The Honey Club, Brighton - New Discrimination Policy
by matt @ 12:09 pm. Blogged under Music, Travel / Holidays
After many years of musical mixing enjoyment at Brighton’s Honey Club (Guy Ornadel, Benny Benassi etc.) the curtain has finally closed for Suzie_Q and I - refused entry on the grounds that we are from Dorking. On Saturday evening we had planned to visit to hear what used to be the best house/trance in the South East, the occasion - our wedding anniversary, and after a year away from clubbing (having a baby) we really needed it! We even went to the trouble of booking an expensive room at The Grand Hotel so we could be within walking distance. After bracing the gale and rain, a bouncer resembling Eastenders’ Phil Mitchell told us ‘Sorry, you can’t come in because you’re from Dorking… and I’ve got seven in already’. To say we were taken aback would be an understatement, at first we thought he just had a Jack Dee style of humour – but no, he was serious, The Honey Club now discriminates based on where you live.
Discrimination may seem like quite a strong word to use but I’ve looked up a couple of definitions: “The illegal treatment of a person or a group of persons based on a prohibited factor.” (i.e we live in Dorking). “Discrimination refers to the process of illegally differentiating between people on the basis of group membership rather than individual merit.” (i.e we live in Dorking and so do other people).
Despite speaking to the manager (apparently) for clarification he confirmed that, like some draconian law from 19th century England preventing large groups massing to discuss low wages, we couldn’t come in because there were already people inside from Dorking who we might know - ‘It ain’t gonna happen mate’. Given that the population of Dorking is 17,000 it is possible that there were indeed people inside from our home town, assuming that we even knew them though was frankly bizarre. I could understand it if we had all turned up together but we didn’t, Suzie_Q and I were all on our lonesome.
Ten years ago I myself worked on the door of a club, I saw people turned away for carrying drugs or weapons, or for being too drunk to walk or offensive, I also saw items confiscated and admittance allowed anyway. Suzie_Q and I were guilty of no greater crime than living in Dorking, we certainly weren’t a threat to anybody - sober as judges; it’s an entry policy which seems absolutely bizarre. Having looked at the Honeyclub’s door policy I can’t believe for a moment that we fell foul of it: ‘The Honeyclub is a friendly and multicultural venue so entry will be is based on your attitude and security staffs belief that you will mix in with the crowd inside. We like to create a nice space for people to enjoy themselves’. We arrived with big smiles, perhaps that was our mistake.
I did wonder how bouncer ‘Phil Mitchell’ had managed to memorise a spreadsheet of towns and the number of people coming in and out from each with such ease – presumably he’s a mathematical genius when Countdown is on TV. I also wondered how they were managing to make money with presumably only seven clubbers inside from Brighton itself?
So what does this mean for people wanting to go to the Honey Club? Presumably it means if you live in a town where there is a risk that there are already people inside from there, then you will not be allowed in – which rules out living within a 100 mile radius of Brighton. Don’t make any plans to attend with friends, the management are quite firm on this new approach to reverse social networking.
Given that the Honey Club was the ONLY reason we ever used to go out in Brighton I imagine we’ll have to just rely on trips to Ibiza and the summer Global Gathering event to get our musical fix in future. Ironically the last time we went to the Honey Club in August 2006 we didn’t have all that great a time, as I reported then, there were large groups of hen and stag parties making the atmosphere quite hard to bear. Either my 2006 review has resulted in a ‘no large groups’ policy which we ourselves now find ourselves at the mercy of or it’s business as usual and Suzie_Q and I had the misfortune of arriving at a very unfortunate power-tripping moment - a real shame as all our fond memories have been blown to pieces.
Technorati Tags: honey club, honeyclub, brighton, night club, the honey club
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January 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
If your town is already down then you aint getting in!
This has to be a joke? so the chances of me getting into the Honey club being from Croydon (which has a much larger population than Dorking) are extremely slim?? this is crazy! forget Brighton i’ll stick to London..plus the wages are better!
