Barracuda

It used to be cheap and cheerful; now it's neither cheap nor cheerful.

They closed earlier this year (2008) for refurbishment and reopened looking basically as tatty as it was before with a few drapes added to make it look a bit different! Now they even change the drinks prices during the evening to suit themselves!

The owners are a couple (Frank and Sylvia De Souza?) - he collects money at the door and their door prices change with the wind and she (the "barracuda" of my title) works the bar. When I say "works" she basically stands around ordering the staff around like they're something nasty on the bottom of her shoe and she treats the customers even worse.

The last few times I've been there, there have hardly been any customers in there (maybe 12-15 people in total); they're always short-staffed (staff regularly walk out because the woman owner treats them so poorly) and customers have to wait so long to get served that they get bored and walk out, going to Priory a few doors away or The Boulevard around the corner.

I have been going there for well over a decade but my visits there are down to less than once in 6 months now - a big thumbs down from me. Maybe I'll stop going there full stop. They seem to think they can run a business without any customers as they're just too rude to the few they have left!

Oh and the DJ has been there for years and he just plays the same records now as he has been doing for over 10 years! Give the man a budget to buy some new tracks!

I can't give any rating honestly for ambience as there really is none there. The crowd is friendly but the management are certainly not...