As someone that frequents the bars of John Bright Street, I have walked past this shisha lounge on many occasions; occasionally seeing people sitting around the couple of tables outside. The lack of windows give little indication of what's inside, a feature presumable inherited from the building's former days as a strip club.
A friend suggested it after we were thrown out of Cherry Reds the other night (thrown out as it was past 1am and they had closed, not for bad behaviour). Luckily, she had visited the venue before, as I would have never found my way around left to my own devices.
From the street entrance we followed a corridor around to the left before arriving at the glass entrance doors. These led into a large space that looked like a nightclub, only there were no people, not a single person besides one man stood behind the bar to the left of the lowered 'dance area'. We walked straight past the bar and the empty nightclub space towards a flight of stairs to the back of the room. Once up the stairs we walked along a raised corridor, which led back above the bar. At the end my friend asked a gentleman if they had space for two, confirming they did, he led us through a curtained doorway.
Behind the curtain, is where all of the customers were - around twenty of them. It was their rooftop 'smoking garden'. Although the fabric covered roof and sides meant that it didn't feel like we were outdoors at all.
We grabbed a seat on the cushion-covered seating that lines the perimeter of the space. Again, I was thankful of my friend's knowledge of the venue, as there wasn't a menu or list anywhere I could see. Not long after ordering, our shisha pipe arrived (it was smooth & flavourful) along with a raffle ticket. I can't really compare it to other shishas, as although my housemate at university (long time ago) had a pipe, I've never been out to shisha bar.
The atmosphere was relaxed and chilled; men sat around playing backgammon or watching the gyrating semi naked women on what passes for music television these days. The space is dry (although the bar downstairs was fully stocked with booze), so none of the customers were noticeably drunk. Many if not all faiths and backgrounds were represented without stigma.
After finishing our shisha (which was refilled with hot rocks as needed) I was unsure how to go about settling our bill. Once again, my friend knew the drill: we walked back down the raised corridor and down the stairs to the bar in the still completely empty nightclub space, handed the man behind the bar our raffle ticket (which I now realised served as our bill number) and settled accordingly.
It was a rather different style of venue than my usual craft beer / real ale bar haunts, as such I enjoyed it as a new experience. It's a great example of our multicultural city working in harmony. I thought the massive empty space downstairs was a little odd, I'm not sure if they use it at other times and I missed the crowd, or it's just a front for the shisha lounge at the back. read more