Corsica Studios - 'The Colombian'
Rhythm Section
10 MARCH 2017
£10
Corsica Studios is housed in gritty and underground venue hub Elephant and Castle. This January, the team behind Corsica took over a Colombian restaurant next door, adding yet another function space to their venue. Due to a friends birthday plans, I went to go and check it out for myself.
The venue is part of Corsica yet holds seperate nights and therefore has a seperate queue. The crowd for both venues looks pretty much identical, despite 'The Colombian' being less deep techno and underground house, more alt disco, dub and ska. The venue itself is small, and I wouldn't particularly call it a club - more a bar with a dancefloor. The capacity is 300, however, I think you would struggle to fit 100 people in. The intimacy could work as either a positive or a negative, depending on your preference.
The smoking area was tiny, and whilst the intimacy of the venue may not be an issue, the intimacy of the outdoor space is. If you're not smoking a bouncer will come up and ask you to return inside - although this is annoying you're probably better off inside: it's not any less claustrophobic, given that outside your arm to arm in a tiny sectioned off area, surrounded by a cloud of secondhand smoke anyway.
Whilst both the event Rhythm Section and venue Corsica Studios pride themselves on 'bringing the good vibes', there didn't seem to be much of these good vibes going around. Two fights broke out in the smoking area - typical dicks trying to impress their friends/senoritas around them and the staff weren't particularly friendly either, apart from one smallish bouncer who searched my bag upon entry, he was lovely.
The drinks situation is pretty decent actually, you can get a double mixer (we had G&T) for £6.50 each. I wouldn't be able to tell you the price of anything else as I stuck to this all night but if this is what they're charging for doubles I can't imagine a beer would be any more that £4. Yes, you are drinking out of a plastic cup, but for the sake of saving £2.50 on £9 doubles elsewhere, I'm happy to make this sacrifice.
The music was fine, and by fine I mean just that - (F)orgettable, (I)ndifferent, (N)ondescript & (E)asy. Basically, it was perfectly tolerable, but nothing to write home about - much like the venue itself. The night also has a rule of 'no photos on the dancefloor' which baffled me a bit. For a converted restaurant in Elephant and Castle, not seperate from Corsica but not involved enough to be the real deal, why is there this weird, exclusive, secretive rule? Beyond me.
'The Colombian' addition to Corsica Studios isn't impressive, however, I have heard only good things about the main venue so don't take my judgements here as a reason to put you off visiting the main club.
OVERALL RATING: ***
http://www.corsicastudios.com/
