KCL bouncers: “We still feel like we’re babysitting a bunch of upper middle class kids”

What do they really think of us? We bring you Guy’s Bar through the eyes of the people who protect us.

It’s a typical Wednesday night at Guy’s Bar. At 8.30pm, and the swathes of mimes (GKT Netball), drag queens (GKT Men’s Hockey) and ‘on Wednesdays we wear pink’ (GKT Women’s Football) are streaming through the entrance to Boland House. The three men in charge of controlling the doors are cracking jokes and searching bags.

We approached these elusive characters to get an idea of just what we students put them through on the average Sports’ Night… with surprising results.

How long have you guys been working here?

A while, a few years, we switch in between here and the other King’s venues. Waterfront on the weekends, and back at… what was that club called? Tutu’s, that’s it. That was the best!

We miss it too. Have you noticed a change in the students since the tuition fee rise in 2012?

We haven’t really felt the full force of it, you know? We still feel like we’re babysitting a bunch of upper middle class kids. They’re just so immature, that’s the main thing that stands out.

What’s been your worst experience here at Guy’s Bar?

There’s not one incident that stands out in particular, but the big issue is kids talking back to you. They have no respect for people in positions of authority. They try to use big language when they’re drunk, they think they’re better than us, they belittle us and try to talk their way out of things. There are a few guys who have been given some kind of small positions of power and it just goes completely to their heads, they piss us off every week.

Yum

Most recently?

Couple of weeks ago there was this kid we know, he gets into trouble here most Wednesdays. He’s small, not intimidating at all. The bouncer downstairs asked him to put his clothes back on after Baywatch came on (you know that’s the one song they’re all allowed to get their kit off to), and he wouldn’t do it. Our mate asked him about three or four times, and Sam* downstairs said, ‘If you don’t want to listen then go’, and he escorted him out. It must have been half an hour before closing and this kid just stayed up here giving us hell for the rest of the time. He wasn’t even that drunk he was just trying to cause trouble; he made us call the manageress and was rude to her as well. He turned a simple thing into some mission. And the funny thing is, they think they can get away with this shit and just turn up next week right as rain, but it doesn’t work like that.

Snakebite + condom = snakedom?

So the main issue is that the students just don’t respect you?

They’re just so arrogant. They’ve come to uni to be educated and they’re fighting us over leaving half an hour early. It’s not the right cause and they need to realize that. It’s about upbringing; I could have never disrespected my elders like that. They’re only 20 years old and they think they know everything. It’s a pomposity thing. And it always makes us laugh, if you dressed up in girls’ clothes at my school you’d have been killed! It makes you think that nothing is sacred anymore.

The night was just getting started for some

Do you see a difference between the freshers and older students?

Freshers are quieter at first and the others are more confident and more rowdy. Mainly just louder. But after a term or term and a half they’re all the same. They get given stations that go to their heads. They’re captains of teams and drunk and pissed but refuse to get kicked out nicely. The whole team tries to defend them and cause more trouble. It’s just a constant hassle.

These are the men who have seen it all. Although apparently, that isn’t all that much. These bouncers are the figures of authority whose presence looms large in hazy memories of the night before, and trust us, they’re judging you for it.

Very encouraging freebies

*names have been changed