There is no denying Venom has put Newbury on the map in recent months. With promotions like Our of Order making Venom their home last year and putting on quality events month after month, and with clubbers travelling from all over for events it's certainly gaining attention from clubbers and promoters alike (check out the stellar february line up!!). But if you haven't been to Venom before you might be wondering what it's like... SO here is the low down

Venom Vital statistics:

Address: Venom Night Club, Newbury Leisure Park, Lower Way, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 3AL

Phone: 01635 878222

e-mail: info@vencam.com

Web site: www.vencam.com

Age: 8 years

Previous names: Extreme for 3 years

Capacity: 900

Number of dancefloors: 2

Number of Bars: 3

Average beer price: £2.80

Average spirits price: £2.30

Price of soft drinks (for the designated drivers): Pepsi £1.30

Any special drinks deals: Various weekly promos

Number of girls toilets: 1 (7 cubicles)

Number of blokes toilets: 1 (3 cubicle/3 standing)

Décor: Check out the virtual tour!

Barry, how long have you been managing Venom?

I have been Manager for only 4 months but previous to that I was the deputy manager for about 5 years.

You’ve had some great nights in the past 6 months with Newbury playing host to likes of Judge Jules, Scot Project and Nicky Blackmarket. Promotions like Out of Order and your own Fierce have really put Venom on the map. How did all this come about? Does the club have a history of hard dance?

Well when I became manager I was given the opportunity to try my own ideas and promotions, I quickly decided that there needed to be some greater variety from the commercial music three nights a week and chose to bring promoters to the club on Friday nights. I have had a lot of interest since announcing this and now have two monthly nights booked in for hard dance and a bi-monthly Drum & Bass night. Venom hasn’t really had much exposure to hard dance, although in the past we have had a lot of headlining DJ’s play here from all genre’s.

Do you find as well as folks from nearby you get a lot of people travelling to events now?

Yes we are starting to attract Clubbers from other areas now that there are events on to cater for them.

2007 looks set to be a busy year for Venom, with Out of Order, Code Red and your own Fierce all flying the hard dance flag, what do you think has attracted promoters and clubbers alike to Venom?

Venoms event diary is starting to fill now for sure. By working alongside Out of order and Code Red I hope to bring a whole lot of quality nights with all the biggest DJ’s in the scene to all the clubbers in Berkshire and further. We are also lucky to be situated within an hour travel or less from the coast and London which I think will be an advantage.

As a dj you perform as one half of Baz n Butcher, tell me a bit more about your B2B partnership and the style you play?

We have been playing together for a few years now but started playing out last Summer. We mainly play hard house, everything from funky to bouncy to filth it depends on the event and what time we are booked to play. We’re up for anything and like to please the crowd, we were even talked into doing a Christmas bounce set dressed as santa and an elf!

How do you find balancing the demands of managing a nightclub with being a dj as well?

Its starting to get hard now as we are getting booked to play events throughout the year, our diary is filling up fast and the Venom event diary is too. Luckily for me so far I have just about managed to fit everything in!

What other nights do you have in the pipeline?

You can look forward to monthly events from Out of Order and Code Red and bi-monthly D&B from 36th Chamber. I have a Breaks Night, THUMP starting in March which is receiving a good response and also interest for a Hardcore night later in the year.

Check out Out of Order on Friday 9th Feb @ Venom with none other than the TIDY BOYS!!!. Alongside slinky regulars Marc Vedo & Dav Gomras the OOO residents Matty Phact, Dash-K, Si-Stylus, Colin Knox and Gary Stalker this night will sell out!

Also later in the month (Feb 23rd) the second hard dance helping to feed your hunger comes in the form of new night Code Red's very late Valentine's Ball. Featuring Frantic resident Andy Whitby and Tidy's first lady Amber D alongside Mark H, Baz & Butcher, Wain Johnstone & the Great White you can be sure this night will go off!