The weekend ends here for RICHARD BELL as he samples Bungalowed at Thirst in Oxford.
Ah Sunday, the day of rest. A day on which the stresses and rigours of the working week need not bother you; a day on which you can sleep late, watch TV and spend the whole day reading the paper without speaking to another human being.
But let’s say that you’ve got to Sunday evening and you’re just not in that pipe, slippers, armchair and gentle BBC programming mood?
Let’s say you’ve had a hell of a week at the office and the weekend just didn’t blow off enough steam for you.
Well, your options are sadly limited.
I’m afraid to say that Sunday night clubbers are few and far between. The clubs know this and so most don’t offer a night out at all, where the few that do offer a chilled-out mix of gentle electro that sounds astonishingly like the sensation of falling asleep.
So what is someone looking for a good night out to do?
Well, now there’s a simple answer.
Thirst on Park End Street offers a fantastic if understated night, going by the name of Bungalowed.
Named after a rather good Michael McIntyre bit, the night offers a great mix of music in both the main bar and in the bar’s brilliant garden.
The main bar plays extraordinarily catchy and danceable house music all night, which no matter how reluctant a dancer you are will have you jigging with all your heart in a very short space of time.
The garden plays a relaxing mix of reggae and dubstep played from what I see as a first in Oxford, which is an outside area sporting its own DJ booth, ensuring a great night whether you’re dancing inside or relaxing with a cigarette in the lush surroundings of the terrace.
It even has its own bar, and if it wasn’t so darn cold, I probably would have spent a lot more time out there.
Drinks are, as usual for Thirst, superbly priced, including a range of cocktails for £2.75, a £2 bottle of Stella, a £2.50 vodka Red Bull and £1.50 shots.
But the star of the show for me was predictably the £2.95 Long Island Iced Tea, which is probably my favourite mix of my favourite cocktail in the entire city.
Throwing a couple of those down your neck I guarantee gets you well on your way to a great night out.
I won’t lie, it’s a late starter. I had the horrible feeling that no one would be turning up for quite a while, but at about 11.30pm people started arriving in reassuring numbers, and pretty soon I was on the dance floor with them.
If you’re lucky, Bungalowed occasionally gets live drummers in to play along with the beats, or sometimes even puts on a fire show, but even if you miss these, Bungalowed has more than enough going on to keep you hugely entertained.
Really. I think the best thing I can say about the night is that at 1.30am on a Sunday morning, I was on a busy dance floor looking about myself at all these other people and every one of them was having just as brilliant a time as I was.
You can’t ask for more can you?
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here