So you find yourself in Northampton UK and are wondering where to game?
I did notice that a lot of datasheets were for large or major cities. I have not seen one for locations that are somewhat off the beaten track so to speak. As this is a town that I am familiar with I thought I would write one.
Contents
i) Background Info on the Town
ii) Day Game
iii) Night Game
iv) Misc Information
i) Background Info on the Town
Northampton is a large town (UK standards) in the UK with a rough stable population of about 220,000 it also has a university that has around 20,000 students. It is also the largest town in the county of Northamptonshire as well as the largest town in the UK, there are cities that are bigger. It has one train station and is about a 90 minute car journey to both London & Birmingham. There is a sizeable migrant community, mostly from various EE countries.
ii) Day Game.
For day game your best bet is to place yourself on Abington Street, which has a shopping mall and is busy everyday. The street is probably about half a mile long in total and runs through the centre of the town.
Your other prime location would be at the two major university campuses. Located just off a park area known as Racecouse and the largest which is located in the Kingsthrope/Moulton Park area of town. These two are about and 10 and 15 minute bus/car ride respectively. Both campuses have students living on them.
Another highly populated area is the hospital, which is located about 3 minutes walk from the very top of Abington Street.
iii) Night Game.
There is two distinct bar districts, town centre and Wellingborough Road (Welly Road). Each attracts a different sort of crowd. There are however a few bars dotted about the place that are worth a mention.
Town centre is, obviously, the main area and is much busier and is much better for all types of players. There is a very large selection venues to chose from. Ranging from Cocktail bars, nightclubs and a few dive bars too.
Lounge/Cocktail bars.
Borjia
Located on Castillian Street, Borjia plays some of the best music I’ve heard in Northampton. It is a small venue (one room) and the crowd tends to be older and more classier. The bouncers are often strict on dress code of smart casual. It is expensive, I paid £5 for a single shot of Grey Goose, alcohol selection is superb. It does get quite busy, the smoking area is small but has a cool wooden bench. On the outside the venue looks like an old French chateau – similar themed inside as it quite dark and gothic styled. Everybody inside is friendly and talkative. The venue is very safe to take a girl to. Free entry.
Sazeracs
Located opposite Borjia, Sazeracs is in many ways identical to Borjia. Except is much brighter inside, the drinks are equally deer and it is another safe venue to take a girl to. Sazeracs gets busy in the late evenings. Free entry.
Baroque
At the very top of Castillian Street but located on St Giles Street is Baroque. Baroque is another cocktail bar that has a very large spirit selection. It does not have mixers on tap and looks somewhat drab inside. I have never seen it get busy. Free entry.
Black Bottom Club
A superb venue with amazing potential. Similar in style to both Borjia and Sazeracs but fails ultimately. It is the only night venue in the town centre to have it’s own private carpark. The place has good spirit selection and a fantastic smoking area. The bar is commonly known as being private members only however I’ve been a few times and have never been asked to join. From my own experience it does seem cliquey however I’ve only really been to the smoking area. It is very quiet inside due to poor marketing. BBC is located just at the very top of Bridge street but is not that easy to find. I don’t think too many people actually know where it is. £5 entry.
Church
The same company who operate the above owns Church. Located at the very bottom of Bridge Street. I can’t comment much here as I have never been. From what I have heard though it is a cocktail by night, restaurant by day.
Revolutions
A very generic cocktail bar that is also a well known chain in the UK. It takes quite a while to get served as the staff meticulously make fancy coloured cocktails for girls. The girls who go there are more often than not in largish groups but do dress quite sexy. A solo player should avoid this bar as all crowd are more often than not cliquey. Revolutions is located on Bridge Street. £5-10 entry
Nightclubs
NBs
Essentially the go to club of Northampton, open 6 nights a week and can get very busy on a weekend. Student nights are Wednesdays and it is opposite Revolutions. Inside NBs has 5 bars, 2 of which are located in the smoking area. The smoking area is large and has a BBQ area selling food. Inside there are 3 rooms. Main room with a very long bar running from the left hand side down to the dance floor, main rooms plays generic dance music and other music popular in all nightclubs. The room on the left is the Hip Hop room and is always packed. The bar is not as big but the dance floor is huge. Both of those rooms attached to a grotto type area with a few seats by a cocktail bar. That bar has best selection of spirits but takes forever to get served. As it is the most popular venue that crowd has a lot of younger girls there. Bouncers are strict on IDs though. I do recall chatting to a 17 year old Russian there once. Can be friendly in here. £5-10 entry.
