Essence

Terrible, TERRIBLE club. I recently went to this club on a Friday to celebrate my friend’s birthday. We were all expecting to have a great time. We had rushed all the way from Uxbridge in order to get to the club on time, as we were told that after 10:30pm, we would have to pay £10 on the door, although we were on the guestlist. We arrived at the club at around 10:20pm; the queue was short enough for us to have had a chance of getting in before 10:30pm but due to the metal detectors being outside and everyone having to be searched, we didn’t get in until around 10:50pm. Ridiculous. I am of the opinion that the metal detectors are a sly way for this disgusting club to make more money than they deserve, as they know that they cause a delay and make it more likely for more people to have to pay. We were a group of about twelve girls, and one of the girls in our group asked the manager politely if he could please do us a deal and let us pay less as we had travelled so far and got there before the 10:30pm mark. He refused in a very standoffish and sarcastic way, stating that the woman taking the money should allow us to pay £10 instead of £15. Obviously, he thought we were stupid and didn’t know that at the most we should have been paying £10.After this, we went to the club and the music, in my opinion, was rubbish. No consistency at all. One of the DJs failed to understand the concept of playing songs for no more than about 1 minute and a half, and we found that songs were being played more than twice. I won’t talk too much about the music, because opinions of it will be based on personal taste, and it just didn’t suit my own. One of the main issues I had with this club was its lack of seats. In order to be able to sit down, one had to have booked a table. Does this even make sense? In every club or rave I have ever been to, I have been able to find a seat with minimal difficulty, without the possibility of somebody coming to tell me to remove myself from it, which the arrogant, poor excuse of a manager did at Essence. At the end of the night, my friend approached the manager in the hope that talking to him would make him understand why we did not enjoy the night. He tried to physically move her out of the way, and when he received the response of ‘I don’t love you’ to his statement, ‘I love you though’, or something along those lines, he proceeded to tell her ‘F*** you then*. Is this the appropriate behaviour for a manager of any establishment to be exhibiting? I think not. Obviously, I came to the defence of my friend and told him not to swear at her, and he responded with rudeness. I will never visit this club again. The manager was very touchy feely with certain women, and this did not sit well with me. All we wanted was a good night, a cheap night, an attitude-​free night, and we never expected this level of disrespect. If you want to be treated with respect, go to Oceana. Those who work there are far more approachable and you are likely to only have to pay around £4. I have been to Oceana before, and loved it. Please do not think that just because you live around or in Kingston that you have to support this club. One of my own friends lives in Kingston, and has vowed, as I have, never to go there again. GO TO ESSENCE AT YOUR OWN RISK. The manager is a rude, unapproachable, arrogant, tasteless, terribly dressed man (I am sure his suit was bought from the market). The main problem I had was with him, and the fact that the £10 I paid did not reflect the standard of the club. And by the way, the one star I gave it as a rating is purely for the cloakroom assistant. She was polite and one of the only members of staff to give service with a genuine smile. Sorry for the essay, but it needed to be said. Don’t let this be a review you dismiss; do not support Essence. You WILL be disappointed.

This is the worst place to go in Kingston. Metal detectors at the door? I didn’t know it was that much of a dangerous area to have to have metal detectors. The door men were generally nice, but the man who was in the booth taking money (apparently named Yemi), who is apparently the boss (I confirmed this with two of the door men– who were lovely) had a woman (S@#G) on his lap and when I asked him nicely where the toilets were he had a go at me and told me to leave. I will never ever go to a wannabe-​conceited– place like this again. STAY AWAY. Richmond, that is down the road is far better, better crowd. If you are gonna pay this much to get into a place, you may as well go somewhere that is worth it i. e London clubs. Organise a cab beforehands with friends etc and it works out the same. just TRUST ME! no immature people that are on a power trip. Dirty club.

I love this club its very close to home and it has the nice old skool music and lovely lady’s also happy dayz

Place is full of generic posers. High debt/​low asset ratio crowd who buy one drink and sip it all night.
Women are hot but you may only touch the pretty ones if you throw your Roley in the sky.

I was really impressed with this bar. It is unique in Kingston where most bars/​clubs seem overcrowded and filthy. This place has a much more luxurious feel to it which leads to a different vibe. The toilets are lovely and stay that way all night. It is quite mellow with great music and quality drinks. It is small with lots of sitting space and the music is not so loud that you can’t have a conversation. Generally people didn’t seem to get horribly drunk, there was just a positive mood throughout the place. It’s a great bar for meeting people as you can sit and talk but also have a good dance later on in the night.

If you like a fancy feel to your night and if you like to visit a place were people dress to impress, as you do, then Essence is the place. I who am an absolute House hater really liked this place. The decore is purple and gold-​ish which feels very trendy. When first entering Essence one can truely notice how mature the atmosphere is. It is not about only drinking and getting drunk. At Essence it is about drinking with pleasure.
It is the perfect place to get to know new people, everyone is extremely social, including the barstaff ;)
Essence is not a club, however at around 1am-​ish, the «dancefloor» is packed. People dance, having fun and simply enjoying them selves.
Pro’s and Con’s:
Pro’s: Mature, social, fancy and simply great fun
Con’s: Small and not easy to locate
…as an addition… I have to mention that the WC’s are the cleanest I have ever been to!!!