Mbargo

Lord Lord, what an awful excuse for a club. Is this what uni peeps are subjected to these days? Problem is there’s nothing better in the Bristol area. Charging in is another hilarious addition to this sad excuse for a club

Mbargo is one of those student bars, no doubt about it. Every weekend without fail, this place is brimming with crowds of them. It’s quite a nice bar I suppose, and the first time I was here it was on one of those crowded nights. It was difficult to get the gist of the place and I didn’t come back for some time after that!
But recently I stopped by here for a drink on a weekday night, and contrary to the first visit, it was much nicer. There was no one there except me, a friend and the barmen, and I was lying down on the couches, watching the drizzle of rain outside, having a very relaxed time. So, the mood of this place really depends on what day you’re here, but it certainly can swing from a crazy packed bar, to somewhere you can chill out.

Stepping into Mbargo on a Sunday night is like stepping back into my first year of Uni… and a Sunday night is the only night I would be tempted to go back. It did serve us very well in my Uni days; they served very cheap drinks on a Sunday, they stayed open late on a Sunday (and acted as a buffer between soberness and a club called The Tube) and they had a cheesy live band who competently played covers that, if you got drunk enough and squinted you ears, sounded almost like a real band.
It was always for the people (students) who didn’t want to let the weekend die… so basically the alcoholics. But if you knew not to expect too much you could have fun here. It’s a bit loud so don’t come here just to chat to your mates, but their vodka and cokes are very cheap (£1.50 maybe).
But once you start looking for more from your night out, you can happily leave Mbargo as a fuzzy memory, happy in the knowledge that the next bunch of 18 – 21 year olds with more loan money than sense are there to listen to the same live cover band and attempt to chat up the notoriously ‘hot’ Mbargo bar staff. I didn’t say it was classy I just said it was done.

Mbargos is a very trendy and youthful bar, with more of a nightclub feel because they have an in-​house DJ playing and a space that turns into a dance-​floor as the night progresses.
Sunday to Thursday entry is free, and drink prices are more like student prices — at around £1.50 to £2.00 a pint, and on Friday and Saturday nights you are charged £2.00 entry, which to be fair isn’t too bad! However drink prices also rise on these nights — so for students your best bet is to visit on other weekdays!
The type of music played here alternates and the DJ sets often consist of a mixture of different genres, including chart music of the time. Generally speaking the music’s pretty loud too — so it can be difficult to hold a conversation.
Mbargos tends to be very popular as a place to go for pre-​drinks before going on to the night clubs Lizard Lounge and Bunker, as it is just round the corner and a great place to get you in the mood for a night out. This bar has a really good fun atmosphere and is a great place to grab a few drinks and a dance with your friends!

Mbargo should be embraced as a stop off rather than a final destination. A round or two of Jaegerbombs will not break the bank, but the seedy atmosphere might cause you to break your moral promises. The music is cheesier than the chat up line ‘did your dad steal all of the stars and put them in your eyes’, but always gets a few people moving around. Despite its limited capacity, Mbargo is usually full, or maybe it is the low ceilings that give this impression and render the place a nightmare for sufferers of claustrophobia. Yet I’m giving Mbargo four stars because enjoying the cheap drinks and atmosphere is still a superior option to the endless queues of Joe Public’s and the Bunker.

Always one to bank on, Mbargo’s sits on the triangle, a stones throw away from a whole host of clubs. It falls somewhere between a bar and nightclub. The drinks are cheap and they have live music on Sunday nights, which makes it a nice place to go with a few friends and have a quiet drink. There is many a time that I have gone have popped in for a quick drink before going somewhere else and spent the whole night there, probably because there is no queue and no admission. Friday and Saturday are the busiest nights of the week as anywhere, but as a result the place becomes more booze fuelled.

I am completely backing Mark M when he says he dislikes Mbargo. A terrible mix of Student naff nights, a rubbish dancefloor, terrible music and overly controlling bouncers and low ceilings upon entry and expensive drinks, I’d recommend avoiding it at all costs. But if a bit of flirting with older drunken men, or alternatively 16+ kids with enough slap on to get them in without getting ID’d is your bag, then go ahead.
I remember the days of the Phoenix Bar pound a pint nights before Mbargo replaced it, and you can only imagine the bizarre mixed crowd that brought in in search of a cheap drink. No amount of refurb can seem to change this place and shake it of its sleazy lecherous reputation.

I really dislike this place. Situated slam bang in the middle of student central, it is a popular haunt on freshers week, for the unwieldy and awkward looking young scallywags, whose lack of local knowledge has led seemingly all of them to this slightly naff, slightly pikey little club with very low ceilings and a crap dance floor.
This mix of youthful exuberance and hedonistic pikey’s can result in a bit of trouble from time to time, or maybe it’s because the place feels so claustrophobic that people just needs to lash out. Whatever the reason, I find the atmosphere in here somewhat tempestuous and not at all enjoyable.
Generic dance music you wont be able to dance to because the dance floor is too small. A load of seating areas you won’t be able to talk to anybody in because the music is too loud. Rubbish.

Ah, the joys of the triangle on freshers week. Students taking up all the taxis, students being sick, students making all the queues for the clubs really long. I shouldn’t mind really, I was a student until recently and they managed to liven up Embargo a bit when I last went along.
I have to say, although I quite like Embargo, it did smell of puke when I entered. I’ll put that down to freshers week. One pound fifty pints quickly alleviated my concerns at the cleanliness of the place. The dance floor was busy but not heaving. A few shady looking types that made me check I still had my wallet, but mostly just lots of drunk students. I’m sure the drinks deals aren’t always on, and my favourable view of Embargo might not last if I wasn’t taking liberal advantage of them when I visited. As there’s usually no cover but plenty going on late into the night, it’s worth checking this place before you go somewhere a bit pricier on the Triangle or Park Street.

Good if you fancy a Bar/​Club Hybrid. Very Sweaty in Summer though!

Loving this venue (and not just because my brother works there). Drinks are reasonable and you get to lounge on the comfy sofas if you arrive there early. DJ is really approachable but I’m sure he will get really bored of me asking for old skool tunes lol. Great place if there’s a crowd of you to get the party started but be warned… the place doesn’t start getting jiggy ’til about 11:30pm onwards. Pretty girls be warned of the aging lotharios and bring tissue paper as the toilets always run out of loo roll. When will club owners learn… we need lots of toilet roll for tears, touch ups, clean ups etc
3÷10÷08
Hung out there last night and woo hoo. They now have staff in the loos doing the perfume, lollipop thing lol Never ending supplies of loo roll.
DJ was playing banging tunes and we rolled out closing time. Fab night.

Mbargo is situated on the Triangle, right in the middle of student-​ville. It’s a bar/​nightclub which is a bit grotty inside and can get a bit rough, clashes between students and locals mainly. There are different music nights on during the week, but I think Tuesday is probably best as it’s not too packed, the drinks are really cheap and the music is fairly commercial. The drink prices are definitely the best thing about this place.

This is a sweet place that has many different nights. Ranging from the chilled daytime ambiance to the funky, live music on a sunday, to a lively student crowd during the week, mbargos is good fun at anytime. With a bottle of house wine at 6 pounds its not that expensive either. It also has a small dance floor so you can get your jig on to the wide range of funky music thats played.