Kushion

I think I’m getting a little too old for clubbing, the vodka that tastes like bleach, the awful music such as Calvin Harris and Scouting For Girls, the sticky floors… it’s all a bit too much, and no, I’m not 92 but at the ripe old age of 21 I’m getting a bit past it. I used to frequent Kushion on a Tuesday night for their «Juicy Tuesdays» with cheap student entry and cheap drinks promos, it was always a rather laid back club where you could enjoy a night with friends without any wise guys getting fresh. I went here a few weeks ago for a friends birthday and it was a completely different story.
It was a Friday I last visited and I arrived just before 12 my friends were already there but I was running a little late. After saying hello to them I decided to put my coat in, I was waiting in the queue when this rather aggressive, large girl, pushed me aside and screamed that she had been there for ages when she quite clearly hadn’t. I’m quite timid and do not like confrontation so just smiled and let her go in front of me. As I waited for Shamu to put her tent into the cloakroom, I was already feeling like I wanted to go home.
It was very busy and we had to wait quite a while to get served at the bar but once we had our drinks we headed straight to the R ‘n’ B room dance floor, the DJ was firing out some pretty phat beat including my favourite lady; Rihanna. We were having a great time dancing until a group of girls who looked around 17 started bouncing around the dancefloor like a group of goons, bouncing of the walls and off all the other clubbers, it was a little annoying to say the least and I can only assume that they’d had a few too many alchopops before leaving the house. The ringleader of these bouncing twits was wearing a zebra number which quite frankly made her look like some kind of safari road kill. She bounced off people for around 10 minutes before I noticed a girl at the other side of the dance floor ask what she was playing at to which she responded by pushing to girl over, oh dear. We made our exit shortly after that as it just wasn’t a nice atmosphere. What has happened to you Kushion?
Also worth mentioning is that the bouncers here have some serious attitude and more often than not when I’ve been here for a birthday party have turned away half of the guys in the group for no reason whatsoever. I’ve noticed previous reviewers mention this also and like them, think that this kind of attitude is bang out of order.
I really want to give Kushion 2 stars, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and award 3 stars for old times sake.

Kushion isn’t somewhere I would normally go but one day I saw a flyer offering a free function hire in their small private bar and seating area and thought I’d give it a try for my birthday.
We sat the whole night with no music because I was told «the speakers don’t work through here when we are playing music down at the front». I had heard music playing at a private function I went to the week before!
Three of my friends turned up early on a bright summers evening, completely sober, smartly dressed and were refused entry on the basis that one of them had undersirable shoes on. At this point there were hardly any customers in the entire venue and the bouncers wouldn’t budge regardless of it being a private birthday function or not.
Those friends left for another bar and shortly afterwards, two more of my friends turned up in a taxi who were also refused entry to a still completely empty bar only this time the bouncers refused to give any reason. A member of bar staff escorted both of them through to the back so they could give me my birthday card, gave them 5 minutes and escorted them back out again.
I was upset that 5 of my closest friends couldn’t be there on the basis of really poor excuses. But hey, it doesn’t matter, does it? Bouncers don’t need to give a reason. You’re not getting in and that’s final!

With its plush interior, filled with an ornamental bar, comfortable sofas and, er, cushions, this establishment looks very much like just another pretentious and expensive bar. Though it is in fact more of a nightclub, it isn’t too expensive and it’s open til 3am every night.
I would definitely recommend Kushion to any student. You simply can’t argue with the brilliant pound-​a-​drink offers, availible on certain tipples on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Though mostly populated by students, there does tend to be a lot of poseurs in here and it’s maybe not as ideal for a big group night out as, say, the Garage.
You get the impression that most of the freshers tend to go for places like the Garage or Campus, with this place being more popular with the more serious, seasoned clubbers. For the most part I mean girls with short skirts, usually in pairs, who spend practically the whole night staring at each other, rooted to the same spot on the dancefloor, dancing away non-​stop all night. Just where do they get the energy from?
Unfortunately the bouncers at Kushion are the most strict and unfriendly you will ever meet. Get this, I was even once here with my friend for a private party booked in the back room which we were both invited to and arrived very early, around 8 o’clock. The guy at the door stared at us like we were a couple of sewer rats, checked our ID’s, asked us both where we had been before, our dates of birth TWICE and then finally told us he would let us in but we were to be more smartly dressed the next time. Even though we had told him we were here for a booked, private birthday party.
Worse still, I even know somebody else who had her birthday booked here but had most of her invited mates TURNED AWAY. Can you believe that?

