If you are, or have been, a student in Liverpool, chances are you'll have heard of, if not been to 'The Raz'. Housed in a club called The Blue Angel on Seel Street, just off Berry St in the city centre, it is the stuff of which legends are made.

Nobody knows why it's called 'The Raz', but everybody who knows it knows it is.

And If You Know Your History…

The club was the venue for a few early Beatles gigs, and reportedly hosted their after-show party, following the premiere of A Hard Day's Night¹ in 1964. It was in the Blue Angel that Cilla Black was discovered, and from which her singing career was launched. Another notable band to play the venue in the 1960s was the Rolling Stones.

The Raz as it is Today

These days it's exclusively for students, although you may gain entry if you can act and dress in a sufficiently daft fashion to be presumed a student by the staff. The atmosphere is legendary, and most experienced Raz-goers would not consider themselves a student unless they had done something embarrassing there in a drunken stupor. It is, admittedly, a place that you will either love for its slightly seedy charms and aura of mutual enjoyment, or loathe for its uncouth uncleanliness and claustrophobic over-friendliness.

Practicalities of Entry

For between one and three² British pounds sterling, one can gain entry to this establishment. Friday and Saturday nights are, as to be expected, very busy, and usually entrance is granted only until 10.30pm, as the place will be full. On a Thursday, for some unknown reason, the place is likely to be packed with medics³ although, as far as this Researcher is aware, there is no specific planned event causing this.

You can obtain membership to the establishment simply by asking the lady at the front desk for a membership card and smiling sweetly. This is a handy extra to have, just in case you arrive a little late and the over enthusiastic bouncers are already forcing people to queue in the freezing cold Liverpool night.

Pros and Cons

As with everything in life there are upsides and downsides to a visit to the Raz. The overriding consideration is apparently the low price of drinks - a pint of lager can cost you as little as 70p⁴. If you're a student and poor, which, almost invariably, students are, this will overcome any of the downsides that are thrown at you.

The music is 'cheesy', ie, 'released at some point in the 80s or 90s, generally a bit rubbishy, but has nostalgic value', and you're likely to feel out of place if you don't dance like a fool and/or sing along at the top of your voice.

However, the decor leaves much to be desired. The floor you enter might seem a bit like an 'old man's pub', but venture down the narrow, steep stairs and you will find a cellar; the kind of place Cinderella was imprisoned in. The low ceiling is perilous to the tall, the concrete walls and granny-carpeted floor are covered with sweat, and the room is always sub-tropical in temperature. In the old days, the emergency fire doors would be flung open to give a refreshing breeze if you stood in the right part of the room. Sadly, due to noise pollution laws this is no longer acceptable, and the club's dancing public are left instead to simmer in a most inhumane fashion.

There are wooden benches on most of the walls downstairs, but these are far more frequently used for standing on (by people hanging from the rafters and wailing along to Rick Astley) than for sitting. The dancefloor is flanked by two bars, and the DJ resides in a cubbyhole behind his desk.

Also, there is the locally-accepted concept of 'Raz juice' to contend with. This is a mixture of spilled alcopops, sweat, and occasionally a little urine, all mixed together on the floor, forming a sticky substance which prevents you from moving your feet. This causes a very peculiar form of dance, which makes people look not dissimilar to those sunflowers you could buy in the 90s, the ones that wore shades and wiggled randomly to music. There is even a sign at the entrance warning 'Your feet may stick to the floor', due to some people threatening legal action having sustained minor injuries on the premises.

Another potential pitfall are the toilets. If you are a young lady it is advisable to take some toilet roll for desperate occasions, but it is generally regarded by both sexes that you should hold off any natural callings for as long as physically possible, and then to make them only as long as is absolutely necessary.

In Conclusion

If you are left in any doubt as to whether you should sample the delights of the Raz, you should consider the main reason for going, simply explained below by a friend who accompanied this Researcher the first time he was in attendance:

People go to The Raz because people go to The Raz. If people didn't go to The Raz people wouldn't go to The Raz.