2Klub - Clubs - Review

Egg
200 York Way
King's Cross
London

Tel: 020 7609 8364
Fax: 020 7619 6189
E-mail: events@egglondon.net
Website: www.egglondon.net

Capacity: 900

Launched May 2003

Groundfloor - from bar looking at dancefloor and podium.

Groundfloor - from podium looking at bar..

A picture speaks a thousand words they say so need we say more? Well, yes as these pics only tell you part of the story.

Firstly the club feels relatively small, with a capacity of under 1,000, split over three floors. This makes each room quite intimate, and creates the flexibility of opening rooms as demand warrants it.

The exterior looks ... well... it's a bit 1980s downtown Toronto to me, and not exactly inspiring, but the exterior is hardly going to be seen by most customers, as the entrance is on York Way and there is now a covered hallway running through to the back. Initially this was a tent, which also doubles as the cloakroom, ("coat-check" for our American readers), and the club was opened before it was completed. I'm reminded of Fabric, the long-awaited opening of which was delayed for a couple of months because the owners were concerned to get everything right first. Lawrence Malice who's one of the investors, has been working on getting this place open for a loooooong time, and perhaps financial expediency as driven him to open the club before it's finished. Be that as it may, though in need of some finishing touches here and there, the bulk of the work is done and the club has an excellent, friendly, (almost cozy?), feel to it.

My visit was for the launch of Ricochet, a new gay monthly Sunday afternoon event for London. This has been an awkward slot for promoters to fill, though some have done so successfully for a time in the past, e.g. Pete Wardman's Sherbet, and though only the ground floor was open, Simon, the manager, showed me around the other two floors.

The ground floor and second floors are pretty similar, though the second floor has a terrace, and there's a chill-out lounge/bar/dance space on the third floor.

Spectacular chillout/dance room on the third floor.

The sound systems are good, but not as good as at Turnmills, as there are dampened areas on the edges of the dancefloor - i.e. you don't hear the music as well on the edges as you do in the central square. The lighting is also reasonable, but again not as good as Turnmills, (sorry Egg but the comparison is going to be made all the time as many of your customers are very familiar with that venue), and the lighting jocks need a bit more experience extemporising. No doubt this will come quickly.

Bar staff were efficient, though on my visit some seemed tired, (they'd been up since the previous event), and might have smiled more had they been fresher. Drinks were on a par with most London clubs: Red Bull £3; bottle of chilled water £2.

I liked the venue, ... a lot... and I think it's going to be very popular. The location might pose some problems as some local residents when asked for directions referred to it as "the batty boys club"; something of a broad brush generalisation as Egg has been wise to swiftly get involved with an eclectic mix of promoters running events targeting a variety of markets. Londoners have also complained that it's out of the way, but actually it's very easy to get to for out of towners from the North or West.

If I had any other complaint than the sound system, it was about the lack of ventilation. The club was hot to the point that I had to go outside just to cool down. The air conditioning was only being used intermittently, for whatever reason I do not know, though we all know that hot clubbers need to drink more.

Overall I recommend Egg as a nicely appointed, cozy addition to the London clubbing scene.

Addendum: Trade has announced that they will be holding a series of "Trade Gold" events, at Egg, starting on the August Bank Holiday. For a preview of these see the Trade page.