Northampton Nightlife

On Wednesday night, two consulting co-workers (the newly self-elected social committee) and I (the self-appointed social chair) explored Northampton nightlife to scout out future work event venues. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Northampton , it’s 60 miles north of London in the East Midlands (towards Birmingham) and it’s the third largest town in the UK because it’s status from town to city has never changed, despite the current population of over 200,000.

The client site I work at is a few miles out of the town centre, and I stay two roundabouts away from the office in a Marriott, so going into the town centre, whilst not a mission, takes concerted effort on a weeknight. This being my third week here, I was sick of the room service menu already and looking forward to a night out exploring. The evening’s rule was we only have one round at each bar and that we take notes along the way (I devised an impromptu 5-star rating system).

The three of us started at the Fat Cat Café on Bridge Street for dinner, pints and a view of the France vs. England football game. My lamb burger was quite tasty and I was shocked (as in pleasantly surprised) at how much cheaper things are outside of London. One person’s per diem was able to cover all three of our dinners and three pints of lager(!) The Fat Cat Café also has themed nights, and Thursday nights are apparently Ladies Nights where women get a free cocktail on arrival, ½ price cocktails the entire evening, and a two-course meal for £10 AND they put a chick flick up on TV. Some of us girls are definitely going to have to check that out for a laugh. (3 stars)

Farther down the street we passed the Church Restaurant (yes, a quaint real church has been converted into a restaurant…worth looking into….) and came across the Society. This place had great ambiance, comfy sofas, a decent wine list and, as advertised “Champagne at fantastic prices”. A bottle of Bollinger, my benchmark champagne, which is between £27-£33 retail was only £40 – that is a fantastic price! But this bar won extra points for having a functional arcade game machine with Ms. Pacman, Frogger, Space Invaders and others. I played a few round of Ms. Pacman, but I am very out of practice so I guess I’ll just have to go back again…. (4 stars)

We wandered back up Bridge Street around 9:30pm and noticed that the clubs had started to open although most were fairly empty. We went to Balloon Bar which is a wannabe club and we had a few surprises at the bar. First, they serve the pints in plastic pint “glasses” (boo), *but* they redeemed themselves in a ghetto fabulous way by having Vollereaux champagne on tap! Yes, real champagne and it was actually decent. And I got it in a real glass, not plastic. So as we were laughing about the absurdity of the drinking options, someone came back from the toilet to announce that the bar had pay-as-you-go GHDs! Now, for those of who you don’t know what a GHD is, don’t worry, it’s not something kinky. It’s a brand name that stands for Good Hair Day and it’s the premier brand to buy for hair straighteners (I have them!). In the Ladies toilet, for £1 you get 90 seconds of hair straightening time. Hilarious! (3 stars)

For our last stop, we went to NB’s. Earlier in the evening it appeared to be a massive sports bar. By the time we entered at 11pm, it had turned into more of a club but with several very cool quirks. The combination of gargoyles coming out of the walls, medieval-style chandeliers, small TV screens on the beer taps (so you can get another round without missing the game), fish tanks, a cave area, laser beam lights and juggling bartenders all somehow worked for a fun ambiance! We are definitely going back there. (4 stars)

That’s the round up of our first night out in Northampton!