Balloon Bar
Located down an alleyway next to NBs but behind BBC. I’ve heard many people talk about the place but have not actually checked it out. £5-10 entry.
Panache
Up the hill from NBs. Never spent any significant time there to pass comment but does have a stripper pole.
Fever
Is an EE bar a few minutes walk from Bridge Street. Located just off of Gold Street. The drinks are cheap, has one bar inside and one bar in the smoking area. Two dance floors, one inside and one out. Largely plays techno music, such as house. You will not find very many English people in there. The place is open to about 5 or 6 AM. If I ever go there it is the final venue I visit. £5-10 entry.
The Old Bank
Whilst not an amazing venue this place does get very busy. It is the pre drink venue for most uni students before they go to NBs. Located at the very bottom of St Giles Street it is not far from any of the other bars. The place has a large smoking area and two pool tables. The drinks are lower to middle in terms of quality. People are friendly. Free entry.
There are a few other venues that could fit into this category but I have never been to or found them to really suck. So there is not much point in mentioning them.
Pubs
Cordwainer
Cordy is a Lloyds bar, which is a Whetherspoons by day and bar by night. Has a large smoking area and is generally a pre drink bar as the drinks are not expensive. There are two bars, one upstairs with seating area, one down stairs with a dance floor. Most of the people here will go onto one of the others bars, usually NBs. Free entry.
Whilst there are a number of other pubs around this area I have not been to them so can not comment
Welly Road
Nightclubs
Bar SO
The only nightclub in this part of town. Does not get as busy as it does in town centre. I don’t really have a good memory of my time in there. Seemed fairly quiet with one bar, upstairs smoking area and one dancefloor. I do remember it having a more relexed vibe compared with town centre. £5 entry
Stripclubs
Urban Tiger
Northamptons only strip club is opposite Bar SO. It does have decent spirits and a pool table and a tiny smoking area. Does not get very busy, as it seems there is about one dancer for every customer. Overall I wouldn’t bother going here as the drinks, whilst decent, are expensive. The girls are, as expected, friendly. £10 entry.
Pubs
There are numerous bars along this road from the Jesus Centre to Costcutter. They are all much a like from one another with the exception of Crown and Cushion, which can get busy. Drugs are easy to get in this area. All pubs are free entry.
Other bars to note
Princess Alexandra
Has an extremely large beer selection which they regularly switch around. Does have a decent spirit selection too, especially if you like Whisky or Rum. Vodka and gin choice is limited. They do an 88% vodka though. It is an expensive place to drink £3.95 for the cheapest pint and if you are a spirits person you best like it neat as the mixer will set you back £2. The bar looks absolutely amazing inside and the bar staff are very friendly. It can get very busy on a weekend. Does seem to be hipsterish though. Very safe venue to take a girl to, the staff have nicknamed it ‘first date bar’. Free entry.
Lamplighter
Very similar to the above but regularly plays live music and comedy. Free entry
The County
Located just next to the county cricket ground this is another pub that is quite upmarket. Free entry.
iv) Misc Information
The girls in Northampton are quite easy to pull as is anywhere in the UK. As there is a significant amount of uni students no one here should have many problems with them. I have witnessed the odd fight here and there I’d say that Northampton is a fairly safe town. There are noticeable amount of homelessness that around town centre. Sometimes they beg, sometimes they don’t. There are some large companies based here such as Barclaycard, Travis Perkins and Avon are based here. Wellingborough and Kettering are two towns not far away that have a fairly largish population too.
Northampton is mostly a night game location. If you do visit here I hope this will help guide yourself around.
