It’s 8 pm on a Saturday night in Wind Street, right in the centre of Swansea, Wales. Music is blaring out of the nightclubs. Girls are wearing tight lycra dresses and heels so high they teeter around in them, like toddlers learning to walk. There are goosebumps all down their arms though they smile and put on brave faces as they clutch their boyfriends’ arms. The boys are in rugby t-shirts and sneakers and have gelled hair. They tousle with each other on the street, narrowly missing policemen and parked cars.
Dress in style for a night out in Swansea
The locals glam up with their cocktail dresses, heels and primped hair – until they stepped outside and had to shelter themselves from the rain with a plastic bag. Meet halfway and wear jeans with a dressy top or a simple little black dress which is failsafe even in the intermittent Welsh rain.
Enjoy a hearty Welsh-Italian meal
Weaving our way through the crowds we dined at Italian restaurant La Locanda on 66 Wind Street. Our fellow dining companions including a young couple on a romantic dinner date and a group of raucous adults. The 40 something ladies were sewn up in unbreathable corset tops, pleather leggings and leopard print stilettos. They picked at their risotto, shifting rice around their plates.
The waiter sighed with relief when they left, “I’m so glad they’re gone!” He even offered to take our photo, “I take brilliant photos!”
However he barely looked at the camera when clicking and we demanded a retake without red eyes.
As the menu at La Locanda is in ‘real’ Italian – a surefire way to pick out whether your meal will be average or fantastic – I chose mushroom tagliatelle. Perfecto!
Cheap drinks to kick start your night
Six shots for a fiver! The signs scream at La Cantina bar luring in university students and budget travelers. The drinks aren’t strong but they’re cheap, with some shots being only £1 and two cocktails will only set you back £6. Inside the girls strut up and down the stairs to the cramped second level as the boys eagerly look on. They don’t check IDs, funnily enough because everyone looks about 18.
People Watching on Wind Street
Despite the rain, the dresses kept getting shorter and the outfits were crazier. Dress up parties are a big thing in the UK and there were various themed stag and hen’s groups running amok. This included nurses, schoolgirls and furry animals.
Where to Hit the Dance Floor
La Cantina doesn’t have much of a dance floor so we headed to a pub called Varsity. Amy Winehouses and partying Mamas and Papas were bopping and canoodling and sending text messages to the TV screens. It felt like partying with your parents.
In search of a younger crowd, we joined the damp crew in line for entry into Revolution. It’s another chain bar with free entry. The line moved quickly and, unlike Varisty, it was a pleasant surprise inside. Revolution had slick modern interiors, different dance floors, a restaurant area and a vodka room. Skipping the vodka, we headed straight onto the dance floor for RnB songs. The club has a great vibe until a hair-pulling, cat-fight broke out which resulted a night club ejection. That’s when you know it’s time to call it a night in Swansea.
