My rating: 4/10. I know that this is an important club for many people, and my rating is totally subjective!!! I felt that the club was too crowded, the techno crowd keeps too much to themselves, and the layout of the club was kind of awkward. Shiba San played, which was the only redeeming factor for me.
Funnily enough, the first time I had heard of Ministry of Sound was in high school in Taiwan. There was a “copy” of the club in Taiwan with the same name, and MoS for short, boasting as the largest club in Asia. Though the club has closed a long time ago, the name stuck with me in my mind. Given its reputation as one of the best and oldest clubbing institutions in London, I knew that I had to check it out.
I thought that Shiba San playing at MoS was a good excuse to visit London, so I bought flights and club tickets (for 25 pounds). I really like his style – techno with a slower, more chilled out tempo, light and fun to dance to.
I bought tickets thinking that I’d have to go alone, like I did in Fabric, but surprisingly my friend who I was staying with, Gilmar, said he’d come. And then an acquaintance of mine, Joyce, said that she would also come too. So, on the day of, me, Gilmar, Joyce, her Tinder date & his friend went to Ministry of Sound together. Joyce, who is Asian Canadian, also told me at this time that the British find Asian girls who have American accents to be exotic. Hmm… Interesting. British guys had been continuously telling me that they thought my accent was exotic.
We shared a cab to the club, which was actually quite far, in a neighborhood called Elephant and Castle. Unfortunately, from my first impression, I already didn’t like the club. The entry floor was super crowded and oddly shaped. They say there are 4 rooms, but it took us half an hour to find the main floor, not even because the club is big (it’s not that big) but because it was so crowded and you really couldn’t tell where you’re going. The music in all the rooms was techno.
I actually do like the layout of the main room. It’s wide so it’s easy to find a spot to dance in without having a lot of people pass by you, with a good view of the whole dance floor & the DJ booth. It has low ceilings so reminded me of a cave. But god, I am really getting a bit fed up with the techno crowd, that just bops in his/her spot without talking to anyone. Even though the music was good, I just didn’t really like the vibe of the co-party goers.
Gilmar and I left at around 3 or 4 (the others have disappeared before us), and it was snowing outside in London! Very pretty! We ubered back and passed by the Persian street on the way, and impulsively stopped to get some late night munchies. Yum!! I thought the gaudy restaurant was a lot more entertaining than the club…
Lol, us Londonders do look down on Ministry a bit, it is very very commercial.
However, they do often get some amazing names in so its difficult to completely avoid it if you enjoy going out regularly 😉
Interesting to know that many Londoners are not a fan of ministry of sound either :p i think my expectations were built to be high, so I ended up being disappointed.
[…] before starting my internship. I deliberately made sure my trip coincided with Shiba San at the Ministry of Sound on that Saturday. Even though I didn’t know people on the lineup, I was not going to miss […]