-J
I did notice that a lot of datasheets were for large or major cities. I have not seen one for locations that are somewhat off the beaten track so to speak. As this is a town that I am familiar with I thought I would write one.
Contents
i) Background Info on the Town
ii) Day Game
iii) Night Game
iv) Misc Information
i) Background Info on the Town
Northampton is a large town (UK standards) in the UK with a rough stable population of about 220,000 it also has a university that has around 20,000 students. It is also the largest town in the county of Northamptonshire as well as the largest town in the UK, there are cities that are bigger. It has one train station and is about a 90 minute car journey to both London & Birmingham. There is a sizeable migrant community, mostly from various EE countries.
ii) Day Game.
For day game your best bet is to place yourself on Abington Street, which has a shopping mall and is busy everyday. The street is probably about half a mile long in total and runs through the centre of the town.
Your other prime location would be at the two major university campuses. Located just off a park area known as Racecouse and the largest which is located in the Kingsthrope/Moulton Park area of town. These two are about and 10 and 15 minute bus/car ride respectively. Both campuses have students living on them.
Another highly populated area is the hospital, which is located about 3 minutes walk from the very top of Abington Street.
iii) Night Game.
There is two distinct bar districts, town centre and Wellingborough Road (Welly Road). Each attracts a different sort of crowd. There are however a few bars dotted about the place that are worth a mention.
Town centre is, obviously, the main area and is much busier and is much better for all types of players. There is a very large selection venues to chose from. Ranging from Cocktail bars, nightclubs and a few dive bars too.
Lounge/Cocktail bars.
Borjia
Located on Castillian Street, Borjia plays some of the best music I’ve heard in Northampton. It is a small venue (one room) and the crowd tends to be older and more classier. The bouncers are often strict on dress code of smart casual. It is expensive, I paid £5 for a single shot of Grey Goose, alcohol selection is superb. It does get quite busy, the smoking area is small but has a cool wooden bench. On the outside the venue looks like an old French chateau – similar themed inside as it quite dark and gothic styled. Everybody inside is friendly and talkative. The venue is very safe to take a girl to. Free entry.
Sazeracs
Located opposite Borjia, Sazeracs is in many ways identical to Borjia. Except is much brighter inside, the drinks are equally deer and it is another safe venue to take a girl to. Sazeracs gets busy in the late evenings. Free entry.
Baroque
At the very top of Castillian Street but located on St Giles Street is Baroque. Baroque is another cocktail bar that has a very large spirit selection. It does not have mixers on tap and looks somewhat drab inside. I have never seen it get busy. Free entry.
Black Bottom Club
A superb venue with amazing potential. Similar in style to both Borjia and Sazeracs but fails ultimately. It is the only night venue in the town centre to have it’s own private carpark. The place has good spirit selection and a fantastic smoking area. The bar is commonly known as being private members only however I’ve been a few times and have never been asked to join. From my own experience it does seem cliquey however I’ve only really been to the smoking area. It is very quiet inside due to poor marketing. BBC is located just at the very top of Bridge street but is not that easy to find. I don’t think too many people actually know where it is. £5 entry.
Church
The same company who operate the above owns Church. Located at the very bottom of Bridge Street. I can’t comment much here as I have never been. From what I have heard though it is a cocktail by night, restaurant by day.
Revolutions
A very generic cocktail bar that is also a well known chain in the UK. It takes quite a while to get served as the staff meticulously make fancy coloured cocktails for girls. The girls who go there are more often than not in largish groups but do dress quite sexy. A solo player should avoid this bar as all crowd are more often than not cliquey. Revolutions is located on Bridge Street. £5-10 entry
Nightclubs
NBs
Essentially the go to club of Northampton, open 6 nights a week and can get very busy on a weekend. Student nights are Wednesdays and it is opposite Revolutions. Inside NBs has 5 bars, 2 of which are located in the smoking area. The smoking area is large and has a BBQ area selling food. Inside there are 3 rooms. Main room with a very long bar running from the left hand side down to the dance floor, main rooms plays generic dance music and other music popular in all nightclubs. The room on the left is the Hip Hop room and is always packed. The bar is not as big but the dance floor is huge. Both of those rooms attached to a grotto type area with a few seats by a cocktail bar. That bar has best selection of spirits but takes forever to get served. As it is the most popular venue that crowd has a lot of younger girls there. Bouncers are strict on IDs though. I do recall chatting to a 17 year old Russian there once. Can be friendly in here. £5-10 entry.
