 | La Chambre – Sheffield - 19 July 2008We visited the club on a couple’s night in July 2008 and had been to the club once previously in 2004. Normally when we visit a club our opinions on it are usually universal as we tend to like the same kind of places and people, however on some aspects of La Chambre, we couldn’t find mutual agreement, and so we will have to split parts of this review into two voices on a few points. La Chambre is one of the longest running clubs in the UK and has been featured on numerous television programmes and documentaries. Located in the suburb of Attercliffe, a short drive out of Sheffield city centre (Around £6 by cab) there are several decent hotels near by, but we opted to stay at The Leopold in the city centre which was excellent and also upgraded us to a king suite for free at no extra cost. La Chambre runs different nights and events, including monthly bi nights (for women, and men) as well as Fetish nights. It is also the only club we know of that has a regular printed newsletter with events and extra information listed. There is a member’s forum and chat room on their web site, which was originally included in membership costs but is now run by an outside organisation no directly connected to the club which charges for its use, which is a seems a little bit cheeky, still not much comes for free these days. Yearly membership is a reasonable £25, and the entrance fee is an equally amenable further £25, so your first visit is £50, for all that the club has to offer, it is good value for money and if memory serves, cheaper than our previous visit. The ClubAs we had an existing membership already in place and we still had the card so a call to the club resulted in a swift response from Craig, the club manager to tell us, rejoining again would be no problem after such a long absence, so we didn’t have to bring any ID but for your first visit, make sure you do. The club is located in an old bank and is on three levels, plus a terrace out the back. When you first arrive, you will come straight into the main ground floor lounge. It is divided into the long bar at one end, a seating alcove on the left (Where the bar use to be on our last visit) and there are another twenty or so tables with lamps are in the first part of the lounge, adjoining this is the dance floor which is bordered by a small stage with dance pole and the DJ box. Further seating surrounds the dance floor on two sides and is handy for enticing lap dancing. Through a door off to the left past the alcove is the club wet area, containing the lockers for your clothes and valuables, showers, a uni-sex toilet, urinal, steam room and sauna. Turning left through this space leads to the plunge pool on the right, a warm shallow pool with seating for approximately 30-40 people (Yes we are sure more have tried to fit in it in the past!) Back in the main lounge adjacent to the DJ box is an exit that leads outside to an open terrace out back for smokers. Since the change in the law, smoking areas (Or lack them) have been a major headache for those that indulge, not so here. There is a huge open space and a covered heated area, both outside, so if you smoke, you can do so in relative comfort (and warmth) at LC. Stairs from outside also lead up the fire escape to the second level, there is also the main stair case going up to the next floor by the dance floor. Another toilet is located by the stairs to the basement, make sure it’s pointed out to you, it’s easy to miss. On the first floor is a maze of play rooms all leading off from the central corridor, where you can also chill out on some sofas. The décor of each room is very different. Several of them have viewing ports where you can watch couples playing on the raised bed areas. Each room has a slightly different theme, some are darker and more private than others. There is also a room with portals for poking things through and a couple of lockable private rooms. The rooms were cool and well aired. There is plenty of room up here to watch and be watched. There are also two more toilets here, a ladies and gents. On the ground floor via a steep set of stairs from the main lounge is the basement, well dungeon, and boy does it look like one. Every contraption known to man (and woman) is located down here, from Slings, to crosses, to restraint chairs and more. It is a fetishist’s playground of delights and has a suitably dark décor to add to the atmosphere. There is also a grope room, a couple more private rooms and a lot of space for people to play.The NightWe were fortunate to have met via the net one of the regular couples from the club (Thanks to Paul and Carol) who arranged for us to meet them at the local boozer over the road. The regulars were a friendly bunch and though we don’t think they knew quite what to make of us, we thought they were all lovely. (Thanks for that Umbrella Julie!) Craig, the club manager showed us round once he got the chance and was very helpful throughout the night. La Chambre has come under criticism in the past for being especially cliquey, we tackled this in 2004 and will reiterate our view again firmly here, that we think such a view is bulls**t, in addition to the regulars we met in the pub, people could not have been more friendly. It is quite normally for people to feel more comfortable speaking to people they know, but the regulars do make a point of being on the look out for new people to make them feel welcome, and we saw few, if anyone being ignored and left alone looking uncomfortable. La Chambre is no cliquier than any other club we have been too, in fact, in comparison to many others it is far less so. Certainly Craig would be more than happy to introduce you to some regular clubbers if you want to break the ice. There is no pressure to play here either. So the regulars won’t kidnap you and tie you up in the dungeon (Unless that’s your thing in which case the couple with all the piercings we met will probably jump at the chance….) We met loads of nice people and the DJ was excellent, good at getting people in the mood and playing a wide range of tunes to suit every ones taste, he also did a good job on requests too. (I gave him a personal booty shake to say thanks) The club was not at its busiest when we went (to be expected the schools had just broken up, holidays etc) with around 35 to 40 couples present at a guess. Ages, looks and types of people were all the usual mix. One couple we met were 20 and 23 and were club regulars. (Thanks to my recent short hair cut I probably looked about 12 even though I’m 24!) There was a good atmosphere and the dance floor soon filled up and later we were all treated to a re-enactment of the dance from the Full Monty by some very brave regulars (This was a scream) but it also soon emptied again where as on our previous visit there was a mix of people up and downstairs most of the night but then it was much busier on that occasion. Later there was a rather impromptu blow job competition that took place on the dance floor, which took us rather by surprise! (‘Well this is a first!’ commented some older members) There was plenty of playing going on but we didn’t do much of that ourselves as one of us liked the playrooms here and other did not (See below) The club has a licensed bar and drinks were reasonably charged at pub prices, staff were friendly and helpful and the door security were subtly placed and unobtrusive (Plus they had good manners, a contrast to some other venues elsewhere on the scene.) The club has a lot to offer, the smokers shack is real social area which almost made me regret having given up (Almost), people were friendly and everyone seemed to have a good time. Also for Fetish enthusiasts one can’t imagine a better equipped club to the task. Criticisms.Asha – The carpet surrounding the dance floor was extremely sticky and black in colour (Not its original fr
Date: 21 July 2008
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