Squares, Norwichback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Went to the new student night last thursday called 'spank', probably going to go again tonight. There were a few bottles and pints for £1.50 so the night was cheap. Two dj's played, both were good playing what you'd expect from a late night bar/club with a few nice surprises. The place was rammed but service was quick since bottles were the order of the night. (obviously the Tom Cruise impersonators are gone. Though the short blonde guy who kept serving us was pretty hot)
The place could maybe do with a bit of a refurb but I'm a student so as long as the drinks are cheap (and the barmen fit) I give it the thumbs up.
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The H-File bandwagon came to Norwich and we were here early Saturday evening (17 Nov) to watch the second halves of the Scotland, Italy and Israel, Russia games. This appeared to be only place in the riverside area showing the game and we eventually found a comfy sofa upstairs. There are a number of screens here (including 2 massive ones above the bar) which make it a great place to watch televised sport. The boozer was not too packed and I was served promptly at the bar downstairs with a pint of Kronenbourg and 2 Bulmer's coming to £9.55.
There are pool tables upstairs, a couple of duke boxes, a cocktail bar (closed when we were here) but other than that, nothing else noteworthy regarding the décor. A degree of atmosphere was created downstairs with a raucous group of lads shouting incoherently throughout the matches (though maybe this is just the Norfolk accent), although this contrasted starkly with the deafening silence following the Italy and Russia goals.
Though the focus was on football, we made the conscious decision on first impressions not to come back here searching for H-File victims. We did later see potential victims come in here around 9ish (well 2!), but we drank elsewhere. Certainly a place to watch televised sport if in this part of the world again.
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good pub and atmosphere and if ur the gorgeous looking girl from yarmouth who was there on the 22nd and met the idiot from ipswich who didnt get ur numba contact me
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This bar is supposedly open until 1am, at least that's what they tell you when you pay to get in!!!! At 12.25am you buy another drink (over priced) and at 12.30am you are asked to leave!!!!!! You ask why the person taking your money at the door and the person taking your money at the bar don't have the same policy as the doorman. The doorman offers little explanation (surprise, surprise), but to take it up with 'the management'.
anonymous - 19 Mar 2006 01:27 |
Went to Norwich once. Spent two nights there. Went to this place twice. Don't ask me why. Though the quayside renaissance is a pleasure to behold, it's good to see that not all architects think pastiche is a bad thing. Squares, what can you say? The lighting made Greaves look like a demi-god, and the female clientele spotted this. Poor guy, he was swatting them off like flies. Unless those actually were flies.
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I`ve never really been a fan of Norwich’s riverside area: call me a giant pink girls blouse but my idea of a good night doesn’t involve fighting through legions of inebriated teenagers who believe that burberry is up there with Girls Aloud and chocolate knickers as the height of human sophistication.
Two bars on the riverside are especially bad: the fight pit called Lloyds and the eye poppingly tacky Norwegian Blue. I would cite both of these inhumane dives as evidence that there isn’t a God, besides being pretty strong reasons to avoid the whole area full stop. But if you have to head this way (I know, it’s the wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/retarded relatives fault) then there are two modest, if still contaminated havens. The best is the superficial but agro free Brannigans, but if that’s packed (which it frequently is) an even blander alternative is Squares.
And the apt word really is bland. Sqs could be a bar anywhere in the western hemisphere: it has the usual glossy long bars, the traditionally loud girl band music and the annoying over priced lager/spirit selection that apparently can only be served by staff who believe they are auditioning for Tom Cruises role in a remake of Cocktail (see Stevens comments!). Yes my dears, you look very pretty, but rather than doing that third bottle juggle loop could you just give me the sodding booze?
So far, so unappealing, but some redemption arrives in my opinion from an unlikely source: the bouncers. Yes, they are, as other reviewers have pointed out, a little bit on the grumpy side, but the upside of their zealot style vetting policy is that the clientele is mostly free of the sort of brainless titwanks that usually colonise these kind of establishments. True, its still not wall to wall charmers, but “generally” the class of people you get tends to better – hence less agro, whining and annoyance – something that is also helped by a very large two tier interior that prevents any cramming.
All in all therefore a night in Squares can turn out to be bearable mood wise, even if it is bland, overpriced and without much creativity. Ultimately therefore it`s a steady if dull, 5/10
pgazz - 30 Dec 2005 19:33 |
I used to love this place. Now it has the bouncers from hell, a sound system that should really be at a rock concert somewhere, its full of just about old enough to drink kids and to be honest could do with a good clean. Don't go here if you want to actually talk to the people you're with coz you'll never hear them!
anonymous - 13 Dec 2005 19:36 |
watch out for the bouncers
anonymous - 1 Sep 2005 00:25 |
Good position close to the railway station and the football ground for us football fans. Spacious, quite cheap and they show sports on four very large screens. The only problem is the people behind the bar act like they were in the movie 'Cocktail' and therefore the sound of breaking glasses is a regular occurence!
Steven - 6 Feb 2004 14:05 |
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