Poppy Read-Pitt
Nottingham is a city with a fantastic nightlife. Consistently voted one of the best student cities in the UK, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to our clubs. For a fresher or someone new to clubbing, the array of choices can be overwhelming. Poppy Read-Pitt gives you a quick rundown of some of Nottingham’s most well-known and popular clubs and what club nights they host.
Ocean
Let’s start with the most iconic club in Nottingham: Ocean, AKA ‘The Big O’. Ocean is Nottingham’s only student exclusive club. Ocean’s been going for twenty years this year and serves the student cohort of both Nottingham Trent and the University of Nottingham on a Wednesday and Friday night, respectively.
Fun or horrifying, it depends on how you look at it
Run by local legend Andy Hoe (@andythehoe on Instagram) this club is best known for its VK’s and its carpet, which is rumoured by students to have once tested positive for chlamydia. The music ranges from recent hits to ‘Breaking Free’ from High School Musical and the Baywatch theme tune – during which people take their tops off and whip them around their heads. Fun or horrifying, it depends on how you look at it. All in all, the music stays very firmly within the ‘pop’ boundary which ensures that you’ll likely always know the words to a song. It may not be the most classy venue, but it’s a staple of Nottingham’s student culture. You can guarantee Ocean is a class night out.
Rock City
Rock City is a venue that hosts an array of guests: from Lionel Richie to me on a Wednesday night, only the finest can be found here. Their headliner is, of course, the iconic Wednesday night ‘CRISIS’ where they play “chart, cheese, commercial RnB, indie and student anthems” according to the Rock City website.
But Rock City has three rooms: The Main Hall which is charts and classic hits, Black Cherry Lounge which plays RnB, hip-hop and grime, and Beta which is all about the indie hits. Despite being arguably the most well-known, ‘CRISIS’ isn’t their only club night. On a Thursday they have ‘Tuned’ – another student night, and on Friday they have ‘Get Lucky’ and Saturday they have ‘Rebel Rebel’ – both of which are open to all people across Nottingham.
The Bodega
If anything, it gives the venue a more intimate, less hectic feel
The Bodega is our resident ‘indie’ club, with their most famous club night being ‘Indie Wednesdays’, which does just what it says on the tin – plays non-stop indie music all night long. They also have ‘Shameless’ on a Saturday night, which is noughties hits, and Friday nights is ‘The Pop Confessional’ which plays pop hits from all eras. The Bodega is on the smaller side, but this doesn’t detract from its appeal. If anything, it gives the venue a more intimate, less hectic feel.
Pryzm
Pryzm is part of a chain of nightclubs across the country, so most people will have at least heard of – if not encountered – a Pryzm nightclub before they come to Nottingham. On Mondays they have ‘Quids In’ (where tickets cost £1) and during the rest of the week they have ‘Indie Tuesdays’, ‘Fix Fridays’ and ‘Lyfecode Saturdays’. These club nights are open to all (i.e. not just students) and Pryzm has a number of different rooms. The most popular rooms include the Main Room, which plays charts and pop music, Curve which plays rap and RnB, and Vinyl which plays pop & singalong classics.
Unit 13
They are working on a “secret disco project”
Unit 13 or ‘Unit’ is our newest club on this list, having only been around for about a year. Unit 13 mainly plays house, tech, DnB, RnB, and grime but they are working on a “secret disco project” which is new for the winter of this year that will include a Disco room.
Poppy Read-Pitt
Featured image courtesy of Sam Mar via Unsplash.com. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image courtesy of @rockcitynottingham via @Instagram.com. No changes were made to this image.
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