Vote for the best club in Norwich

When the sticky floors of the LCR get too much who’s at the top of your guestlist?

We’ve compiled a list of our favourite clubs on Prince of Wales Road and in Clubland. Vote for you favourite to have it named the best club in the city.

Mantra

It’s dress to impress if you’re heading to this Prince of Wales staple on a Thursday. Once you’re papped at the door you face a decision tougher than DFC or Master Chef-upstairs or downstairs. Upstairs you can expect “the best in afro beats hip hop and RnB” and downstairs chart bangers and ‘One Dance’ by Drake more than you’ve had hot meals.

So what they’ve doubled the price of drinks then given you half price wristbands – there’s always a guaranteed good night to be had.

The VIP section is pretty decent on a social and the “bubbly” (probably from Aldi) also goes down a treat.

The queue outside every Thursday speaks for itself and you can guarantee to bump into people you know if you lose your friends on the dance floor.

The Loft

Karaoke on a Thursday and Saturday, need I say more. The no.1 gay nightclub and sports social spot in Norwich has every element of a brilliant night out.

With more cheese than Rylan in Benidorm you can expect to hear the finest from our favourite divas. From Whitney to Beyoncé, Tina to Aretha, along with chart hits and nineties classics, I’ve certainly got R-E-S-P-E-C-T for this club. Oh, and it also has an aeroplane inside (no biggie).

Where trainers and fancy dress are perfectly acceptable and with a welcoming atmosphere and friendly staff, the loft is a popular spot for UEA students.

Mercy

The Home of the D-lister PA- Mercy is by far the biggest club in Norwich after Wonderland closed and got turned into a trampoline park (God rest its soul).

Since taking over as the prime Friday night spot, the Cabana Club has got some seriously impressive music acts through its doors over the last year. One hit wonder legend Fatman Scoop is performing this month and the likes of Fuse ODG and Chipmunk have graced the stage over the past year.

They certainly like to keep it topical in Mercy and recently hosted a Jamie Vardy party after Leicester’s astonishing premier league victory and held a #gradugate night with mortarboard giveaways.

A solid contender for the best club in Norwich title, as long as your walk very quickly when your ID is scanned onto the massive screen at the entrance.

Waterfront

Like the LCR’s slightly less loved sibling, the Waterfront is also owned by the union and hosts Propaganda on a Friday. The Waterfront is the venue of choice for the slightly more edgy of the infamously unedgy UEA population.

Upstairs you can expect alternative music, but you’d be naïve to think this is anything much more than The Kooks, Two Door Cinema Club and Scouting for Girls.

Downstairs is where the real fun is at with pop punk and guilty pleasures taking you right back to Year 9 hall parties, reliving your teenage angst with the likes of My Chemical Romance, Blink 182 and Sum 41. Nothing brings people together quite like screaming “Welcome To The Black Parade” at the top of your lungs and remembering the times when you were oh so misunderstood.

Better still it’s a cheap night out and costs £3 on the guestlist.

If you can tolerate a few questionable locals this is a great throwback night out in Norwich, which certainly won’t bust your student budget.

The gigs are brilliant too, with local bands and big names performing regularly.

Brooklyns

By the time you’ve finished reading this, the name of the club will probably have changed. Brooklyn (formerly New York New York, formerly Bronx) is the best and somehow worst club to go to down the Prince of Wales Road. It’s open until 6am every day, and does six Jell-O shots for a fiver. It’s not actually a club, it’s just a bar with a DJ, but the atmosphere is definitely club-esque. I took a slut drop too last time I was in there, and got pulled out to be breathalysed, only to be way under the limit and able to trot happily back in. The music is fabulous, there’s never a queue for the loo, and drinks are cheap – what more could you ask for?

Karma Kafe

There’s a certain kind of atmosphere in Karma Kafe you won’t find anywhere else in Norwich. From the booming speakers on the bottom floor blasting out beats to the smoking area packed with people popping pills to the guy who sits in the toilet all night selling gum to the gurners. Open every Friday and Saturday and often host to a variety of events, Karma has three floors of music to choose from, and there is always a distinct variety, be it Electro or Jungle or Techno in the basement, or epic DJ sets on the ground floor and the terrace upstairs, offering a selection that everyone can enjoy. Drinks are fairly pricey but alcohol isn’t what people go for when there’s plenty else to choose from – spirits are always high there, even if you aren’t drunk.

Flaunt

For too long The Loft was the only LGBT+ club in Norwich, and then came Flaunt and unleashed a whole new load of wonderful on Prince of Wales Road. Flaunt, with its weird rubbery walls and tiny disco ball brought new life to clubland. Why are the toilets so unbelievably grand? Who needs a mirror that big? Why in a club so huge is the dance floor so tiny? How is the DJ still finding 90s bangers that you haven’t heard for a decade? These are Norwich’s unanswerable questions but with free entry and the friendliest bouncers around it’s always worth a trip to find out.