Well well, it seems like the good people of Blu Bambu seem to be listening to us…The place has been closed for ages, and undergoing a refurb, and a “new club” is opening tonight…

We have been saying for such a long time that its crap, its tired, old, has nothing to offer, and you have been telling us the same.

We say new, its called “Bambu” instead of Blu Bambu…Not much of a change there. What else do they have? Well cheap drinks, they broadcast to Metro radio on a Friday night, and offer dancefloor classics from all the decades…That sounds like pretty much the same club to me!

A crowd winner would be “new door staff and new attitudes”, since that was there biggest problem before.

They are going to offer “Something the North East has never seen before”, and I have no idea what that could be, i dont believe them for some reason.

If we are privilaged enough to get into the building i will give it a proper review, until then you may aswell read the old reviews, i am guessing it wont have changed.

One of the good things about the nightlife in Newcastle is you can pretty much walk around all of the areas, as in distance they are all quite close, but in style all very different. But which is the best?

The main areas of Newcastle can be broken down to: The Gate, The Diamond Strip/Central Station, The Bigg Market and The Quayside.

What is considered cool/popular has changed alot. A few years ago the Quayside was a cool place to go, everyone went, clubs like Sea and Baja would be packed with massive queues. Then the people outside of Newcastle found out about it. Now there are stag and hen parties as far as the eye can see, and the locals by majority go to other places. I was in Quilted Camel a few months ago, 21:00 on a Friday night, and there was a handful of people there. Rewind a few years and you wouldnt be able to move. Have the Stag and Hens spoiled the Quayside, or are there now just more/better choices?

Blu Bambu @ the Bigg Market was also considered one of the best Saturday nights out in Newcastle. With big queues, a packed club every week, it was doing good for itself. They destroyed all that themselves by not moving with the times, and forgetting that all the people they would not let in went to other places, never to return. Soon enough they lost the ability to draw a crowd.

Today the place to be is the Central Station area, aka The Diamond Strip. Bars like Madame Koo, Perdu, Bijoux etc. People have a love of trendy bars at the moment, with nice decor, ‘posh’ feel, and a “no cheese allowed here” view. The problem i have with them is the price tag and attitude which goes with some of them. If they are upmarket, why do some of them sell cheap spirits? I hate the places which sell cheap vodka or cheap Martini, to me its like a shop selling a fake. If you go to these places and pay more you expect to get better standard drinks, which is why we go, to drink!

So i would say the best area is The Diamond Strip. BUT, it does depend on what kind of night you want. If you are into a cheesy mood, try The Gate and bars around the Bigg Market.

Leave a comment to have your say

The panic is now over…For Sea and Blu Bambu it’s “business as usual”…..At least that is what they are telling their customers.

You know something is wrong when you have the clubs having to tell their customers not to worry and its all good, i have never had to be told by bars before that “dont worry its business as usual”.

IF i give one of these places a last visit it will be Sea. They are offering the best deals, aswell as being probably the best club which is in this mess.

They are offering £1 sambuca and tequila shots, bottles of Corona and Smirnoff Ice for £1.50 but my favourite offer of theirs has to be £40 bottles of spirits with 2 jugs of mixers. Unfortunatly i doubt very much these are premium spirits, since other places charge double for these. I would be happy to go and get a bottle of vodka with Redbull if they are selling Absolut. Another bad point to this is that these offers are for FRIDAY and not Saturday.

Blu Bambu, who’s owners PBR are in administration appear to be getting desperate in order to get some money in and make their club look busy.

The once hard to get into club now hands out these flyers like sweets, tempting people to go to Blu Bambu with free entry.

Only a few years ago if you actually wanted to go into this place you would have to get their early, as doors opened. After around 11PM they would have a big queue and turn people away for no reason, other than they could. It got the reputation of being a pretty good party club, but dont bother going because you wont get in or you’ll have to spend 4 or more hours in the place. Rude bouncers turned away people, they charged stupid prices to get into a club which was pretty standard in terms of they didnt offer anything special such as a big named DJ.

