Despite the 21st century look and feel of the new Bas-Vegas (that's Festival Leisure Park in Basildon to those outside Essex) the club/bar shoe policies remain firmly in the 1980s.
Despite being smartly shirted for the evening out, our first stop-off for a few pre-club drinks was cut short by my 'too casual shoes'. I took exeption to this due to the fact that a) they allow t-shirts, jeans and denims into the bars and b) they referred to my footwear as 'trainers' which the are quite definitely not. They are not particularly supportive shoes and would be my last choice for wearing at the gym.
Of course arguing never helps with the doormen and I can't blame them for enforcing a ridiculous policy, because it is their job to enforce all ridiculous policies set by that club. So, to avoid ruining everyone's evening and settling for the cinema, it was off to Tesco at almost midnight to pay out £20 on some brown leather slip-ons. Naturally these got me in without a hitch.
I'd have thought that a pair of £50 Oakley suede slip-ons would be preferable to the discerning club-owner and club-goer than a pair of cheapo supermarket shoes.
It comes down to this, if the oh-so-trendy-and-pricey yet utterly scruffy patched and pre-worried jeans and tees are ok, then my casual yet costly Oakley slip-ons are ok.
If, on the other hand they are aiming for a smart and dapper look in their establishments, then out with the designer street-wear and in with my twenty quid supermarket shoes.
I would say that they can't have it both ways but clearly I would be wrong.
I can't believe that any of these policies are derived with a view to ousting the wrong-uns. Basing a whole admission policy on the pretext that well-to-do types wear brown or black leather shoes, whereas trouble-making yobs come pre-shod in trainers is way outdated. If this were the case then out go your chilled-out Oakley loafer patrons and in come the fellows in shit-kicking and blakied-out Doc Martens.
No, I don't think that perceived character has anything to do with it. It simply comes down to the clubs in question wanting a particular look, and unfortunatley the shoes seem to be singled out as the focus of that look.
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5 comments:
If they could not pick on people for that then their tiny little brains would have to think of something else to do while standing at the door.
I wonder if there was a study in "Trendy bar owners monthly" that found a link between casual footwear and mob violence, or even worse low alcohol consumption?
My opinion is that if they are worried that I might not fit in due to the style of my footwear alone then it's probably I best I drink elsewhere. Could I suggest a fine local hostelry, selling local ale and lacking in idiots wearing cheap and plastic looking shoes?
PS. Do you get paid for the Yahoo adverts?
Good for the bouncer I say.
Health and Safety.
Having soft footware with rubber grips means that your toes get trodden when throwing shapes on the df.
Also, having rubber gripped trainers means that you get stuck onto the beer sodden floor of stickiness, whilst the tough soles of cheap shoes crunches the glass on the df's instead of embedding them into asforementioned expensive Oakley's Slip-On's.
Use ya Nodle!
I think he should get paid for the Yahoo ads if he doesn't remember to enter the code that prevents them from popping up. (Sorry, pumpkin, had to give you a hard time on that too).
I think down in LA there are similarly stupid bouncers. New York too. DC perhaps. Here in SF, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a place that excluded you for anything at all - even if some fashion disasters should be avoided at all costs.
Come to think of it - the places that do bounce you for wearing bouncier shoes are the places you wouldn't want to go anyway.
I'm surprised they kept you out - you were in your smartest shirt of all. I'm surprised the bouncer didn't try to take you home. That's what I would've done.
Could it be that the clever bouncers are saving me from myself by clocking onto my footwear and realising that I am too cool for the world beyond their doors?
I may grow meself a mullet and head over to those SF clubs then.
BTW If someone could tell me the correct code to end my moblogs short of the Yahoo blurbs then do say.
You have great post titles. Have I told you that?
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