How often do you go out partying till early morning hours? And how well can you cope up with the hangover of a night long outing? If I am not wrong, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.
But there is a different race of people who enjoy such night long outings, and recover from it as if it never happened. Keeping in mind these distinguished people the British Luxury Club in Mayfair recently opened a bar which start at midnight and closes at 7am. The manager of British Luxury Club, Ryan Bishti, comments “The after-hours thing sifts out the strong from the weak in terms of party people”. He further adds “I think working hard is easier than partying hard” and goes on to say “ it’s not for everyone”.
Let’s take some real life examples and how well they cope up with such a demanding night long affair:
Lady Gaga: A know party animal, someone who seems to believe in work hard party harder. Recently one of her long outing started at 7pm with a performance at O2. She then headed off to Roundhouse in Camden doing a gig till 1am. Next on the list was Maya, followed by Bungalow 8. And at 3am one would have imagined that Gaga will wrap it up after an eventful night, she went on to attend a house party in East End with the music producer Mark Ronson. Lastly at 6am she thought of calling her record company asking for a bus to pick her up for her next day’s performance in Manchester.
Liz Hurley: Contrary to Gaga, Liz Hurley can be photographed falling out of a nightclub at 3am. May be its not her cup of tea.
Hanna Hanra: No surprises here , writer and DJ Hanna Hanra is out late most nights of the week. Her favourites are the Buffalo Bar, in Islington, and the Ghetto, in Old Street. And for a change she does not mind trying a bit of night owls and insomniacs. She says “After hours isn’t about clubs, it’s about bars. It’s not about getting drunk, although that does happen. It’s all about people and the ability to pace yourself, which takes practice. It also means eating a meal before you go out.”
For her the after-hours crowd as always includes artists, guys in bands, a lot of energetic gay men and precocious 16-year-olds, often sharp dressers — but also, “the fruity old dad who tries to chat to you, and some strange famous person, like Siobhan Fahey”.
Pam Hogg: The renowned fashion designer Pam Hogg has been a champion of the game for long. People remember her since the early days of punk and when an after-hours drink was a lot harder to find. She comments “There was a time when you couldn’t get a drink anywhere after 11pm, so these illegal places popped up. And the club after the clubs was the place to be. You had to be in the know to find them and you sometimes had to have a magic code. It was always the same bunch at the end of the night; we would do the rounds and generally end up in either Venus 1 or 2 in Soho until they’d had enough of us. There was always someone on the lookout for the inevitable raid.”
Jonathan Downey, the promoter of Match Bar group, now holds two late licences, for Sosho and The East Room, in Shoreditch. He feels that these licenses are well worth a bit of struggle its takes to get them. He uses term idiots and boring “mums and dads” for people who tend to return home a bit early at 3am.
Rob Star, who owns Mulletover parties, at times keeps his pub, the Star, open for a bit longer. He says “It always has an interesting mix of people. I’ve been known to go to bed and get up late specifically to go to after-hours places.”