January 14th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
It’s so bizarre that we thought it was a joke. It took a full two minutes with the bouncer before we even believed him ‘I don’t joke’ he said…
January 14th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Well written my man. To say I was upset was an understatement!
January 15th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Hi Matt,
I am sorry that last saturday was spoiled in the manner you describe. Its certainly not the policy of the Honeyclub to refuse anyone on the grounds that they are from a specific place. It was with a growing sense of dissapointment and alarm that I read your review of the Honeyclub this morning. Its obviously something I intend investigating further, can you confirm that the security staff refused you entry for no other reason than the fact that you were from Dorking?
If so its vey odd since that is the antithisis of the selection policy.
Kind regards
Wayne
January 15th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Yes Wayne I can confirm that this was the only reason. It was 11:30pm, my wife and I strolled up to the empty non members queue with big smiles and were asked ‘Where are you from?’ we said ‘Dorking’ and were told ’sorry, I’ve already got 7 in from Dorking tonight’ (an exact quote). As I said above, we thought he was joking but he wasn’t. We asked to speak to the manager and spoke to another chap who confirmed it was because we were from Dorking.
I did mention that it was a shame, that we had been before many times and that it was our wedding anniversary - he said none of that mattered. At which point my wife got very upset (but not abusive I will add).
I also calmly explained there and then that I would be writing a review of the experience, blogging it and getting it listed in Google within a week… he said good luck to me!
We’ve been to clubs all over the world and NEVER come across anything like this before. It did put a major downer on our first wedding anniversary
January 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Thank you Matt,
I will discuss this matter with the duty manager and the security staff on Thursday night as thats the next time the club is open and they are all together. In the meantime please accept my apologies that your experiance on saturday was as you describe. I will be in touch again on Friday to let you know what my investigation uncovers and if possible to resolve any ill feeling. Its obviously not in the interest of good customer relations to refuse people for such a silly reason as being from dorking. I’ve visited Dorking a few times, its a very nice town!
January 15th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Incredible! I can’t believe it…. I think they should offer you free tickets PLUS money to cover another night in The Grand…
Whilst they can’t change the fact they ruined your night, we can only hope they want to rectify it for you.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I was sad to hear that my son and daughter-in-law had this happen on their first wedding anniversary. It was meant to be a relaxing happy night for them, their first on their own for a while after having my beautiful granddaughter.
What a funny way for a club to carry on.
Dorking is a lovely town. Weird.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Martin Ten Velden WOW !!!!
10 freinds and i came to the honey club from eastbourne to hear residents and Martin play this weekend and i has been one of the BEST saturday nights i have ever had at the honey, it would be hard to beat the atmosphere here compared to any other in brighton at the moment.
Much love x
January 16th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Are you trying to make us even more disappointed Simon?
I’m amazed ten of you from Eastbourne were allowed in as that surely goes against the ‘no more than 7′ rule.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Sorry Matt i didnt mean to upset you more, than you are already. I really hope you Guys can get sorted for a night down the club, as they have a fantastic line up this year, for instance the friday night honey in feb, see the return of of the awesome miss Kate Lawler, Chris Lake.
And some very cool saturdays, including the return of Felix Da House Cat, Paul Okenfold, the Judge, Ferry Corsten and many more. Hope to see you there. Take care guys.
Much love.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Sounds like a good line up Simon! but I’d be worried that I would travel all that way and would not be allowed in as it seems this club discriminates selectively; if you and your 10 friends were allowed inside. Why not make this club ‘members only’ so they can vet everyone beforehand just incase they live in Dorking or don’t fit some other criteria? would save everyones time,money and disappointment.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I was the phil mitchell lookalike bouncer that turned the couple from Dorking away if it was’nt for the fact that “susie_q” got rather abusive then they may have stood a chance of getting into the club that night. I have been a doorman in brighton for the last 10years and i dont accept abusive behaviour from anyone. We also have a rule at the honeyclub that if you are aggresive or abusive then we dont have to let you in…and i did’nt and to this day i still stand by my decision.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I’ve no idea if you are indeed the bouncer Chris, if you are legit then I would ask just one question ‘Why on earth would we walk up to a club we wanted to get into having spent £300 for a night’s local accommodation and just start being abusive (bearing in mind we were also sober)?’ That makes no sense whatsoever. I don’t deny that after a couple of minutes my wife got a bit tearful when we were told we couldn’t come in because we were from Dorking, but that doesn’t change the fact that we were refused access on the grounds of our town of residence. Bizarre!
