If you want to hear an amazing DJ check out DJ Jaguar Skills, who is at Rev tonight!

He has been touring doing all the Revolution bars, i have only just heard about this now otherwise i would be there…I still make have to go down!

Hooooooooooooooooo!

Newcastle nights out is all about the weekend. The bars are usually always full, for the last few weeks the bars on the diamond strip have had pretty big queues outside them. So what happens through the week? NOTHING! Its amazing to see places like Perdu and Floritas which get queues reguarly on Saturday night, being empty on a midweek night. I was in Perdu and Floritas, in each bar there couldnt have been more than 20 people in at any 1 time. I was gonna go into Baby Lynch but it was so sparse (i mean no staff aswell as no people) i didnt know if it were open or not.

Revolution was doing slightly better, but nowhere near what its like at the weekend. Still it got a few people in it which was more than any other bar around the area.

I guess if you wanna go out through the week the only place to go is the Gate, which does get decent numbers of people in.

This is a bar crawl idea if you want to go to more upmarket/trendy bars in Newcastle. It will suit you if:

You like to spend money
You are young-mature age 21-35
You like House Music/Ambiant music
You like drinking cocktails, or more high end drinks
You dress to impress

Is this you? Then read on….

Bars you will go to:

Destination (2 drinks)
Tokyo (1 drink)
Revolution (2 drinks + shots)
Madame Koo (1 drink)
Baby Lynch (1 drink)
Floritas (1 drink)
Perdu (1 drink)
Tup Tup Palace (many drinks)
Total Drinks: 9+
Total Cost: £50-£60+ (not including club entry fee or club drinks)

The bars you will be going to are all in the same area, the central station area. Dress code is smart casual. First bar is Destination, which is next to the station hotel. If its early enough you can take advantage of their happy hour, where you can get 2for1, free drink, half price or full price by pressing the button when you get your drink. This bar can get packed at times, there are 2 bars inside with seating, aswell as many TVs and an outside area for people who smoke.

When leaving turn right and follow the road round the bend and you will get to Tokyo. This bar might be hard to miss, at it looks like a little door and nothing more, and is on its own. Get yourself a cocktail once inside, you can chill downstairs or upstairs in this place.

When leaving turn left cross the road and head back up to the bar on the corner which is Revolution, it is hard to miss. Here you can enjoy a cocktail, have one of many different kinds of vodka drinks, or get you and your mates a rack of shots, which i highly reccommend. If you are going with a few people a Jug (pitcher) of something is a must; i advise Absolut Chambles (Vodka, Champagne, Redbull). Rev is an amazing bar because of its decor, yet again its a very popular bar, and the music is House.

From leaving there turn left and walk down the street which is Collingwood street, aka “The Diamond Strip“. There are a few bars in a row here, which are Floritas, Madame Koo, Baby Lynch. Go to all of them. Whats better than bars directly next door to each other?! Get yourself a cocktail in each or some wine, or beer if you prefer.

When you exit any of these places turn left and carry on down the road to Perdu. Unfortunatly there can be long queues here, but if you can stand a 10-15 minute wait you can go in here. You can get more cocktails, long drinks or whatever you fancy here. If you are drunk enough you can dance to the commercial pop/rnb music, or chill in a booth if there is one available.

If you want to head to a club at this point there is Tup Tup Palace, which is on the opposite side of the road, further down. Another choice would be Tiger Tiger at the gate. If your not ready for a club you can keep walking down Collingwood street and go to bars Bijoux, Grund Floor @ The Attic or no.1 Grey Street

Newcastle was probably the busiest its been this year last night, considering its the middle of the month and the weather didnt help matters either since it was raining most of the day and in drabs on the night.

The bars had queues! Even bars which dont normally have queues, such as Destination, were packed. The standard queues for the diamond strip bars especially early on, Perdu, Floritas and Revolution all had pretty big queues outside so i thought better of going to them at that point of the night.

