Ministry of Sound is located near the Elephant and Castle tube station, a dodgy neighbourhood with very few decent bars nearby. Any pre-clubbing cocktails should definitely be consumed outside the vicinity of Elephant and Castle.In hindsight, I should have heeded this as an omen, but I remained optimistic.

I visited on a Friday night in hopes to experience clubbing bliss with London’s hottest movers and shakers. This popular nightclub/ global empire is world renowned for featuring some of the best DJs on the planet, so I was eager to discover first-hand what the hype was all about.

The club opens at 11:00, so I arrived at 11:30 in hopes that I would arrive before the masses but alas, the queue was already winding down the street. The security here is second-to-none. My bag and I were both thoroughly searched before I was allowed entry. A bit of a nuisance, but also reassuring as you don’t have to worry about potential armed assault from other revellers.

The cover is a bit steep at £15.00, but I figured that they had to pay for their extensive marketing somehow. Once inside, I wasn’t that impressed. The club was far smaller than I had anticipated, the staff members were unfriendly and the drink prices were ridiculous (a double Jack and Coke was $8.00)!

I wandered upstairs to get a birds-eye view of the dance floor below. I noticed that there was a VIP area to my left, so I sauntered over to the bouncer to inquire about entry. He informed me that this privilege was available for a mere £80! Talk about highway robbery. The exorbitant fee would have been justified if there were acrobats dangling from the ceiling, pole dancers on the table and champagne flowing like water, but alas none of this fabulousness was present.

Bored upstairs, I trotted back downstairs to explore the other dance room, which was featuring hard house music. The sound system was blaring almost to the point of distortion and this room was also nowhere near capacity, and therefore, was also disappointing.

My friend and I grew tired of this overpriced, over-inflated club within a few hours and decided to call it a night early, although we could have danced until 6 AM had we so desired. One would need very deep pockets and low expectations to party all night here. Sadly, the highlight of the evening for me was helping myself to the free Ministry of Sound pins at the door only so I could say “been there, done that.”

Walkabout is a popular Australian bar/restaurant chain with 48 locations throughout the UK, 17 of which are located in London. On most nights, live bands play rock and indie hits as well as anthems from the last three decades. Old school hits such as “Jessie’s Girl,” get the crowd revved up on the dance floor. This is an excellent find for a traveller on a budget as all meals are only £3.50! Their eclectic menu features many Aussie favourites such as kangaroo and springbok (a breed of antelope). For the less adventurous diner, Walkabout has burgers, salads, sandwiches and an all-day breakfast.

I ended up at the Temple location merely by chance one Friday evening as it appeared to be the only lively bar in the neighbourhood. I was a bit taken aback by the £5.00 cover charge as it is more of a sports bar than a nightclub, but I gave in for lack of other enticing options.

I was initially excited, as the bar was packed wall-to-wall and everyone seemed up for it. The thrill soon wore off after five minutes here. The bar staff were terribly inattentive and I estimate I had to wait seven minutes to get served.

I sipped my weak Jack and Coke and was quickly annoyed by sheer amount of lager lout types constantly bumping into me. The sound system was blaring obnoxious, overplayed songs from the early nineties, and it was virtually impossible to carry on a conversation over the din.

Luckily, the upper level has ample seating, so I lounged on a bench away from the seething masses.

All in all, it is what it is- a chain. What it lacks in décor and atmosphere it makes up for with cheap eats and reasonable drinks. My advice is to keep walking…

Ok, First the Common Informations!

The Green Goose exist since 1984.

Times

open on Fridays from 9.00p.m till 5.00 a.m and saturdays from 9.00p.m till 5.00a.m!

Where is it?

The streets name is "Vordere Sterngasse".

When you are at the main train station just walk out next to the Sparkasse and walk straight to the first street that goes right. Go right and then you can see the green door lights already!

If you come with a car parking is not a problem, because right across the street is a big "Parkhaus", where you can leave your car all night, but it costs a little bit. But if you get lucky you can find a place to park around the building at no cost.

Prices

The prices are like in every other bar or disco in Nuremberg. A beer costs around 3 euro. And there is the happy hour where every shot cost 1 euro and this happy hour is mostly from 9.00 till midnight. And you will need 3 euro to get in, but from 3.00 a.m it is free! Sometimes there are special partys like the monster ball on Halloween with Go Go Girls and special prices for drinks! And befor I forget the Green Goose sells buckets with mix drinks for about 30 euros with 5 liters of fun in them!

Who Works There?

The bartender are very nice and like to talk to the people. It is hard to not give them a tip! The bouncer are doing a very good job, as soon as someone starts being loud and aggressive they kick him or her out! It is very rare to see a fight or argument in the club. Which make a very good atmosphere in the Green Goose!

What Kind of People Go There?

You can meet every kind of people there! From a goth to a rocker to a hip hopper, many American soldiers go there, but everybody just wants to have fun and make new friends. The Green Goose is one of the bars where you don't have to be afraid to go there alone and sit on the bar for hours until someone talks to you! Most of the time it just takes about a half hour! And if you start talking to someone it is even faster! And don't worry almost everybody speaks English! So everybody is welcome and if you go there often enough you will feel like a part of a party-family!

The Music

The music is like the people that go there every music style is played! Rock, Hip hop, Alternative, soft music! And if you have a special wish you can just go up to the DJ and ask him to play your song and most of the time he does it but sometimes he doesn't get to it, but he will play it the next day or the next weekend!

Hygiene

To be honest it is not the cleanest club you will ever find, but it's not worse than any other place I know. It starts around 3.00 that the floor gets a little sticky, because some people have a hard time holding their glass up right when they get drunk, but it happens to everybody once in a while! The toilettes are ok like I said it's not worse than anywhere else. For the women: it is not so bad that you would have to stand up while you go pee so it is alright. But I'm sorry I can't tell you anything about the mens bathroom! Never been in there!

What I Think

Ok I personally love this club, because I found my husband in there! And if you want to have a good time and find some new friends or just want o talk to new people this would be the right club for you! Oh and just because you think you are to old to go there, don't worry there are some people that are older than 50 and you will see them there every weekend and they are as much fun as the younger people! So try it out you wont regret it! I promise!

For more information go to Green-Goose.de