Welcome to Liverpool’s oddest night club, a chaotic dingy venue littered with curious items and people alike. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting this chasm only twice, both nights were nights to remember. One minute you’re dancing to some grungy dub step tunes and wondering if the toilets were identical in 1960, the next minute you’re riding a 4ft rocking horse on the dance floor. Much like the Blue Angel Club opposite, this place has seen decades of oddballs and students celebrating under sweat dripping ceilings and drinking flat pints. The Cabin Club has only just started running frequent events and club nights again, but much of the inside is how you imagine it has been since it opened. The staff are friendly enough and the drinks are fairly cheap, but if you’re looking for a non smelly venue then this place isn’t for you. Be warned though, once you’ve been lured in, it’s hard to escape. I went for one drink at 10pm a few weeks back, and rolled home at 10am after a random party at a strangers house!
Rebecca C.
Place rating: 4 Liverpool, United Kingdom
The Cabin is a place of mythical Liverpool lore and something I grew up hearing stories of my parents’ escapades within these hallowed walls. There used to be sawdust on the floor, and no one was ever sure whether it was just a quirky feature or to disguise random pools of vomit. There used to be a huge rocking horse that punters would dare each other to climb onto. There used to be a formidable man(some say ex-police) on the door who wouldn’t let you in if he didn’t like the look of you. Unless he didn’t like the look of you but thought he could take the mick, and then he’d charge you a tenner to get in. Walking into the Cabin is like walking into one of those halls of mirrors at a funfair — you get an odd, surreal feeling in the pit of your stomach(if you’re not already too drunk) and find it hard to latch on to reality. Despite all this, you can have a fab night out here and wake up the next morning thinking it was all a Mighty Boosh-esque dream.
Dave L.
Place rating: 4 Liverpool, United Kingdom
Jesus Hiroshima Christ, this place is weird! Stepping into the musty burrow that is the Cabin Club, you find yourself seriously pondering whether you just stumbled through a rip in the space-time continuum, ending up in 1988. Either that or the whole building just belched its way into the future and the only way you’ll recognise the customers’ faces is from missing persons posters in your neighbourhood. There’s just something forlorn and eerie about the place. For starters, it’s huge. Walking past the bar you’ll find a dance floor. Cross that and descend the stairs to find another one. From here you can take one of forty labyrinthine corridors, all leading off to deserted dance floors, dim bars and booths where shadowy figures drink and grumble. Adding to the pervading sense of ghoulishness is the fact nothing seems to have been altered in twenty years. Date-stamped photographs depict parties of frizzy perms and fading grins. Business cards with ‘carphone’ numbers are pinned to the walls. We tried ringing some of them once but got no answer, imagining ancient brick phones suddenly coming to life in far-flung attics. Put simply, the Cabin Club is an oddity, but a must-see. There’s great fun to be had picking out all the chunks of weirdness and wondering what room contains the bodies, but ultimately the only reason anybody would go there would be for the same reason they go to freak shows, to gawp.
Lholl
Place rating: 3 Liverpool, United Kingdom
Classic old fashioned nightclub, the haunt of nurses, social workers, teachers and police for yearssome of them are still regulars! The place is falling to pieces, old tatty bar which has too brighter lights, booths with ripped red leather seats in the dark interior, and a small enclosed dancefloor with a dj booth in the corner. The dj appears to have only one soundtrack that is played over and over every week. The toilets have seen better days and dont pull too hard on the high cistern chains as I worry the ceiling may cave in. There doesnt appear to be a dress code. The place is usually dead til about 12.30, then fills with men aged in their 30’s looking for a few relaxed drinks, and a few brave females on the dancefloor. Its okay, the astmosphere is relaxed, the drinks are cheap, and you wont get any snotty looks for not looking like a WAG! And you get a free lollipop on the way out!