Bad Karma: a taste of nightlife in Evesham
You might be familiar with the concept of Room 101, perhaps from the writings of George Orwell, or perhaps the slightly watered down version on BBC Two. As the 'worst thing in the world', Room 101 might be a better name for Evesham's newest bar, Karma. The significance might get a bit lost on the locals though, who appeared to be enjoying themselves somewhat more than our group.
The venue's had an expensive-looking refit in the past few months. It's made the bar a multi-purpose venue; they advertise themselves as being open "from coffee to clubbing". Consequently, it looks almost exactly like the Student Union bar in Hollyoaks. And that's the least of its problems. Thursday night is 80s night, with novelty hats, wigs and glasses available at the bar, for only £2.75, as advertised by the large day-glo signs, which are either trying to be in keeping with the theme of the night, or just happened to be cheap down at the stationer's.
Our DJ (although I hesitate to call him that, because his mixes were so slick they must either have been the result of a compilation CD, or - more likely given the bizarre order of his playlist - some beatmatching software) was not shy of using his microphone to get the crowd excited, using skills he might have picked up in the fairground down the road. He was mostly unintelligible, but we did learn that there was some sort of more exciting DJ playing at Karma this Sunday. I didn't manage to pick up who, though - DJ Hennessy is far more suited to telling us to "scream if you wanna go faster".
I did worry a little about the DJ's eyesight, though -- given his complete inability to read the crowd. Around 11 o'clock, as the bar rapidly emptied (Evesham's other hell-hole, Innuendo had just opened for the night), he treated us to that cheesy club classic, Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. As it got to the chorus, he shouted into the mic for everybody to join in, and at "Whoa-oh", dipped the music to be greeted with silence. The dancefloor was empty, save for a few sad lights and a solitary laser.
The clientele, as I mentioned, do appear to enjoy it, though. Perhaps I just wasn't drunk enough, or maybe they just don't know any better. I've had more enjoyable nights out in Norwich though, and that's saying something.
As we walked in - a group of six outsiders - everybody was looking at us. They knew we weren't from around here. One of them tried to greet us by doing some sort of monkey-dance around Roddy, but we pretended he wasn't there and he went away. They all seemed to be dressed the same, either in white shirts or rugby-ish stripey jumpers. And at least two-thirds male too. I'd wondered for a while where the youth of Evesham hang out, but now that we've found it, I reckon we'd be better off in any number of old man pubs in future.
I don't think I can really adequatly convey quite how bad the place really is. Roddy read this earlier and said that there wasn't anything remotely amusing about it, and he can't even look back on it and laugh.
We left after one drink, and went back to the hotel (via Tesco for some refreshments), and had a more entertaining night watching the election results come in. I still can't work out what I've done wrong in my life to deserve ending up in Karma.
The venue's had an expensive-looking refit in the past few months. It's made the bar a multi-purpose venue; they advertise themselves as being open "from coffee to clubbing". Consequently, it looks almost exactly like the Student Union bar in Hollyoaks. And that's the least of its problems. Thursday night is 80s night, with novelty hats, wigs and glasses available at the bar, for only £2.75, as advertised by the large day-glo signs, which are either trying to be in keeping with the theme of the night, or just happened to be cheap down at the stationer's.
Our DJ (although I hesitate to call him that, because his mixes were so slick they must either have been the result of a compilation CD, or - more likely given the bizarre order of his playlist - some beatmatching software) was not shy of using his microphone to get the crowd excited, using skills he might have picked up in the fairground down the road. He was mostly unintelligible, but we did learn that there was some sort of more exciting DJ playing at Karma this Sunday. I didn't manage to pick up who, though - DJ Hennessy is far more suited to telling us to "scream if you wanna go faster".
I did worry a little about the DJ's eyesight, though -- given his complete inability to read the crowd. Around 11 o'clock, as the bar rapidly emptied (Evesham's other hell-hole, Innuendo had just opened for the night), he treated us to that cheesy club classic, Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. As it got to the chorus, he shouted into the mic for everybody to join in, and at "Whoa-oh", dipped the music to be greeted with silence. The dancefloor was empty, save for a few sad lights and a solitary laser.
The clientele, as I mentioned, do appear to enjoy it, though. Perhaps I just wasn't drunk enough, or maybe they just don't know any better. I've had more enjoyable nights out in Norwich though, and that's saying something.
As we walked in - a group of six outsiders - everybody was looking at us. They knew we weren't from around here. One of them tried to greet us by doing some sort of monkey-dance around Roddy, but we pretended he wasn't there and he went away. They all seemed to be dressed the same, either in white shirts or rugby-ish stripey jumpers. And at least two-thirds male too. I'd wondered for a while where the youth of Evesham hang out, but now that we've found it, I reckon we'd be better off in any number of old man pubs in future.
I don't think I can really adequatly convey quite how bad the place really is. Roddy read this earlier and said that there wasn't anything remotely amusing about it, and he can't even look back on it and laugh.
We left after one drink, and went back to the hotel (via Tesco for some refreshments), and had a more entertaining night watching the election results come in. I still can't work out what I've done wrong in my life to deserve ending up in Karma.