KASBAH
Kasbah is a fairly sizeable club located in Coventry. For students living on campus, The Uni Express will provide you with transport to and from the doors with added queue jump for around £10, which is great value for money compared to getting a taxi. Plus when you’re on a double decker bus surrounded by 80 other students fresh out of pre-drinks, the journey turns into a bonus party, just as long as you can stomach the smell of takeaway on the way back.
As for the club itself, Kasbah is made up of a large central dancefloor with raised levels at both ends and bars at each side, making fetching drinks to and from the dancefloor a less riotous experience. The music in this section is normally very pop oriented, so if getting down to a techno remix of ‘Let it Go’ isn’t for you, head to the Side Room for a mixture of rock, metal or indie music.
Another element which makes Kasbah so unique is their amazing beer garden. Whilst it is technically the smoking area, how many club smoking areas have a heated roof, a BBQ selling burgers, a huge bar and a shisha lounge?
Essentially, Kasbah has something for everyone, so it’s an ideal place to go if you’re with a big group of people. Find out more about The Uni Express here:
http://www.theuniexpress.com/events/1/warwick-university
RAINBOWS
Rainbows is the closest LGBTQ+ venue and is just a bus journey and short walk away in Coventry. The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming, and has catered event nights including a monthly event for the Trans community. Because it is not as heavily populated by students, Warwick Pride recommend going with them as a group, so be sure to check their events on Facebook.
NEON
Neon is pretty much slap bang in the middle of Leamington and is another club which is serviced by The Uni Express. Open several nights of the week, Neon is host to events such as Jaegermonster which takes place every Friday. Neon has a front room, a main room and an upstairs. The front room tends to play commercial pop, although it is largely filled with people queuing for drinks or to get upstairs. The main room plays dance music and leads to the smoking area, whilst the upstairs plays rap and R’n’B and occasionally hosts society events. Despite being on different levels, all the rooms are separated by huge glass panes – handy for finding your friends!
Servicing as a go-to night out, Neon is arguably a smaller version of Kasbah but way less cramped than Smack.
SMACK
No Warwick student knows why, but two years ago Smack was voted as one of the top ten best nightclubs in the world. Smack is what you imagined a club to be like before you went to a club. The upstairs room is a small dancefloor with an even smaller bar on the other side of the DJ booth with LED lights all over the walls and ceiling. The best feature of this room is that you can stand on one of the many clear plastic cube seats and pretend you’re in a 2007 music video.
Downstairs, after you’d queued for 20 minutes shouting ‘I love this song!’ and regretting getting in a queue where you can’t dance, you’re blessed with experiencing what is probably the sweatiest room this side of the hemisphere. Granted, the room is so busy because it plays great music, ranging from old school R’n’B classics to the most recent rap hits.
No Warwick student experience is complete without a trip to Smack. Just make sure you buy a queue jump or if you don’t, a jacket to keep you warm while you queue for two hours.
THE ASSEMBLY
This is a large venue next to Neon which has a main dancefloor and an adjoined bar. The most popular event hosted here (at the time of writing) is Switch, which has a strict drum and bass, house, and grime music theme. Due to its size the Assembly also plays host to live acts which have previously included Krept and Konan and Katy B.
THE ZEPHYR LOUNGE
This is the club for people who don’t like clubbing, or for people who simply enjoy a different kind of music experience. The Zephyr Lounge is a small, one-roomed venue located next to Neon and the Assembly Rooms. There are no weekly scheduled events but the venue plays host to several independent club nights, the most popular of which (at the time of writing) is Off the Record, a night dedicated to indie/electro music that takes place roughly once a month. The venue also hosts student run event nights such as Anti-Sexism Societies’ ‘Can’t Touch This’ and Warwick Pride’s feel-good ‘Pink’ party. Unlike Smack and Kasbah, there’s no pressure to dress up in this super chilled-out venue. Bring your society friends as an icebreaker.
POP!
An otherworldly experience which is virtually impossible to explain to your friends who don’t go to Warwick, Pop is Warwick SU’s most popular student night and takes place every Wednesday in The Copper Rooms. It is preceded by Circling, where groups of people sit in a circle with their sports clubs and societies and play drinking games, normally with a drink called Purple and inevitably in fancy dress. Circling starts at 7:30pm and ends at 9:30pm, so that the tables and chairs can be cleared away before Pop starts at 10.
You don’t have to go to circling to be able to go to Pop, but considering that at 10pm every Wednesday a man in a terrible wig who voluntarily goes by the name of Disco Dave takes the stage to play Cotton Eye Joe to a crowd of half-naked athletes and most of RAG, Circling is an appealingly efficient way to get drunk enough to tolerate this madness.
SKOOL DAYZ
This is basically Pop but the floors in the Copper Rooms are less sticky and everyone is dressed in school uniform which, depending on what kind of school you went to, is either a weird moment where you step back into your everyday school garb for a night out or a genuine opportunity to play St. Trinians dress-up. Like Pop, Skool Dayz quickly descends into a cattle market for the single or morally depraved. Go with your flatmates and bring the person who just ended their 6th form relationship.
All images credited to Venue Facebook Pages/Warwick SU website