Ministry of Sound, London

After reading everyone else's opinions on the Ministry and finding that they mostly didn't find it too pleasing I thought that I better stand up for it and give my experience of it. I've only ever been once but it was a great night and a great weekend. So, if you're sitting comfortably then I'll begin... The whole reason that I got to go the Ministry was because one of my mates had entered into a DJ competition and got through to the finals that were to be held, yes you've guessed it, at the Ministry itself. And, because he didn't have a girlfriend at the time, he invited me to accompany him ... more

I was always dying to go to Ministry right through my teens and I finally got the chance to go. I heard people at work talking about it and at university and they all were saying how good it was and I was so looking forward to it. Well oh my god did I get the shock of my life when I went. Ministry of sound is based in Central London near Elephant and Castle tube station on the Northern line and is a short walk away. When we arrived there was no queue and we just went straight in. It was a friday night and was £8 for students and members and £12 for any one else. Now I thought £8 was very good ... more

What a corporate hellhole this is! If you want clubbing to be staid and predictable, this is the place to go. On a kinder note, this venue may have been innovative at the start of the 90s but it just looks so passe darling. Let's set the scene, it is situated down a non too salubrious side street in Elephant and Castle - not a very easy location to get back from in the middle of the night. You go through the entrance, into the bar room - rectangular in shape with a guess what! a bar running lengthways across. There is a video screen playing some nonsensical film which doesn't correspond to the ... more

OK, before I start getting seriously stuck into dissing the Ministry, I just want to clarify two things. For one thing, the ministry is just a venue so it's perfectly possible that there are some decent nights there, for another I wasn't at the record launch party that the opinionator went to - so,who knows, maybe it was good. However, I can speak from personal experience as to what shak is like and, in fact, what the Ministry is like in general and -to be brutally honest - it really and truelly sucks. The design is so bad that there doesn't seeem to be any one point in the club where people ... more

The Ministry of Sound is popular all around the world and internationally acclaimed but I was rather disappointed and rudely shocked at how un-exciting everything was when I finally arrived. I had expected to be greeted by the lights and glitz of a luxury night club but its exterior made the Ministry of Sound look somewhat unfortunately like the Ministry of Garbage. Located near Elephant and Castle I would not have even looked twice at it if I had been a casual visitor to that area. Come to think of it, I probably would not even venture there. The interior looked better than its exterior ... more