Tiger Tiger’s closing: let us prey

Please take your seats. The service will resume shortly. Tiger Tiger is tragically no more.

Aberdeen Business Closure Nightlife Tiger Tiger

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember something that holds a special place in all of our hearts – Tiger Tiger: Aberdeen. It was not just a nightclub; it was a saviour to the middle-man student – those too attractive for Pearl Lounge and not edgy enough for Snafu. Aberdeen will not be the same without you. RIP X

Unfortunately, after a tough time in recent years – the loss of Aberdeen’s biggest club night, Vanity, to rival club The Institute – Tiger is simply not bringing in the numbers it once did, so they have no other option than to close down.

They will be celebrating their last night on Saturday 1st of March, so be sure to head down if you care to take a trip down memory lane and reignite the fire that was TigerTiger.

What used to be the age-old question

In it’s hay-day, Tiger really was the place to be seen on a Friday night; the social hub of Aberdonian aristocracy – by that I mean private school kids with plenty of Daddy’s money to burn…

Tiger was the stomping ground for up-and-coming BNOCs (Big Name On Campus, for those less socially adept), with guest list and VIP scooped up in seconds. Of course, the measure for reaching BNOC status was not even needing to say a name on the door.

Some “big deals” with a drinks package. It’s a shame the trough takes an hour to fill.

At the height of it’s popularity, people would queue from 10pm simply to secure their entrance into the prestigious club – guestlist or no guestlist. The thing is, it didn’t seem to matter whether you were on guest list or not… The non-guest list queue always went down quicker. It was probably due to the sheer embarrassment of being stood in the NORMAL queue that club-goers kept their pride and grin-and-bared the queue, whatever the weather conditions.

The result of a trip to Tiger back in the golden ages of its popularity.

There was an obvious crossover between Tiger PR and Hollister assistant/model – both jobs having only one requirement; looking pretty. Noses had to be held whilst shopping in Hollister the next day, and not because of their usual famous scent – half the staff were still drunk or hadn’t showered the booze and shame away. They didn’t look as fresh as usual.

Being tagged in a Vanity photo on the Saturday morning could either make or break you. Whether it was the poor lighting or the cheap drinks, the photographer had a wonderful skill of making everyone look as awful as possible; but maybe that was just me…

“Will I look stupid with my leopard leggings if i’m in a place called Tiger?”

So where did it all go wrong…?

In recent years, in an outreach due to falling numbers, Tiger installed their “Kanaloa” Tiki bar. This seemed like a great idea, until it was actually installed… Set right in front of the busy stairs leading down to the dancefloor, it didn’t leave much space in a club that already reached capacity on numerous occasions. Mix this with spilled drinks and girls walking (stumbling) in six inch heels, the Tiki bar provided more of a health and safety risk than a paradise for Polynesian cocktails.

If waiting for a pina colada served in a pineapple for ten minutes is your idea of fun, then good for you – it sure as hell isn’t for me. Not only was the Tiki bar a huge inconvenience spatially, you had sobered up by the time it took to order your next drink. Not ideal.

The elusive pineapples.

Then there’s the fact that Tiger kept on increasing their drinks prices. 2010, my fresher year – tequila and sambuca’s were only £1. These prices increased to the point where even “old-money” students struggled to afford a round.

It would seem cheap drinks really are the main factor when trying to draw in the student body; they don’t care that the floor is sticky; they don’t care that the vodka is not triple-distilled. Tiger failed to realise that in a student-run city, other establishments were simply offering more.

Oh, I haven’t mentioned bitchy door staff yet… Tiger had the best of the bunch. Sometimes, I really want to be made to feel like a piece of shit… Oh no, wait… I DON’T.

For some reason, Tiger door staff seemed to think so. On muttering a guest list to a pretty lady, often the outcome would simply be “Nope, sorry. Next”. The door staff had a facial expression mastered to perfection; the “You’re not good enough for here” face. The face didn’t seem to leave until a £5 note was waved in their direction. And God forbid you didn’t have the correct change. I once tried to make my entry money up with loose change I had acquired. “We don’t take 20p’s” – I’m sorry, but last time I checked you weren’t the Queen of the world.

Aderdeen… Could poor spelling be the reason behind Tiger Tiger’s decline in popularity?

Sadly, of late, Tiger has been seeing stiff competition from an unlikely source – one of its neighbours, VUE cinema. You know it’s not good when your target audience would rather be elbow deep in popcorn than sneaking into VIP.

We leave with a quote from Job 4:11, Wycliffe Bible:

“Tigers perished, for she had not prey; and whelps of the lion be destroyed.”

Without the student backing, Tiger simply could not be. We hope Tiger is in a better place now.