Battle of the Bars Day 4: The Bicycle Shop

Just from the name you can tell that The Bicycle Shop isn’t a standard club like the rest of the venues we have reviewed so far this week.

But it certainly does provide just as much entertainment for a night out, even if it probably doesn’t involve walking home without any shoes or getting a kebab at 4am…

Needless to say, it doesn’t sell bikes, and nor is it really a club. The Bicycle Shop is a cafe/bar/diner that spans two floors with the basement area.

The basement, or ‘Handlebar’, is used to host gigs ranging from musical acts to poetry readings by UEA’s own students, and the Upstairs ‘Parlour’ is used as a cafe during the day and a restaurant in the evening.

Unlike a lot of the other venues in Norwich, The Bicycle Shop doesn’t have set ‘nights’, but a week rarely goes by without something going on downstairs in the ‘Handlebar’.

The Bicycle Shop boasts a great variety of music and performances, from country, folk and pop music, to poetry readings. Assuming the music on offer the night you choose to go is ‘your thing’ you are in for a great alternative night out.

The Bicycle Shop’s quirky, vintage, décor along with the light smell of incense results in a very relaxed and intimate atmosphere, perfect for the kind of small, friendly gigs held in the Handlebar.

In terms of student deals and cheap drinks, the best offer, in my opinion, was £3.95 for tea and cake, which while very tempting during the day, is not particularly appropriate for a night out.

But with entry to events being usually between five and ten pounds, the whole experience is unlikely to prove overly pricey.

For some, the lack of drink deals can certainly be made up for by the refreshing lack of the usual long, outdoor queue to get in, no glass or spilt drinks on the floor and lack of pervs, but if those things have a strange place in your heart then it is possible the Bicycle Shop isn’t for you.

Now to the Scoring! Because of the difference between The Bicycle Shop and the other clubs, scoring on a similar scale is difficult, but here is the best we can do.

The Score:

Music: 2/5 (The inconsistency of styles of music makes it difficult to score highly as it may vary from night to night)

Atmosphere: 4/5

Price: 2/5 (1 being expensive)

Queue: 4/5 (1 being a bad queue outside)

Stickiness: 4/5 (5 being top marks for non-stickiness!)

Perv Factor: 4/5

Overall Score: 20/30

If you are interested in going to the Bicycle Shop you should check out the Sound and Vision Festival 2012 11-13th of October, or The Bicycle Shop’s Birthday Weekend on the 20-22nd of October.

Look out in the Norwich Tab tomorrow for our review of Propaganda!