Clubs in Brighton

Seafront malarky with the emphasis on fun, and getting drunk of course. Funk, soul, pop, house and r’n’b, depending what night you go on.

Despite the long wait in the queue this really is a stylish place to check out. One of the biggest and most fashionable clubs in Brighton with a super-cool crowd to get the party going. Spacious and welcoming to the strutters and the stragglers among us.

An unpretentious, studenty crowd regularly flocks to this well-liked drinking and dancing den. Cheap drinks, cheap entry and cheap thrills. The haunt of Goths, indie babes and students alike, and host to the inevitable ‘school disco’ shindig. Has often been responsible for those heavily hungover mornings where the memory of the shameful night before is, thankfully, lost to oblivion.

Groovy crowd dancing to jazz-funk and Latin jazz. A somewhat strange car feature upstairs, this two-floor club has DJs and occasional live bands. Good for drunken nights dancing to those South American beats

A mecca for foreign students because the menu is salsa, salsa, salsa. Classes held upstairs before the club starts, then it’s time to try your best dirty dancing and do your bit for European union. Downstairs often hired out and plays a range of good-time house, r’n’b, funk and latin.

Home to a great music policy, which lesser club owners sometimes forget about. Converted from the old biker’s caff, this listed building keeps its original structure which means you can feel like you’re dancing in a large corridor with pillars, plus it’s a greenhouse in the summer and arctic in the winter. However, the walk from the town centre ensures you get a crowd who know what they’ve come for and are generally up-for-it, as they say. Home to the famous Boutique, the sweaty jungle jump-up Legends of the Dark Black, and even a seaside version of fetish club Torture Garden. Manc Mr Scruff has a monthly residency which still has the kids queuing down the block.

Cupboard of a club which is dark, sweaty, shouty and newly enlarged for 2002. Guitary gigs and club nights, underground in all senses.

Same deal as the Event but bigger and smarter thanks to a £5 million makeover. Meet in the bar during the day for coffee, then when the lights dim, down a vodka Redbull and dance round your handbag to chart music. Stag nights often head here, probably because there’s a balcony that provides the perfect viewpoint for looking down girls’ tops. Once a month the South’s biggest gay night Wild Fruit has its home here, which is pretty much the same except that it’s the blokes who are wearing stilettoes.

Above the Jazz Place there’s plenty of good dancing and drinking in the town centre. Funk, soul, hip hop and other not-too-manic beats. Phonic:Hoop is a long running night here. Check out week nights for hip hop and smiley fun, two things that don’t always go together. Also has moderately priced drinks and pleasant door-staff, always a plus.

Having recently suffered an image problem, the Escape has been made over by the people responsible for London’s Fabric, with quality new Saturday nights. Week nights mean cheap drinks, loads of flirting and pulling, and some wicked tunes. Two floors of music (sometimes you have to pay for each) where the garage flavas flow alongside current r’n’b tunes and the odd Lionel Ritchie number. It’s popularity attests to it being one of the best places in town. Check out Red Light Rush on a Wednesday for half price drinks when the red light flashes.

The address says it all. West St is known as the hunting ground of virile young things staggering from one neon bar to another. This is the place to go for a snog, a grope and a kebab on the way home. Make sure you don’t mistakenly turn up on under-18s night, or you’ll have the mothers parked all down West St driving you out of town. Also an occasional gig venue.

Lengthy twin tunnels of tightly packed action at this somewhat more sophisticated seafront club. What it lacks for in capacity and actual lounging it makes up with a sound system that resonates off its natural arches. Stompaphunk on Fridays comes hotly tipped by the dance music press.

Previously the Catfish Club. Attracts an older crowd of locals and regulars with Motown, soul and funk. Often cited as a good place to pull.

Quite a grown up club, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. From salsa to disco and 80s hits there’s space for dancing, leaning and lounging. Computer games and no speakers in the back so you can actually have a conversation - don’t tell me I’m getting old.

Eastern figures painted inside the Ballroom’s Pavilion influenced dome look down with benign benevolence as punters adapt to the most un-zen like sensation of dancing on carpet in this refurbished club. In spite of this a number of part-time promoters persevere at the weekends (Relish and Funk Emergency) to offer more than just an after hours drinking experience or bring your own records to spin at Stick It On.

Sundazed on Sundays (strangely enough) really is a must for all those wanting the party to continue on and on. Full of trannies, club casualties, hardcore dancers and well up-for-it party people dancing to dirty, funkin’ hard house, at one of the most well known seafront venues. Open all week and attracting a mixed crowd, Friday night it’s home to Kinky which despite it’s titillating connotations of glitz, glamour and gaiety is more trendy Top Shop boys with even trendier Top Shop girlies. It’s really popular though so who am I to judge?

The stuff good clubs are made of, from the days before they became brands and modelled their interiors on 1960s visions of spacecraft. No frills here, it’s small, dark and sweaty. Hosts two of Brighton’s premier and longest-running club nights; Russ Dewbury’s Jazz Rooms on Fridays and Saturdays and Roots Garden reggae night on Tuesdays.

Home to the deliciously fantastic Dynamite Boogaloo on a Thursday night, when trashy bright young chickeroonies do their thang to everything from Britney to 60s soul. The club smacks of a kaleidoscopic cabaret - loads of colour, flashy dancing and sparkling atmosphere. The venue itself is like a 70s pimp’s parlour - leopard skin seats, deep red lighting, and poles to practise your erotic, exotic moves on. Simply pimp-tastic.

Winner of the UK Nightclub of the Year and run by Ben Gill, Brighton’s club guru, the Ocean Rooms know that good music equals a good time, so plenty of international names grace the decks from all genres of dance music, and the club provides a south coast home for Manchester’s Grand Central and Fat City records, as well as Warp influenced electro-weirdness Sabbath.

All sorts of music (not all at once though) and a carpet that’s straight out of your granny’s house. Somewhere to feel at home and not worry about spilling your pint - drinks are quite cheap too. lndie night, Mad For It, is the place to find ex-Mods chatting up teenagers and there’s a women’s night, if butch blondes are more your thing.

PLANET

Once a members club, now they've thrown their doors open to the rest of us. Smart casual r'n'b, flavaz, rap, hip hop and soulful grooves.

Church hall-like shed stuck on top of a pub. The venue is loud and sweaty with all the ambience of a school disco, but thanks to the lack of small venues in Brighton, the Pressure Point is one of the only places for new nights and good old unpretentious tops-off raving. Techno, hip-hop, drum n bass, smiling faces and a wobbly floor.

On the seafront this small and intimate club has nights of house, d’n’b and well ‘ard techno plus Catskills’ new Saturday hip hop /funk/breaks malarky. Generally jam packed with raging clubbers up for a good night. And you can leave your high heels at home.

One of the most popular places in town drawing an ever so large crowd at the weekend. The place itself is pretty massive, with two levels and a balcony from which you can cast lecherous eyes on the heaving mass of flesh beneath. As with all the best clubs in Brighton, there’s a saucy mix of gay/straight folk all on the same single minded, hedonistic mission - to have it LARGE. So, if you’re one of them you’re in great company here. Funky with a fresh and friendly vibe, playing host to top name DJs, the Zap is the place to go if you want to get glammed up and rocking.

The views expressed above are those of the given authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editor or of Sounds Phenomenal.

These listings are not meant to be exhaustive and their accuracy will change over time as old clubs close and new ones open. There may also be establishments that have been missed out in this directory. If you would like your club to be included here, or your details as given above are inaccurate or incomplete, then please submit the correct information to mail [a] soundsphenomenal [dot] org and we'll endeavor to include or update your details as soon as we can.