By Harry Scott, Second Year Economics and Philosophy
Onto the Bristol student nightlife scene lands ‘Mbargo’s’ much prettier twin, ‘Daisy’s’. She wears a groovy vibe - dressed in sleek retro interior, black and white tiles and high-speed, fast-rearing lights. Some could say when you combine this with a Bristol student night out you have a slightly posher version of an American 1980s Rollerblade disco. Students wheeling themselves up to the bar to try once more to take the edge off or skating back to the photo booth to prevent that no-picture-no-memory next day crisis. ‘Daisy’s’ doesn’t fall far from the tree as it follows what seems like a familiar formula, providing not much more than cheap drinks and the hope that students were drunk enough to blame themselves for an average night, rather than the club itself. Oh, and a real groovy vibe. But perhaps that is all that’s needed to ensure a classic night out - a local, cheap, spontaneous club with a 70s twist was just what the Bristol scene was missing. So, does it land with exceptional familiarity or just with an average thud?
Labelling it as ‘groovy’ really reminded me of how subjective some words can be, and the need for context to really figure out the meaning of a word. Groovy in the Halloween dress up sense? Yes. Groovy in the anything-other-than-extremely-typical sense? Debatable. That is in of itself subjective, but it’s also just not my fault that all I could picture was Beyonce as Foxxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) marching around in there. Regardless, maybe finding out what words like groovy mean is irrelevant, and maybe envisaging Beyonce isn’t all that bad. Groovy or not, if you are looking for that classic Bristol night out with a slight throwback anthem twist (and paying an inevitable £6 kebab fee afterwards), then this is the place for you.
As mentioned, ‘Daisy’s’ is managed by the same owners of the fallen ‘Mbargo’s’. This previous iteration struggled to be appealing unless ‘La Rocca’ and ‘Lola Lo’s’, the nearby competition, were full. These both followed the typical set up, with one specialising in singalongs and the other moving in the direction of a tiki-vibe. ‘Mbargo’s’, being the chain that it is, didn’t necessarily have its ‘thing’ - other than being a benchwarmer for a messy, too-drunk-too-quick night out on the Triangle. Therefore, over the summer, that patch of land slapped on some disco makeup and called itself ‘Daisy’s’ in an attempt to take itself off the bench.
It’s hard to know how successful it will be - the place feels familiar enough to the night outs that most Bristol students will have been on at least once, but whether the student’s knack for 70s groovy tunes is strong enough to make ‘Daisy’s’ a repeat offender is another question. I suppose that since it hosts Monday Night Bristol, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume its longevity. Ultimately, no one is really too fussed about the music if you are drunk enough and surrounded by good group of friends - that seems to be the gist of student nightlife. At the same time, its location on the Triangle gives you an easy escape for a kebab, or a solo cocktail at the London Cocktail Club next-door if the familiar nihilism of student nightlife does in fact become all too apparent. On that note, check out ‘Daisy’s’ whilst it’s still luring you in with cheap drinks - there’s a high chance you may be way less pessimistic.
