want to have a pint then i will do that. I am an adult and i will choose what i drink and how much i will drink. If people want to drink lots then they will, regardless of things such as price. If for example a bottle of alcopop goes from £3.50 a bottle to £10 (lets exaggerate a bit) people will move onto something else like vodka, because you get more drunk on that. If people want to get drunk for the sake of it then they will simply buy whatever happens to be the cheapest form of alcohol. You cannot price everyone out of it, because bars would loose money and most would have to close.

The promotion just highlighted that it wanted you to get drunk, in reality all the bars want you to be drunk, because being drunk means you are spending money. So why dont the Council remove all the licences for the bars which run any kind of promotion, then we will have literally a handfull of bars, which means Newcastle, “A great night out” will have lots and lots of empty buildings and look terrible. Does this mean that ‘all you can eat’ places and things of that nature should be closed down, because that encourages obesity? Kiss goodbye to the Tourism/student money Council people

Newcastle nightlife is for people who want to have a good time. We do not need a bunch of suit wearing morons to tell us how to have a night, espeically when they clearly do not have a clue what is going on. Seriously, get with the program.

I have never been to the bar part of The Attic for so long. I decided to go back and see how it was doing, well if it were a person it would be on life support!

The place has gone so far downhill it is more sad than funny. Last time i was there it was called the Ruby Lounge, which was a long time ago. When i was in there, there was us and 1 group of people, and i laughed and never went back. The place was supposed to be one of the new trendy bars, and it was, for a while. They managed to run it into the ground (maybe hence the name?), giving it a pretentious label and having rude doormen. Well, all that has changed. The place is so small and empty they do not need doormen at all, let alone rude ones.

The decor inside was chic and contemporary; Fast forward to today and it really does look like a building site. Exposed brickwork does not work for this place at all, and the inside seems to be tiny now. As you walk in there is the bar on the right with floor space and a few seats, and thats pretty much it! A far cry from when it opened and there were floors (3 floors?!) of bars, flair barmen, good music. Its all gone!

Its been replace by the building site which it is today. Small, charva-esque, empty. The clientele have gone from young and mature to people who take plastic bottles filled with vodka out of their handbag to top up their glass of coke they just bought (yep, it did happen).

I would laugh, but it is beyond laughing at. It is sad and a Shame. R.I.P Ruby Lounge, The Attic, G Bar, Ground Floor at the Attic, and whatever it will be called next.

The Attic, G Bar, Ground Floor, Whatever its calling itself these days, do people still go here?

As far as i know, the “club” part is called ‘The Attic’. The bar is now called Ground floor at the Attic or something like that.

Anyway, i have been in a few times, the last time was in the bar, it was about 20:30 so a good time, in the middle of the summer, and there was us and 1 group of 4 people in the place! Empty! I was also there on my birthday (not my idea) at the club and that place was also pretty sparce, not many people at all. Why? Well because there are other, better places to go. It is no reputation as a club, and as a bar its another one with no identity; is it a cheap bar? (no) is it classy, trendy? not really. It has nothing to it. It has no brand, it doesnt know what kind of people it is aiming to get thru its doors, so its a mix of charva and trendy, old and young, and for a music ‘wanabe cool’ kind of place it definatly is not going to get many repeat customers.

People also say since the smoking ban came in the place just stinks. Not really the best advert to get people in.

Anyway, they do at least get some customers, here is the proof!