Brannies biggest rival. Or not?

It is common knowledge to any journalist writing an opinion piece, that in order to write a fair and balanced article you should not be bias; so admittedly have already kicked myself in the head on this particular subject.

I have been a student in Chester for almost three years now and being a regular Wednesday girl, the closing down of Brannigans back in January left more than a little tear in my eye.

Brannigans always was the life and soul of Chester student nights and although you got stuck to the floor, lost limbs trying to get served and always returned home resembling something that had been dragged through a bush backwards, there was little not to love about it.

In short the ‘student night’ set to replace it would have a lot to live up to.

Sure enough a few weeks’ later rumours began to fly of an alternative to Chester’s much beloved Brannigans, a club in Ellesmere Port called Destiny and Elite (it is known to the locals as desperate and easy. Not the most promising start.)

It was originally arranged by Chris Davies, a previous manager of the Su bar and a few other well known names and costing £5 a ticket, it got you a coach fare to and from the club, as well as entry into the club itself. Add in all drinks priced at 99p and you shouldn’t be far off student heaven.

So on Wednesday the 14th of April with my housemates in tow, I went to Destiny and Elite, keeping an open mind and preparing to be swayed into my beliefs on Chester’s hottest student night club.

As the clock struck nine we put on our heels and headed into town for a few pre-drinks before out night of ‘research’ began.

Having been told that the buses leave from two points in town, one being out side the town hall and the other outside Revs, we ventured down to Revs to have a few cheeky drinks before hopping on the next bus ride to Destiny.

Now, in hindsight this should seem like a simple idea. You go to a bar, have a drink and relax, while you wait for your bus to take you to your desired destination- perhaps Arriva should take this idea into consideration?

This was probably the first, shall we say, hiccup.

Glancing over at the bus stop for some idea of bus times, we noticed a group of students pile out the door. That was our first sign that a bus was here.

We then flew to the door ready to clamber on the bus. What followed next was a doorman turning round saying the bus was full and we needed to wait another 15 minutes for the next one.

This seemed a tad disorganised but it was no disaster. It simply meant time for one more drink, jump on the next one and go to the club. The only slight issue with the commotion was some unfortunate girl had done a spectacular 360 degree fall outside and we were now minus two housemates who had managed to barge their way on the previous bus.

Anyway, 15 minutes rolled by and we left the bar, and headed over the road to the bus stop. Then 45 minutes passed and we were still standing in the same spot and still waiting for the bus. Baring in mind the dawn of Thursday the 15th was not far off, the temperature outside was fluctuating between 10 degrees and minus one and a queue of 40 odd students behind us, the atmosphere of night had dropped well below freezing.

Being the right-old-age of 21 I refuse to moan and groan over something as small as a 45 minute wait for a bus, but if first impressions were anything to go by this night still had a lot to prove.

Two buses run to Destiny every 20 minutes, so why were we left standing in the cold for over three quarters of an hour? This would never happen at Brannies, you could walk straight in and were lucky if you had to queue for more than 15 minutes.

Eventually the bus arrived and instead of filing on like the respectable students that we are, we were vultures in for the kill. Never before has a stiletto heel had so many advantages.

We found the nearest seats and like school kids suddenly became possessive of our space and began scouting out the male talent. All that was missing was school ties around our necks, lollipops in our mouths and random shoes being thrown down the coach.

There was the chanting, the laughing and even the girls at the front of the bus smoking. It really felt like we had stepped back six years and vey little had changed.

I had heard so many good reports about this place; it was supposedly double the size of Brannies, better, cheaper and a guaranteed ‘quality night out.’ So far I was just pleased we didn’t have to queue to get inside.

Once inside little did I know my heart was about to die again. Not only had the bus journey there been the epitome of home grown sprouts, but the whole club appeared to have been decorated by a blind primary school kid. I had been to more exciting year five discos.

On the plus side there was a lot of room to dance, which is great seeing as their drinks prices are so low that everyone needs an arms width of space to dance (think drunk Uncle at a wedding.)

After a few hours of strenuous dancing we decided to head home, only forgetting that this requires getting yet another bus home and the accompanying thought that my bed was still 30 minutes away, a painful thought compared to the 10 minutes speed walk it used to be from Brannigans.

When the coach pulled into Parkgate road I could finally see the light. Whether or not if was actually the gleaming reflection of the recently placed sick on the bus floor shinning off the moon is another story. Either way, my bed had never felt so good and my feet had never been so grateful to be rested.

It would be wrong to say the night was a disaster, because every element of Destiny and Elite is student orientated; it was encouraged, planned and created by Chester students.

You get the impression with a bit more time and organisation this really can be a huge success and could be a Wednesday night that could easily rival those Brannigans days.

To say neither I nor my housemates will never go again is untrue, but for the time being Branniagns (RIP) will always be the best student night in Chester.