Oceana, Southampton

Oceana, Southampton

Southampton

Oceana

venues, September 2008, COMMENTS

As the UK’s largest late night operator, with a portfolio of venues totalling over 100 and already 12 Oceana branded clubs under its belt, an outsider would imagine it must be challenging for the company to continually up the stakes and surprise its customers with something new.

But surprise them it did, when the new Oceana Southampton opened. Unlucky 13? I don’t think so.
Oceana Southampton is one of the most breathtaking venues Luminar has crafted to date. Never has the term ‘leisure complex’ been coined so appropriately for an Oceana – the venue is embodied within the town’s peripheral leisure destination. The complex shares a huge commercial building with the Odeon Cinema, a Grosvenor Casino and restaurants such as Ask and Frankie & Benny’s. In line with the company’s objective to move away from the idea of a nightclub and instead create round-the-clock leisure and dancing destinations, this Oceana offers entertainment day and night.

Oceana Southampton’s positioning within the foyer of the brightly-lit Odeon mall exemplifies its commercial appeal. Behind the glass doors at the front of the complex, a neon sign shows the way into Oceana on the righthand side. The Villa Tahiti bar spills out into the foyer, giving a tropical and al fresco feel to the space, which operates as a dining area during the day. Queuing customers can see clearly into Villa Tahiti and peer through into the rest of the Bar Quarter. The openness of this entrance, as opposed to the usual narrow doorway, creates an inviting lure into the venue and welcomes grazing customers during the day.

The 4,200-capacity venue is the biggest Oceana to date, with five bars, two clubs, smoking terraces and VIP suites. The most jaw-dropping area of the venue, which cost £5.5 million, is undoubtedly the central Milan Square, tucked inside behind Villa Tahiti. The entrance opens into a vast space, with high ceilings, huge drape projections depicting Italian-style fashion shows and a massive rear-projected screen showing a city skyline, not to mention elegant chandeliers reaching down from a great height (supplied by Andy Thornton). Encompassing the former Hotshots venue, the Square is fed by several surrounding feeder bars: Villa Tahiti, Monte Carlo and Louisiana. The space strikes a chord with spacious Las Vegas-style leisure venues, albeit without the tacky carpets and slot machines. The Square is tiered with a long upper bar overlooking the DJ booth, which in turn lies above a lower seating area and the rear stage, where live events can take place. The lack of ceiling on the ground floor lends itself to a dramatic space, with exposed air vents painted black, creating an industrial feel never experienced at an Oceana before.

Round the corner is new bar concept Louisiana, which is an upgraded version of the former JJ’s. For this, main contractor WFC, along with designers Bignell Shacklady Ewing, created a new entrance, as it was previously a separate entity. This American ranch-like, live music space has been livened up with modern artwork from Themed Leisure and new technology from Design Intervention and CVA. Playing a mixture of pop and band music, Louisiana charges for entry at the weekend, along with the Icehouse and Disco clubs upstairs.

Through a rear entrance clubbers can exit the Square and go upstairs to the main clubs: Icehouse (which is over 20’s at the weekend) and Disco (which is over 25’s on Friday and Saturday)– where Ikon Diva used to be. Assistant manager Phil Hayward, who relocated to Southampton from Oceana Brighton, said: “It works really well having the bars on the lower floor and the clubbing experience upstairs because it separates the two experiences. Customers tend to go upstairs for a dance and then come back down to relax, chat and have a drink in the bar quarter.”

Luminar’s Head of Openings Graham Peel added: “The Bar Quarter is working really well at this Oceana. It’s the first time we’ve separated the bars and clubs by putting the clubs upstairs and the bars downstairs. We’re finding that people are using both the bars and clubs, with people coming back downstairs for a drink even after they’ve paid to go into the clubs. The bars still remain busy until around two or three in the morning.”

Up in the Icehouse, exclusive VIP viewing points hang over the edge of the dancefloor. “The VIP pods have gone down really well because they are on a completely separate floor to the main club,” explained Phil. On the opening night, the club put on a lighting show in this room, to demonstrate the capabilities of the venue’s visual technology using the 360 degree projection ring. These visuals are run from the new Pioneer SVM-1000 mixer, for which Luminar clubs were the first ever installations. Clubs have traditionally relied heavily on internal décor and theming to brand a particular night, but with the rapid development of club technology – eagerly adopted by Luminar units – times are changing. Luminar’s urban and R&B product VIBE is rolling out a new concept for its visual branding of the sessions. VIBE product manager Dhilon Solanki explained: “We are trying to enhance the internal experience of the session by maximising the use of technology - video projections, plasmas and the 360 degree halo effect – and getting away from physical decor.” A new one-hour DVD loop to be played during VIBE nights has just been launched at Oceana in Southampton and is scheduled to roll out across all 35 units operating VIBE. The loop includes ambient media reflecting the brand, such as the logo, urban colours like silver and gold, and artwork reflecting the look and feel of urban and R&B music and the VIBE brand. The motion graphics will be refreshed on a quarterly basis in order to maintain customer interest.

With several multi-million pound Oceana investments new this year, and another one in the form of Oceana Watford on the agenda for September, it has been an acquisitional year for Luminar’s flagship brand - an impressive roll out considering the current uncertainty of the economic climate. But, as of yet, there are no expansion plans Oceana for 2009, said Graham.

Words: Rachel Esson

Images: Richard Southall

From: September 2008 Issue

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