I did go into Revolution, where some fucking muppet spilled more or less a whole pint down the back of my jeans, what a dickhead. He actually said “i’m sorry there’s not much else i can say”. What a cock. I used my I Heart Vodka card and got 12 shots and a jug of Absolut Chambles which only came to £22. Not bad for 6 glasses of drink and 12 shots

Baby Lynch was pretty quiet early on, and the latest entry to the diamond strip, Madame Koo was open for a pre-opening kind of thing. Unfortunatly the place looked like a building site outside, why have a pre-opening like that? They should of kept the place closed till it was ready, but maybe they are just testing the water or something.

Blue down the quayside is now closed. This might just be for refurbishments, but it was not open and looked like it was getting a makeover or the place may be gone for good.

There was also police everwhere. There was apparently some trouble after the Newcastle game. Police were dotted all over the town outside bars, subway etc.

Some things i get asked in emails from people outside Newcastle visiting is the bar policies and door staff aka bouncers aka door supervisors aka the people who will spoil your night for no reason.

Some, probably most door staff and bar policies are fine, if you are used to the bars and know the types they are e.g. dress codes then you probably wont have many problems. Some on the other hand are a different story.  Getting into a place depends on many things, some bars are just twats, some wont let groups in, some are more funny if you are drunk or if you are young.

Some of the things bouncers have said to the visitors here, me or my friends are:

“Sorry not the night lads” -why? (no response)

“I cant let you in, you’re shaking, i think you have been taking narcotics” (in the middle of the winter when wearing a short sleeve shirt)

“Sorry not tonight” – Why? “you’re dressed like a cunt” (Blu Bambu, thanks to a visitor for letting us know this one!)

“No Trainers/White Shoes/other clothing”

“Sorry its a 21″

“Sorry, no rockports” (and a girl walks past wearing rockport boots

“Sorry no —insert any brand name here—”

“I Think you’re drunk, can you say the alphabet backwards….”

Just a small selection of what you have sent in or what i have heard over the years

The most notorious places in Newcastle for not letting people in for no reason without a doubt is Blu Bambu. I am amazed they have any visitors left (although its getting less and less) since they seem to reject people for no reason; and if you do get in i think you will be disapointed. They have been riding the wave of success for a while, however that wave is slowly crashing down on themselves as people go to other, better clubs. Other places, like Liquid Envy, will check you for tatoos. Perdu, Revolution and Floritas also get picky at times, for no reason at all other than they can be….They dont really understand that its seen as a major offence not letting customers in who have chosen to spend their money in their place, but they soon learn this when the queues disapear almost faster than their profits…Apartment was rebranded as Floritas and their main selling point was “there is no VIP, everyone is welcome”…At least they did learn a valuable lesson.

Revolution, located on the Diamond strip is a great bar. The building is amazing, a former bank it has huge grand pillars around the bar, the layout of the place is spectacular and is something you wont find in other bars. The bar has split level, there is the main bar on the left as you walk in and another bar on the far right up a few steps.

There is plenty space to stand, booths, and some table and chairs around. Although there is lots of space it can still be rammed, as Rev is such a popular bar in Newcastle.

The music played is a mixture depending on what night you go, and sometimes they have different random DJs on. They mostly play house/funky house music, and you probably wont hear much if any chart music, which is a nice change at times.

Revolution is a Vodka bar, selling as the name suggests loads and loads of vodkas. You can get a rack of 6 shots of vodka of different flavours, they have a set menu or you can pick your own faves. They sell bottles of beer too, aswell as draught.

Another popular choice is jugs/pitchers. They run at different prices, they are around £13. Absolut Shambles is my choice, Vodka/Redbull and Champagne. You cant beat it! although they dont call it that anymore, probably because they are getting cheap and not using Absolut vodka!

The biggest problem with the place is the service. You can easily wait 15-20 minutes to get served, because of all the people getting stupid cocktails which take forever and a day to make. They should really designate one of the bars as a beer only bar or anything which doesnt take a lifetime to make!

If you are from outside Newcastle i would recommend going here. If you are from Newcastle then i imagine you already go or have been. You might expect to queue if you go on Fri/Saturday night, espeically around 21-23.00

Nearby Bars: Perdu, Clear, Baby Lynch, Floritas