January 19th, 2008 at 5:23 am
I am truly sorry for upsetting the both of you…but i was told by the group from dorking that there were at least 30/35 of them and i said to them that no more from that group would be allowed in (for security reasons) then about 5mins later you guys turned up. I thought you guys would be with the group so i refused entry. Your wife did get quite abusive at times and now reflecting back on the situation i can understand why. As i have already said i am very sorry and please dont think badly of the honeyclub as it was my mistake not their’s.
January 19th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Sounds like a case of bad timing then, wish we had got there earlier. Poor Suzie_Q had been stuck in the house for 6 months with a new baby (not to mention the preceding pregnancy) and this was our first night out clubbing in a long time. I agree she got quite upset once we were turned away for a seemingly crazy reason but as you say, you can understand why. I appreciate your honesty though Chris so my extra Google promotion of this matter will end now.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:31 am
This sort of thing never happened when I used to go clubbing in Brighton with my mates-a few years ago now! We used to go to ‘Sherry’s’ night club.It was cool, and we boogied the night away, eyed up the talent lol. There was a dress code; ties for men and long dresses for women( the fashion then) no-one asked where we came from or cared, we had a ‘fab’ time..ah those were the days.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:31 am
Hi Matt,
I’ve been asked my postcode when trying to get into a club in Brighton before - as I’m a local resident (Hove) it’s usually not a problem, although I did think it a little bizarre.
Knowing a little about this subject I know that there’s a regulatory body with which you can take your case further should you wish: http://www.the-sia.org.uk/home
I’m sure it needn’t come to that, but I do know that the SIA take matters of discrimination (usually racial or sexual of course) very seriously.
Good luck, let us know the outcome won’t you?
C
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:05 am
i keep getting emails still regarding someone’s unfortunate experience in brighton, surely this is old news!! move on guys you only live once for goodness sake…….
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 am
I’ve removed Simon’s ‘thread subscription’ manually so we don’t inconvenience him anymore with emails on this subject (although this is something anybody can edit themselves on a specific thread).
Thanks for the update Chris, not sure it needs to come to it in this instance but it does make me think I should have contacted the SIA about the whole Clubscan issue I raised last year. Which reminds me that I haven’t heard any more from the ‘Right Honourable’ James Brokenshire about what the Information Commissioner was going to do about that! I’ll have to follow that up with him.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Well done Wayne. Result.
January 28th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
So what clubs in Brighton will let groups in then? I’m thinking of heading down there with some friends in a couple of weeks, suggestions let me know we definitely don’t want any disappointments as it will be valentines!
January 30th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Terrible story, Matt! Apologies on Brighton’s behalf - also I note this story ranks (currently) 11th for ‘honey club brighton’ on google, hence the owners’ (I assume) hasty firefighting…
January 30th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Only 11th for you Dan? I make it position 10 (bottom) in .co.uk and .com, I did have the top as well when I was running the Adwords
January 30th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
honey club hen night is 4th ;-)for co.uk
January 30th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
yep, there’s a whole bunch of combo terms doing well, I was especially pleased that ‘Simon’ posted a list of all the upcoming acts, now we’re first page on ‘honey club chris lake’ LOL. I really must write a new blog entry so that we can all move on…
May 5th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Ive lived and worked in Ibiza for the last 16 years and am heavily related to the club scene in my work and ive never understood this crazy policy on large groups and entry to clubs!! people spending money comes to mind!
Nice blog by the way. Good work
Danny