Belushi's, Camden

It is with an extreme sense of sadness that I recently took the decision to no longer visit Belushi�s, which was a regular haunt for me and a number of my friends ever since we first moved to London to go to university around 8 years ago. Back then Belushi�s was always guaranteed to be a great place to go: cheap drinks in a place with a great atmosphere, cheesy music and happy vibe. Cheap, cheerful and good fun. We continued to frequent Belushi�s after we left University, as it reminded us of the good old days, and was still a good place to get a drink, catch up with friends and enjoy a fun night, inexpensive night out.

Around a year ago things changed for the worse. Perhaps I should preface the following comments by describing myself and my friends as it may put the inexplicable change in attitude in a better context. I am a 25 year old guy working in the city in a decent, respectable job. My friends are all in similar positions, after graduating from university we are now all working or training for professional qualifications. We all have money to spend, and we are all nice people, a mix of guys and girls.

Every time we go to Belushi�s we are well behaved (our getting paraletic drinking days are behind us now!) and are just there to have a good time. We regularly spend three figure sums at the bar over the course of an evening, and pump money into the quiz machine like pound coins were going out of fashion.

You would think that we are the exact kind of clientele that would be welcomed at a venue like Belushi�s, but for some reason around a year ago the attitude of the place changed, and it has been getting worse ever since.

We now have problems every time we visit the place, with inexplicable dress codes and incredibly rude bouncers. I was thrown out of the venue on a recent trip (probably to be my last) as I was very, very rudely told to leave the venue due to the fact that I was wearing white trainers. This is after I had been there for 6 hours celebrating a friend�s birthday having personally spent over �100 on alcohol and food. God knows how much we had spent as a whole group. The manner in which we were spoken to by the bouncers was disgusting � as they ordered us to leave, and then made me suffer the indignity of having to confirm that I had �understood what they were saying�, being told I should �speak to them properly, who did I think I was?� Unbelievable. Not once did they say sorry, or address us politely. Just rudely marched over and told us to get out with an obvious sense of satisfaction.

On another occasion we were ID�d by the bouncers who knew full well that we were over the age of 18, with one of our party completely bald, and some of us dressed in work clothes. Again the door staff seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in asking us to speak to them in a manner they deemed appropriate. Absolutely pathetic. On a different occasion we were told we could not leave the bar until they had finished IDing another group coming into the venue. Never before have I be told I could not leave just because other people are coming in, and there was clearly enough room and no trouble was going on. Another power trip. I could go on, there are many other instances.

I have myself had personal experience of working in nightclubs as a promoter, and have visited hundreds of venues across the city both professionally and in a social context and I can safely say that the Belushi�s bouncers are the worst I have ever come across.

The incredibly rude, unprofessional and aggressive door staff are one of the main reasons contributing to the downturn in the quality of the Belushi�s experience, but their attitude has seemingly permeated throughout the whole venue, and the place has got worse in almost every respect. The food is now awful, the toilets are completely disgusting, and the fun has been completely sucked out of the place.

Ironically the only people that go there anymore are the rowdy local rude boys who pass through the security as their trainers are the right colour, but create an oppressive atmosphere that is the complete antithesis of what Belushi�s used to stand for.

It is sad to say it, but I cannot see myself going to Belushi�s again unless I hear that they have completely reconsidered their policy on how they treat their customers, and most importantly, until I hear that the management has started to run the place again instead of the door staff who are currently holding the place hostage.

Tim, London

27 Feb 2008 15:28