Venue close Bamboo over falling customers

The University of Kent’s nightclub, Venue, has closed its Monday night event “Bamboo” over a "consistent decline in customer numbers".

Venue’s last night dedicated to “Bamboo” was over a month ago, Monday 5th November, and since Venue have maintained their usual lineup without any Monday night event.

“Bamboo” was previously a Saturday night event for pop and chart music in the last academic year, although it has since been replaced with “The BOX” which caters towards Drum & Bass/Garage and House music.

In a statement to Inquire on Thursday, Venue said:

"You may have heard that The Venue has unfortunately ended its partnership with BAMBOO. This decision has been made following a consistent decline in customer numbers of this night over an 18 month period.

"While we appreciate the value and experience the night offers to students, financially we are unable to sustain the night seeing such low customer numbers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank BAMBOO for their hard work, commitment and the many fun nights they have brought to the Kent campus.

"We are proud that as a venue we are able to offer a diverse range of nights and we will be looking at and adjusting our events plan for the upcoming term, so there is something for everyone to enjoy at The Venue.

"Aaron Thompson, Union President, this term launched the Your Voice Committees that works with students to allow our members to have a voice in what events The Venue offers and we welcome any feedback and suggestions from students on what our new Saturday nights could look like.

"Rest assured the Venue will be continuing to offer its regular nights including the popular Vensday, Friday and Saturday so students can continue to enjoy a night out on campus and have access to well-paid flexible jobs."

When asked about why they think Venue stopped offering “Bamboo”, a consensus of students believed it was also down to the supposed lack of popularity for the event.

One student claimed that: “It’s because it’s a Monday night and no one is going out on a Monday, after the weekend it’s the day you’re meant to start working”, whilst others merely claimed that "I was never really overwhelmed with it, I don’t think enough people went."

However Bamboo did manage to attract appeal with the likes of Dani Harmer, known for her TV portrayal of the protagonist in BBC's Tracy Beaker, attending a Bamboo event earlier this year.

Other students also claimed that Bamboo's appeal was time limited as: "If there was something on at the venue on a Monday, as freshers we would’ve gone”. “In first year we probably would have gone on a Monday because we were like looking for nights out to go to like every night of the week and on Monday we were like hmmm don’t wanna go Cuban, so we ended up just not going out."