Toybox was a Letdown

Dropped into new club Toybox on Deansgate last night, the latest competitor in the 'upmarket' Manchester nightlife scene. Manchester Cool Bars met in Australasia, over the road from the club, and headed to the door before midnight.

The club lets people in 2 at a time, presumably to keep a queue outside, making it look popular. I'd got guestlist for my group, but they still charged me £15 on the door. 2 of my female friends were charged £10, though. Whether those are the official prices for men and women respectively or whether the people on the door just didn't know what they were doing wasn't clear. It's a lot considering what their competitors charge: Panacea is free in on guestlist and LIV is £10 regardless of gender. The girl on the door was making a big deal of the ratio of guys to girls in my group. It all felt a bit pretentious and unnecessary.

Inside, the club wasn't particularly smart, especially seeing as the club only opened a few weeks ago. None of the staff knew the WiFi password, there was no-one manning the cloakroom meaning we had to get the doorman (twice) to find someone to take our coats, which cost £2 each, and the service on the bar was slow as shit.

It's touted as the new celeb club, but the only person I recognised was Adam J from Love Island Season 2.

Also, I apparently gave my number to someone called Lily (this rings no bells at all) who just called me from a withheld number saying I'd met her in Toy Box and I told her I'd take her to Nandos (I would never say this).

Doesn’t sound like a prank.. sounds like a great tekkers from the girl! #NandosOnMatt

— Toy BoX Manchester (@ToyBoxMcr) September 30, 2018

A lot of us in the group are turning our backs on the clubs in Manchester, in favour of smaller bars in the Northern Quarter, Spinningfields and First Street.Join the group if this sounds more your thing.