Watching the queues form outside Viper at the weekend is hilarious - I do not know how they fit such a large amount of students in the one small dancing space.
It happens with great difficulty, from what I can remember of the odd, horrible Saturday I spent in here. It was stuffy, high maintenance and too expensive for being somewhere with one foot out the city centre. I used to work close by and came in purely because it was the only place open in this area after midnight, and felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb since I'm not the kind of girl who can always be assed wearing heels or putting on a ton of lipstick war paint. I'm too chilled out to listen to the vain girls ramble on about some bullcrap student love triangle in the bombsite bathrooms while their pal violently wretches up Glens vodka in the cubicle. I couldn't even be bothered with that when I was a student.
You try and drown out that kind of mince by dancing but the tunes are bland, the same ones over and over as far as I can remember. speaking of, Over and Over by Hot Chip was played to death in here for 2 years running - move with the times guys, come on!
So you may wonder why I gave it three stars as opposed to one. Objectively, at least a nightclub for students exists in this end of the city that isn't affiliated with the uni. It's not too expensive. There's a taxi rank and bouncers outside, so it's safe. They do Red Stripe cans for ridiculously cheap prices. The kids seem to love it.
But I seldom frequent Viper anymore because the music is constantly mainstream, a lot of the clientele are posers, it lacks personality, the dance floor is cramped when it's busy, you have to wrestle with rugby boys to get to the bar. Call me bitter, but I'm now an elder compared to the 18 year old girls and distressingly, I find myself wanting to cover the queuing ones up with my jacket as they stand shivering, scantily clad in spangly dresses in the middle of winter. Admittedly, I wonder why they bother with this festering pool of tangled bodies and blistering music.
But some students like it. If you like Amy Winehouse, cheap vodka and good looking people (for a night) then aye, you'll love it. The Flight of the Conchord's song Leggy Leggy Blonde was written about the girls here so there's a magnetic string of guys eager to tap that. I don't blame them - the girls are gorgeous. It's just too packed at the weekend to ever meet them.
So if you're into it, I'd recommend week nights. There's more freedom to dance, better tunes, cheaper booze and more chance to get your flirty banter on the go since you'll actually be able to see the bar. It's a bit like the Garage on Tuesday in miniature. read more