The Richard Spooner Column: A naughty night on the town�
Good morning. I 'm delighted today to introduce younger members of the Spooner clan who have been sampling some of the delights Greater Birmingham has to offer.
They report:
Having your name ticked off a guestlist and being handed free glasses of bubbly isn 't exactly something we 're accustomed to at the ripe age of 22. So, walking through the doors of Albert Schloss 's press preview night last week was like stepping into a whole new world.
Albert 's Schloss is themed around Alpine Europe and has now come to Birmingham to provide we Brummies with roaring fires, raucous performances, tankards of Europe 's finest bier, and endless naughtiness.
Promising all that and more, we were lucky enough to snag some passes to their grand opening night. We were told to expect a night of live music, chandelier swinging, cocktail swigging and curtain-lifting immersive performances- the perfect environment for getting 'on the piste ' (in which case, it would have been rude not to!).
Glass in hand, we made our way through to the bar and took in the lights, the red velvet stage, the glitzy disco ball and the floods of influencers, journalists, business people and the like flocking to unwind at Albert 's Schloss 's 'apres ski club '.
It took seconds from when we sat down for cocktail number one to arrive unprompted (just the kind of German efficiency we like to see).
“Another complimentary drink? ”
“We 'll cheers to that! ”
The five-strong haus band took to the stage soon afterward and eased us into the night with some Amy Winehouse classics, by which point we had already made our way onto a sweet, fruity beer concoction.
I 'm sure you are probably cottoning on to the fact that our drink consumption was in fact 'on the haus ', a fact that potentially spurred us on in our enjoyment of the evening and highly influenced the fact that we could be found dancing on tables later on in the night.
Acts which followed included an ariel hoop artist, a medusa-styled burlesque performance, drag acts including a rendition of Lily Allen 's 'Not Fair ' and a cover of the 70 's classic 'Venus ' performed in a bedazzled g-string with shaving cream as a prop tying in the popular hair-removal brand.
This didn 't merely captivate the audience but the entire room and we were joined by our fellow attendees on our feet dancing, singing and cheering - this included even the most professional of businessmen in suits!
Such an inclusive and exhilarating atmosphere was felt in the room by all, the exact reason we will be returning as customers very soon.
Our night was brought to an end by a rendition of Womack & Womack 's 'Teardrops ' which even included a saxophone solo, aggressively encouraged on our part at this point even though we had lost track of what number drink we were on, signalling our time to call it a night.
Although we won 't become too accustomed to sparkly parties and free cocktails, we cannot wait for our next visit to an Albert 's Schloss filled with boozy, raunchy fun.
A night at Albert 's Schloss is nothing short of extraordinary, both in entertainment and hospitality. We may even see you there next time�
CC AND SCP