| This is our third visit to the club since it opened, but it’s been sometime since our last visit (early 2011) The club is about an hours drive out of the North London suburbs, getting there by public transport is not recommended and there is plenty of on site and well secured parking. As with the previous visits, we have always gone on a Couples Only Night. We had organised something of a ‘Treasure hunt’ with the club that night, so our apologies to anyone who were playing while people were sneaking past looking for clues under pillows and such. We did leave them in such obvious places we thought they would all be found well before the normal playing emmigration hour.
If you want a detailed description of the layout of the club please scroll down to the previous review near the bottom of this forum. In brief the club is in a converted pub / hotel on the A1 and the owners have done a fantastic job of converting the place. The facilities and staff are all great and it’s clear that Jules is the anchor of the place. The DJ did a good job but even though the dance floor has been moved, (big improvement) people still didn’t get up to dance (Male pole dancer demonstration aside) This was odd because every girl and some of the guys that we spoke to, and we spoke to lots, all wanted to get up and have a boogie and they liked the music, so the question is why didn’t they? We think the DJ though great, as stated by one of the regulars, needs to take control of the crowd a little bit more, interact and get them going. One of the issues with the venue is how ever you lay it out, you really do have to fit in with the floor plan of the building and it’s not too likely to fit in with you. So we can fully appreciate the owners have their work cut out with getting every space here to fully work for them. Although the old dance floor area is a great space that is waiting for alternate use and does provide a great area for visiting groups/private hires we would certainly like to see it some how ingratiate its presence more on a weekly basis. Certainly foam parties on a hot summers day (if we get any more) would work really well here. Having read over the criticisms that were mentioned elsewhere below, we cannot agree with comments about lack of towels or dirty toilets. The toilets have always been spotless here, and there is never a shortage of towels around. Certainly the club is not faultless. The hot shower near the vast Jacuzzi wasn’t working. Its aware that with the current layout some areas of the club are more redundant than they should be. Some additional toiletries in the hotel bedrooms would be most welcome, but the bedrooms are clean, the beds comfortable and the shower hot (both when we arrived and when we got up) are the most important things on our list but we were aware that if someone has an impromptu orgy in the room next door until 5am while doing their best to win the Oscar for biggest screaming and most often repeated female orgasm, then you will hear it!! (Hazard of staying over at any swingers venue really) Be aware that not all the rooms are the same, and vary in size. The club is very friendly and we do not feel its cliquey at all, the staff are always on hand to help out without being intrusive even if they do occasionally look like they are undercover for a Presidential motorcade. We have heard comments of people saying the clientele were more on the older side when we have been out elsewhere and as with any club, on some nights that might be true, not so last Saturday. An extremely youthful looking crowd were in attendance, we don’t mean to suggest that there weren’t people of all ages, there were, but they certainly looked great. There was as much socialising as there was playing and the new couples that we spoke to said for their first club experience they felt very comfortable there. Though there is still work to do at VA, this is a great club, and there’s probably only ten clubs in the UK of a similar standard. If you’re going to book a room when you visit, booking ahead is advised it’s often booked up two to three weeks ahead, but always double check last minute for cancellations. If not there’s no shortage of hotels in the area.
Date: 4 June 2012
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