adminBongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
THE five-day Zimbabwe International Trade Fair brought brisk business to most night spots in Bulawayo as they recorded high volumes of revellers compared to last year. In separate interviews, club owners and managers said at times they were forced to close their night spots in the morning.
Cape to Cairo manager Bheki Ndebele said the ladies’ night function last Sunday went up to Monday morning.
“We have never been so packed such as this past weekend. Every Sunday we host ladies’ night. It (Sunday) was a very busy night. People were packed in the venue as they were braaing meat, drinking and dancing the night away. We ended up shutting the event down at 6AM today (Monday),” he said.
Ndebele said earlier on in the day they had a bumper crowd for the English Premier League crunch tie between Liverpool and Chelsea which the latter won two-nil.
“We held a competition for fans to predict the score line and they entered. A regular who goes by the name Dunga correctly predicted the score and won himself a Chelsea Football Club jersey and a crate of his favourite beer,” he said.
Ndebele said the busiest days were Friday and Sunday but as from Thursday they recorded huge numbers of people patronising their night spot.
Eden Nightclub manager Emmanuel Mahaso echoed the same sentiments saying they opened the night spot on a Wednesday for the first time.
“Due to the commercial value that the Trade Fair added to the city we had a busy weekend. We opened Eden for the first time on a Wednesday. This was in anticipation of those who wanted to have fun and wind down after exhibiting and going to the trade fair,” he said.
Mahaso said on certain nights they had to raise the cover charge to limit the number of people that entered the venue.
“In general I can say we had a busy trade fair week. I am yet to sit down and come up with actual figures but with what I saw it was a good week,” he said.
Club Forty40 resident DJ Mzoe, who is also in charge of events at the joint, said business was better than the Easter period.
“Maybe because it was due to the show that featured Killer T, but we recorded a high number of people who came to our club. During Easter it was fine but we had a high number of people from Thursday till Sunday,” he said.
The Groove, situated at Rainbow Hotel and Bulawayo Athletic Club, popularly known as Mojos, also had sizeable crowds and the manager of the two joints, Josh, said the number of people who came was high.
“At the Groove, from Thursday through to Sunday we had a mature crowd at the joint and this was good. That’s what the place is for and BAC was also good as we had a sizeable crowd. I am happy with the amount of people that came,” he said.
Other night spots that were filled up were Horizon Pub and Grill that hosted Judgement Yard and Legendary Sounds.
Safari Bar, LaGondola and The Lounge also had sizeable crowds during trade fair week.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter