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 LATER Fire, South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, London SW8 Weekly - Sundays 10.30am-4.30pm My first visit to Later was as unexpected as it has subsequently been unequalled. After leaving Beyond one morning/lunchtime, I decided to drop into Later, at its then-home of Duke's in Vauxhall, to check it out, see who went, what the music was like, etc, before slipping home to my big, comfy bed... I was there for almost five hours, which didn't see me dance much, but did see me help teach someone how to play pool - You didn't know I could play? I didn't either up to that point - and meet one of my fellow fashionistas from that month's The Face Fashion Special Edition... On the latter, you'll just have to ask me. I really enjoyed it, and could see it becoming as much a part of my Sunday schedule as Beyond... So, naturally, the following week it moved venues! Okay, I spent those six months in Ibiza, so Later wasn't really on the cards, but I like to think I could have managed a modicum of willpower, and given myself a much-needed break from Sunday afternoon clubbing... On my first weekend back in London, at the end of the 2003 season in Ibiza - by which time Beyond was no more, Element had replaced Crash, Crash had replaced Beyond, and Later had moved from Club Colosseum to Fire - I did a mini-circuit of the Vauxhall Triangle, starting at Element, stopping at Crash, and then really stopping at Later! I've been a few times - almost, but not quite, every weekend - since my return, but it's not Bora-Bora, and I still hanker after those more innocent times over a pool table at Duke's...
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After-hours clubbing in Ibiza is so much easier... Space every morning (except Monday when you go to DC10), Bora-Bora afterwards, shower and change and start again the next night! London's got its after-hours scene, most famously Trade, but it's not the same without the involvement of a multitude of venues, each packed to the rafters with thousands of up-for-it clubbers, and that big shiny object that guides you like the star of David from party to party (the sun, not the street lights...). It wasn't until I got into Beyond in a big way, that I got into after-hours clubbing in London in a big way... and it was inevitable that going to Beyond EVERY weekend would lead me to London's answer to Bora-Bora, Later!
Later (Mk II) was in the previously unused restaurant area of Club Colosseum! A lot easier to get to, and with a zero door charge, a whole £5 cheaper, but not sure of the motivation behind the move, since it did seem to work so well at Duke's ... Still, I gave it a go, danced on the tables (a lá Bora-Bora), got a bit more trashed, the usual, but it wasn`t the same atmosphere as the previous week. A week on and my visit lasted barely a few minutes, so I guess it wasn't having the same draw as Bora-Bora, and I definitely wasn't expecting to go back the following week... But I did, and the week afterwards, but the excuses were getting flimsier, and by the time it came to choose between an afternoon at Later, or a night at DTPM, I had no qualms about skipping Later, and didn't go back for over six months!
