Piccadilly Institute Club - London Student Review

1 Piccadilly Place, Piccadilly Circus, London W1J ODA

So...another night out (I am a student after all!)… I actually drove to this one so I have no drunken tales of my own. But there were 1,400 other drunk people in the same venue. So it’s all good. Last night I went to an ‘ABACUS’ party at Piccadilly Institute. Abacus is basically like an oriental event set up by universities around London. They have a club night every few months and they always do really really well. I’m not normally a fan of these parties but quite a few people I know were going and my friends wanted to go and a few friends also work on the committee.

So after I parked up, my friends Pierre (who again, got incredibly drunk), Dan (who is runner up for biggest drunkard ever), Felix (he stayed pretty sober most the night) and Norman (he passes out after one drink, but he stayed sober) came to meet me by the car and walk down to wait for Barry and his friend Phil who were meeting us later. We headed off for pre-drinks at the Wetherspoons - the perfect place for student pre-drinks in central London - in Leicester Square; its called Moon Under Water. We actually turned up there quite late so by the time we ordered our first round, the bell for the last call was rung. Lucky for us, we order drinks by the bulk. I think within 10 minutes of getting to the bar, we’d had about 10-15 drinks between us…Jagerbombs were the order of the night again!

The Clinic room at Piccadilly Institute

Piccadilly Institute club is quite ‘new’. It was refurbished from a previous club called OnAnon.  I’m not sure what full capacity is but Abacus sold out 1,400 tickets and it was absolutely RAMMED. Literally the dancefloor was so full and people were moving about EVERYWHERE. Words cannot describe how much I wanted to be drunk just not to be annoyed at the crazy people who seemed to just want to walk up and down the dance floor instead of dance.

Anyway…There were two dance floors that I know of, to be honest, it was so rammed, it was difficult to move around. Both dance floor played club anthems, lots of music we could sing to.  I mostly stayed on the upper main dance floor because it was bigger, the bar was moving faster and there were also a few podiums to dance on, which is always fun. The DJ on the upper floor was a good friend of the organisers and was INSANE, the kind of music he plays is definitely the kind of music I want to hear being played in clubs. His name is DJ Lazyellow – go check him out and keep an eye out for events he’s spinning at!

I think Piccadilly Institute is so popular at the moment for their different themed rooms. However, it was so crowded that I actually only managed to see two. The first room I went to was on the way up to the main dance floor, the only reason we actually stopped there long enough for me to be able to describe it to you now is because my friends were desperate for a drink! The barmen were all dressed up in scrubs (not really sure what the point was but it looked quite cool and I think the theme of the room was meant to be like a Clinic). This room was still quite big considering it wasn't the main dance floor. There were at least 200 people dancing in it, and there were corridors leading to two different staircases - one leading upstairs and one leading down. 

Shrink room at Piccadilly Instiute

The upstairs room was the main dance floor, which seemed to be where everyone was congregating - especially as DJ Lazyellow was spinning there! There were 3 podiums where people could get up and dance. They were pretty small but me and my friends managed to squeeze our way in. It actually got kind of awkward between Pierre and some guy who was grinding a girl. As Pierre is trying to get his groove on, some guy's butt was rubbing his thigh and a very drunken Pierre got told to move away haha. These awkward looks and comments continued for the next twenty minutes before Pierre decided he couldn't take it anymore and switched with my friend Felix who funnily enough, really didn't mind. 

The girls dressed in heels and dresses mostly, there was no-one who really dressed casually. HOWEVER, unfortunately the boys I hang out with seem to not like the idea of making an effort. They pretty much went in with trainers, baggy jeans and a t-shirt. The bouncer looked at each one of them up and down before reluctantly letting them in. Whilst we were standing outside picking up our tickets, Dan and Felix were making comments about how dressed up all the boys; I just rolled my eyes and said they should have listened to me and worn something smarter. His shabbiness didn't stop Dan from getting a cheeky kiss from a girl later on that night though, so I guess I’ll let him off!

Fruitbox room at Piccadilly Institute

The only down about the night was that drinks were quite expensive. Two shots of Raspberry Sourz (which were bought by my extremely ‘hardcore’ friend Dan) came up to £8.50 – not really the kind of prices we want to see on a student night! Pierre ended up spending £110 that night which is crazily harsh on the wallet for a student.

Though this post hasn’t actually told you guys much about anything apart from Piccadilly Institute has the potential to become one of my favs as long as they don’t overcrowd it. However I do actually have a pearl of knowledge (it’s not really wisdom). If you ever feel like having non-Chinese food after a night out around Piccadilly Circus or Leicester Square, there is a small café which sells pizza and melted paninis and hot drinks directly opposite Piccadilly Institute so I would definitely go check that place out at 3am when you’re all looking for some munch. It’s not expensive either, and although it doesn’t taste gourmet, it’s worth it!

Piccadilly Institute run a regular student club night, VodPop, every Monday during term time.

10pm-3am

2-4-1 drinks before 11pm

Tickets £5 

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