Cambridge is notable for its extremely crap nightlife. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule, and the Q club is one of them. Located right at the end of Station Road about ten minutes walk from the centre of town, few students ever seem to reach it as they consider it a long way to travel. This is their loss, as the club has the only indie and goth nights in the city, as well as decent rock, garage, house and various other nights as well.

Panic! is the indie/punk/pop night that happens from 9pm on Monday evenings. It has a cult following, and usually features a perfect balance of obscure and popular music (Daisy Chainsaw mixing into Green Day for example). The place is friendly, small and very bouncy, and entry only costs a quid before 10pm.

Other nights include alternating rock and goth on Tuesdays (I've not been to them enough times to properly comment, but they seem pretty good), and alternating, well, everything on Thursdays. More conventional clubbing happens on Fridays and Saturdays. Some of the evenings have a summer break, although right at the moment they all seem to be happening as usual...


Added June 2002

The Q club appears to be no more - around Christmas 2001 the usual nights were all unexpectedly cancelled, and rumours immediately began to fly around the mailing lists that the local council had refused to grant a new entertainments license without such extreme restrictions that the club couldn't possibly operate.

Some time around March, the inside of the club appeared to be in the process of being stripped - however, it's still closed as far as anyone can tell. The facade still bears its characteristic red 'Q' though, so maybe it will re-emerge one day.

The alternative nights that used to happen there have now moved to a different venue, the Sophbeck Sessions - which is also (literally) underground. Panic! still happens on Mondays, with Retro Electro happening on occasional Wednesdays.


So... why have I left this node in existence when the club is currently out of operation? Call me sentimental, but this place defined a lot of my time as an undergraduate. For many of us it was our best chance to escape from the stifling atmosphere of Cambridge during term time. We would sit in the underground, cave-like main room, sitting on beat-up chairs and sofas, watching the random manga porn and childrens' cartoons shown on overhead TVs, listening to amazingly obscure music, drinking vodka and talking shit all night. They also had cool tubes of bubbles and strange lightning devices. Perhaps I'm getting a little old for indie clubs, but it doesn't feel quite the same going to a more upmarket venue...


Updated update, November 2002

It appears the club died because an elderly couple moved into the flat above it and complained to the council about the noise on a weekly basis until it was closed. British bureaucracy is fundamentally broken...