Balloon Bar
Located down an alleyway next to NBs but behind BBC. I’ve heard many people talk about the place but have not actually checked it out. £5-10 entry.
Panache
Up the hill from NBs. Never spent any significant time there to pass comment but does have a stripper pole.
Fever
Is an EE bar a few minutes walk from Bridge Street. Located just off of Gold Street. The drinks are cheap, has one bar inside and one bar in the smoking area. Two dance floors, one inside and one out. Largely plays techno music, such as house. You will not find very many English people in there. The place is open to about 5 or 6 AM. If I ever go there it is the final venue I visit. £5-10 entry.
The Old Bank
Whilst not an amazing venue this place does get very busy. It is the pre drink venue for most uni students before they go to NBs. Located at the very bottom of St Giles Street it is not far from any of the other bars. The place has a large smoking area and two pool tables. The drinks are lower to middle in terms of quality. People are friendly. Free entry.
There are a few other venues that could fit into this category but I have never been to or found them to really suck. So there is not much point in mentioning them.
Pubs
Cordwainer
Cordy is a Lloyds bar, which is a Whetherspoons by day and bar by night. Has a large smoking area and is generally a pre drink bar as the drinks are not expensive. There are two bars, one upstairs with seating area, one down stairs with a dance floor. Most of the people here will go onto one of the others bars, usually NBs. Free entry.
Whilst there are a number of other pubs around this area I have not been to them so can not comment
Welly Road
Nightclubs
Bar SO
The only nightclub in this part of town. Does not get as busy as it does in town centre. I don’t really have a good memory of my time in there. Seemed fairly quiet with one bar, upstairs smoking area and one dancefloor. I do remember it having a more relexed vibe compared with town centre. £5 entry
Stripclubs
Urban Tiger
Northamptons only strip club is opposite Bar SO. It does have decent spirits and a pool table and a tiny smoking area. Does not get very busy, as it seems there is about one dancer for every customer. Overall I wouldn’t bother going here as the drinks, whilst decent, are expensive. The girls are, as expected, friendly. £10 entry.
Pubs
There are numerous bars along this road from the Jesus Centre to Costcutter. They are all much a like from one another with the exception of Crown and Cushion, which can get busy. Drugs are easy to get in this area. All pubs are free entry.
Other bars to note
Princess Alexandra
Has an extremely large beer selection which they regularly switch around. Does have a decent spirit selection too, especially if you like Whisky or Rum. Vodka and gin choice is limited. They do an 88% vodka though. It is an expensive place to drink £3.95 for the cheapest pint and if you are a spirits person you best like it neat as the mixer will set you back £2. The bar looks absolutely amazing inside and the bar staff are very friendly. It can get very busy on a weekend. Does seem to be hipsterish though. Very safe venue to take a girl to, the staff have nicknamed it ‘first date bar’. Free entry.
Lamplighter
Very similar to the above but regularly plays live music and comedy. Free entry
The County
Located just next to the county cricket ground this is another pub that is quite upmarket. Free entry.
iv) Misc Information
The girls in Northampton are quite easy to pull as is anywhere in the UK. As there is a significant amount of uni students no one here should have many problems with them. I have witnessed the odd fight here and there I’d say that Northampton is a fairly safe town. There are noticeable amount of homelessness that around town centre. Sometimes they beg, sometimes they don’t. There are some large companies based here such as Barclaycard, Travis Perkins and Avon are based here. Wellingborough and Kettering are two towns not far away that have a fairly largish population too.
Northampton is mostly a night game location. If you do visit here I hope this will help guide yourself around.
-J
