Shooters is one of the many stops on the tour of the Adelaide building in Canberra. It is kind of two clubs in one, in a typically Canberra layout. Dowstairs is a pub largely focussed on pool tables and a bar. Upstairs is nightclub. It is not a big place, but they do give you a free drink on entry and there is no cover charge.
The crowd was a bit all over the place. Downstairs is your typical pub or pool hall crowd, wearing jeans, and black alternative band T-shirts. Upstairs can be respectable. The layout is quite loungy, so attracts a laid back sort of a crowd which is a little bit older, and dressed fairly well. However, the night of this review, people were coming in, having their free drink, and disappearing again. Neither room was particularly full.
I didn't spend too much time downstairs. It was fairly dark, and we don't really review pool halls, playing alternative music on a juke box. Straight up the stairs was my direction.
Upstairs has potential. It is pretty small, but it could have the right feel if it was busy. The stairs come in at the middle of the room. In front of you, at the back of the room is the bar. In the middle are several comfy couches, which are very hard to leave. The front of the room is the dancefloor.
The dancefloor is surrounded by a tier podium, which the girls love, one step higher than the dancefloor. The DJ is in the front corner, with a view of Civic through a window. He plays a pretty good mix of commerical dance and R&B, top 40 and a few classics. Actually, I really enjoyed it, making it even harder to leave that couch. Harder edge music, house and techno might make the night, as the venue is a great size and feel for it.
The highlight of the venue was certainly the prices and the music. Free entry, first drink free, and relatively cheap drinks is a good way to go, although it does create an image that the place is desperate for a crowd. It may develop into something okay.