Another downstairs bar tucked away beneath the pavements of Bath Street. And it’s as dark as that image would suggest.
Kushion is one of those bars I’ve frequented 2 or 3 times and, while it’s an easy option, I always find myself trying to get out of going there. It lives up to its name with tons of plush furniture, none of which is really the type of thing I like to see in a bar. The lights are so dim you find yourself running into people (luckily most parts of the bar are as squishy as the seating), and the bars are a nightmare. My fellow reviewers seem to have painted an apt picture of the clientele, so I’ll leave that one to your imagination.
I went on one night with particularly cheap drinks, and was disappointed to find that they were either decanting cheaper and weaker vodka, watering it down, or by some strange magic hindering my ability to get drunk. After about 7 vodkas I felt nothing (which is odd for me, at 5’3 and slight of frame), and decided to turn on my heels and never return!

Now, Kushion has recently been refurbished and I paid it a visit to see how it looks now. At first I was a bit disappointed, but it grew on me. The first room is almost the same as it was before, but the new larger seating areas near the door make for a nice cool place to sit away from the dancing and the mania at the bar.
At the edge of the dancefloor, there are hammocky seats where drunken girls roll about giggling, and I can see these being used for nefarious purposes. The second room is down a slight slope, and was so busy, I couldnt get far past its entrance.
The cost, as mantioned by Jamie, is crazy. I was skinned £7 to get in, and no student discount! Bah. The crowd is, if anything, more snooty — I actually had one girl look me up and down, then flick her hair ON TO me several times. I would have battered her if she wasn’t a gigantic man-​beast.
Overall, the changes haven’t been too extreme, but I think they’re for the better, although my fellow clubbers are starting to irk me.

I was going to begin this review by stating that Kushion is full of posers. Then I remembered the night I bought a £60 bottle of vodka, and started flashing it about like P Diddy.
Given my admission, it would be hypocritical to carry on in the same tone.
This G1 venture is fairly simple; a few different rooms play different music, and there’s an outdoor area frequented by smokers.
It’ll have to be three stars. I’m growing a little tired of the clubbing scene, and prefer a night in the pub. I’ve also found that the cloakroom can be rather unreliable, with a poor attitude to boot.

With a similar appeal of clientele to those whom enjoy a Viper night, ahem, Kushion is one of the few clubs along Bath street which can cater to everyone’s needs. Sortof.
In the past, I have either had an amazing night (including free drinks, and proper ‘choons’ from the DJ) or I’ve literally hated every minute (larger girls in rave wear choosing my toes to literally tread upon, or that one crazy dancer who managed to hit me in the face with his gangly arms. No sir, you are NOT Michael Jackson. In fact, you’re just a massive… anyway).
On a good night: it’s busy, but not unbearably so, the music’s good, (in the main room anyway, I distance myself from the crowd of people in room 2 who believe that whilst dancing to hip hop and rap, etc, that they are in fact, of a different race. Alien, I believe), and the drinks are cheap. So generally «Juicy Tuesday», a student night that does exactly what it’s supposed to — get you drunk and happy.
However, on a bad night: it’s far too busy — you can never get to the bar, it’s filled with older pervy people (who is that random 40-​odd year old man who just stands at the bar leering!?) and there are far too many overdressed, underagers who believe that less is most definitley more — cover yourselves up!
Maybe I’m just getting older, *sob*, but maybe I just prefer places that if you turned up in a neon yellow vest/​dress with matching heels, bad and accessories, you’d get laughed out. Who knows?!

Kushion is an average night out, it alays seems to be full of posrs and you cannot get to the bar without waitign about 40 minutes in the que, drinks are overpriced at the weekends but are cheaper during the week to attract more customers, the staff are friendly, thers a cloakroom facility which is always good. the toilets are nice and clean,