Fast forward to 2009 and you will see that they are in big trouble. Since they have alienated the majority of people who wanted to go to this place they are left with no customers. No customers means no money coming in and that doesnt look good for parent company PBR. I have no sympathy for this club at all, it is probably the most unwelcoming club in Newcastle, and now they are trying their best to fix that by offering free entry. Blu Bambu’s target market is the 18-24yr olds, however since its opening these people have grown up and moved on, and the people who have taken their place are all finding somewhere better to go, and go out far less. It is too little, too late.

The place is stuck in 2002, which i have said previously here. If you left Newcastle in 2002 and went back to Blu Bambu today it would be exactly the same. Other places have moved with the times, Bambu has not which is one of its mistakes. The place may be saved with a rebranding, however it would take a huge makeover and a complete revamp (staff, style, decor, music, attitude) for people to believe it had changed, and since PBR is in administration there is no money to do that.

So Blu Bambu, i dont think i am alone in saying:

Sorry Lads, Not tonight, i’ll try somewhere else.

Owners of many of the bars in Newcastle, PBR (Premium Bars and Restaurants) formally known as Ultimate Leisure have gone into administration. This is after a £48Million deal to buy the company fell apart.

3 establishments have been closed with immediate effect, which are Rewind in Newcastle, Advocate in Belfast and Sea nightclub in Glasgow.

They have debts of over £40Million, purchasing “The Living Room” chain in 2007 for £32Million with bank lending.

This means that many of Newcastle bars and clubs could be facing last orders, including Chase, Blu Bambu, Jimmyz, Sea Nightclub and The Living Room.

Personally i hope that The Living Room and Chase get bought out, and maybe Sea. The others can remain closed until someone rents the buildings and changes them into a better, profit making places. I have been saying for a long time here, here, and  here, that Blu Bambu needs a change, maybe this is a good thing to happen for the drinkers in the town. Give us a great nightclub again!!!

Ever wondered how a nightclub is made? Well i have found a video of the making of Blu Bambu. Its good to see exactly how it was constructed. It is in need of a serious makeover once again, with a new marketing strategy; It is now old and boring, and has fell way behind other places like Digital, Tiger Tiger, Tup Tup Palace and Sea. 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fa6s4AvxPE[/youtube]

Blu Bambu is still not good. The quality of people in here and the atmosphere says it all, it is not a top night out, and is falling behind other places.

I had not been for a while and decided to go back in for another try. The place has not changed, and that is not a good thing. It is still stuck in the past, it feels so drab, it has nothing new to offer. Clubs in Newcastle are constantly changing, keeping up with the times, constantly updating their presence. Blu Bambu however feels like the same place it did in 2002. It was not that bad back then, as it had a decent crowd at times, but now the crowd have gone on to better places, i cant say i blame them. Them, just like me, did not like the place because of its own sense of self importance, the door staff were unfriendly not letting people in for no reason, and now those people have moved on to better places like Tiger Tiger only up the road, or Tup Tup Palace just 5 minutes walk away.

The one and only thing going for Blu Bambu is the music. They do play a nice selection of club bangers, from House to Hip Hop, it is good. But that comes at a price with paying on the door and paying club prices for drinks. I recommend going to a good late bar, Newcastle has a huge number of these now, and they are better value and a better place to be than Blu Bambu.

They now seem to get a huge number of theme parties, stag/hen parties in the place. They are clearly trying their best to get business, and any business possible. They also do a student night through the week, to draw in the students. Unfortunatly the student season is now over, and when it is on there are alot of options, all of which are better.

I would recommend you go elsewhere for a night out. This place is good for stag and hens. If you are 20 something – 30 something i do not recommend this place. Instead i would try Tiger Tiger near the gate complex, or go to the central station area and go to a late bar such as Revolution, or Perdu, which is open till 3AM on Saturdays.

The kiddies were out in force in Blu Bambu last night (Wednesday). Here are the pics