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Brixton news, rumours and general chat: Spring 2019

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The Dogstar ballroom, 2am last night.

Remember when there used to be 30 metre queues up Coldharbour Lane? Not any more. They've really fucked it up.

I have sympathy for the DJ but then a bloke staring at a laptop isn't exactly visually stimulating for a crowd.
 
So whats gone wrong at the Dogstar then? Have they started charging a tenner in or something? Antic's drink prices have certainly climbed a fair bit in the last couple of years.
 
jimbarkanoodle said:
So whats gone wrong at the Dogstar then? Have they started charging a tenner in or something? Antic's drink prices have certainly climbed a fair bit in the last couple of years.
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They've just failed to change with the times. It's been a slow decline and their recent, rather strange, focus on showing sport on the big screen in the main room on weekends is hardly going to bring new people in. I went past at 9pm on Friday night and they had tennis on in the main room. I'm sure some people like tennis, but the majority of people coming to Brixton are more likely to want to listen to music, dance and drink rather than admire a volley rally or whatever.

I've always suggested that putting on live music in the main room earlier in the night could be a winner. I used to ram the place out on Thursdays back in the day, when Brixton was nowhere near as busy as it is now.
 
i just fail to see how they could fuck it up when the format in places like it is so simple for a Friday and Saturday night, just get a DJ in to play cheese music and the pissed up punters will normally come. Surely it hasnt changed that much. To go from fat queues to completely empty in the space of 2 years is drastic, the kind of thing you would only normally see if word gets out about a murder at a venue, for example.

No doubt similar venues like the POW (pub bit) are still doing a roaring trade at the weekends, with virtually the same type of entertainment? minus the sport, of course.
 
jimbarkanoodle said:
i just fail to see how they could fuck it up when the format in places like it is so simple for a Friday and Saturday night, just get a DJ in to play cheese music and the pissed up punters will normally come. Surely it hasnt changed that much. To go from fat queues to completely empty in the space of 2 years is drastic, the kind of thing you would only normally see if word gets out about a murder at a venue, for example.
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It's quite easy to lose a crowd if you don't keep your eye on the ball and promote it right though - and this has been a slow, gradual process. Our nights there were always busy but I had to promote them like fuck and try and offer something a bit different. My last gig in the ballroom was in the traditionally tough early January period (the Bowie benefit) and it was a complete sell out - but the management never even invited us back! Happily, we've got a good thing going at the Effra Social now, where we keep it simple and promote it to fuck.

Truth is that Brixton is rapidly changing and is now stuffed full of alternative nights vying for a punter's cash (and nearby Peckham has got loads more on too), so no club can rest on its laurels. The success of the Chip Shop opposite shows that if you get the package right, punters will come. Jamm has reinvented itself a bit recently too, and why the Dog didn't go for some of the Hoople crowd is a mystery to me!

I hope the Dogstar recovers though - I've had some great nights there. I'd be happy to play there again, but I'm not daft enough to think I've got a big enough following to make the room go from zero punters to full!
 
World Naked Bike Ride passing through Brixton

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In photos: World Naked Bike Ride rolls through Brixton, Sat 8th June 2019
 
editor said:
View attachment 173722

The Dogstar ballroom, 2am last night.

Remember when there used to be 30 metre queues up Coldharbour Lane? Not any more. They've really fucked it up.

I have sympathy for the DJ but then a bloke staring at a laptop isn't exactly visually stimulating for a crowd.
Click to expand...

Tbf it was like that the first and last time I played, in retrospect I think I lost the crowd when I opened with a lindisfarne b side :thumbs:
 
Everyone knows a high powered 4x4 is the only vehicle capable of handling the tough conditions found on the streets of London. Every day I witness hundreds of ordinary cars failing to conquer Brixton Hill and hopelessly sliding back down to the bottom of the incline.
 
T & P said:
Everyone knows a high powered 4x4 is the only vehicle capable of handling the tough conditions found on the streets of London. Every day I witness hundreds of ordinary cars failing to conquer Brixton Hill and hopelessly sliding back down to the bottom of the incline.
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Love it :)

I hope you don't mind but I quoted you in my piece :)
 
editor said:
180!

Model Adwoa Aboah swans through Brixton in a nauseous advert for a luxury Landrover 4×4

A member of the British nobility driving a luxury car through Brixton. Nice.
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I see quite a lot of Evoques in parts of Central London. Its considered to be non pretentious car in parts of London. Expensive but not flashy like a Rolls.

She ticks all the right boxes for modern diverse UK.

Including her activism.

What gets me is how class never features in any of this celebration of diversity.

Its just ignored.
 
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