|
Barbados stays as busy after dark as it does during the day, when all those people who spent their day lying on the beach move into the bars and clubs. Beach bars can be lively both day and night, often with live music and dancing. There is quite a selection of places to while away the midnight hours, with a variety of live bands and DJs in the bars, clubs and sports bars all along the west and south coasts, particularly St Lawrence Gap, known as the ‘hip strip’, where there are around 40 bars, restaurants, pubs and clubs offering entertainment. This isn’t Ibiza, where you can party until breakfast. People are going to bed earlier than they used to and no longer catch the first bus home. However, most clubs open around 2200 but do not get lively until almost midnight, and close around 0200-0400. Most charge US$12.50 or more for entry on ’free drinks’ night; less when you are paying for the drinks. It’s worth phoning in advance to find out what’s on offer, as well as find out about any dress codes or admission rules.
Look in the Visitor and Sun Seeker for information about what’s on each night, or try some of the websites such as http://www.bajandancehall.com, or http://www.partyoverhere.com for parties and bashments (parties, raves or gigs). If you haven’t had enough of the sea during the day, you can join a party cruise at night and dance the night away aboard the Jolly Roger or the Harbour Master, usually a riotous, drunken affair.
For something authentically Bajan it might be worth trying one of the dances which are advertised in the Nation newspaper on Friday. This involves ballroom dancing to slows and ’back in times’. People hire a dance hall, charge admission (usually US$5), provide a disco, and keep the profits. There are very few foreigners, but the atmosphere is friendly, and the drinks a lot cheaper than in the smarter nightclubs. A more permanent home for this sort of thing is the beautifully named Lonely Hearts, upstairs opposite the Treasury Building Close, just off Heroes Square in Bridgetown.
There are also fêtes, which attract a younger crowd and Jamaican-style dub music, advertised by poster and sometimes on the radio. Venues include Penthouse, close to Parliament buildings in Bridgetown, Cactus in Silver Sands, Liberty in Black Rock and De Base on Bay Street in Bridgetown. Unfortunately, there have been a few fights at ’Dub’ fêtes and they are no longer as relaxed as they used to be.
|
