Hockley Social Club — Restaurant in Birmingham

Having been here before it was amazing! Couldn't fault staff or food... The second time round.. what happened?? We asked to sit outside as the music inside was fairly loud nothing against the place at all on that, and were informed to order drinks through the qr code, which we then told them didn't work.. (absolutely fine! Tech is tech sometimes glitches happen) but it seemed impossible getting attention from busy staff who are bustling inside when you're outside.. so, as there wasn't any other way to get their attention to order drinks, it was inevitable we had to go inside.. right? We did this several times and there was no issue - we were happy to quickly get up and attract attention from the staff by the door (with masks on) and they were happy to take our drinks order? Until, we were approached by a member of team who informed us we couldn't do this.. we tried to tell her what the issue was and she was actually quite ignorant considering we didn't have a problem, we just wanted to inform her of the situation and that we weren't causing menace.. this kinda killed the atmosphere seeing as we felt a little belittled and ignored. Then two seconds later the bouncer came over.. to 'talk' to one of us.. as the one he wanted to talk to didn't speak much English, he got a little stern even though we were trying to translate as quickly as possible, once our friend understood he was happy to have a 'talk' only to be informed of the same thing that was told to us by the lady who came over and gave us a telling off? We were quite confused by this as we understood 2 seconds before when we were just told? We were not causing disruption, trouble or malice so we felt this was quite unnecessary and quite abrupt to have such a minor issue based off lack of communication to escalate to this point. We finished our drinks and had the coldest exit from both female and male security who glared at us as we left (for what reason exactly I'm not sure)... So, all in all.. we feel quite saddened by the experience as it really didn't need to get to such an extreme action. If you're going to have an outside, if you know your qr code isn't working, and staff inside are going to be busy.. would it not be best to have someone stationed nearby? If not, perhaps listen to the customer and through communication attempt to resolve the matter instead of having a go and completely ignoring any other voice.. there wasn't a reason for it. We were compliant, we understood it was busy and those inside were bustling around, so.. what else...

Would give 0 stars if I could - I hope all future visitors and the owners see this review and take note

Went for the Euros final which was advertised as a first come first serve event (which is fine)

Arrived not long after doors were open but spent 2.5 hours in a queue which did not move much at all, despite being quite close to the front.

There was ZERO communication from staff/management about whether the venue was full to capacity or not, or what rough waiting times are

Throughout the afternoon staff were happy to let people queue literally all the way down Hampton street without letting anyone know whether the venue was full for the day or advising about wait times. Many people had queued for 4 hours+ with 0 updates (must have been hundreds in the queue)

An easy way to communicate would have been to send someone to go down the line and advise them that they wont get in or that the wait is far too long. Or even easier still, they could have posted something on their social media. They were happy to post stories about the atmosphere inside but nothing to let the people outside know what is going on. Many people commented on their last post to ask for updates and to complain about issues like queue jumping/attitude of security etc, but management deleted these comments.

Lots of queue jumping happening right in front of security but no one was interesting in managing this.

Security guard was more interested in talking to women throughout the whole afternoon.

No social distancing present, management did not seem to care about this as long as they got enough people through the door and had enough people waiting outside to fill any gaps.

The whole of Hampton Street was a mess with litter from those who had come to HSC. In fairness it looked like they had stuff to try and clean this up but it was no where near enough, genuinely felt like we were on a road next to a rubbish tip it was that bad.

Overall I wouldn't come here again based on the attitude that management/staff have towards customers. Very poor basic event management. First come first serve basis is fine but why stipulate that "once a table is yours its yours for the whole day and your mates can join you...

🎚 personality vs character 🎼

Given the interesting options, we decided to share a few dishes between us. The decision paid off as all the dishes were well-prepared & rather tasty, if slightly expensive.

The music was varied & pretty decent. Staff were friendly and the lady on the door was a definite winner (partially blurred pics aside 📀🙄).

It's a pleasant place, the decor has personality, consoles are a good idea (only one controller for Street Fighter on the super nes tho?), dining is enjoyable, however: despite the on-trend moniker, I'm unsure how much of a "club" element it fosters. People tend to speak and eat exclusively with those who accompanied them, rather than mingling & chatting to those nearby.

In fairness, I had a pleasant interaction with a lady at the bar early on, although our paths did not cross again for the rest of the night.

Ultimately, I guess there's a difference between sparking a modicum of interest via the odd quirk, and having enduring appeal: what one might call a little personality, and genuine, mature, depth of character; fundamentally being of substance.

Maybe it just feels a little too commercial, I'm not altogether sure, but somehow, it seems to lack that "edge", that bit of "je ne sais quoi"...

For now though, like the gaffer says, "Because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character..." 🐺☝🏾

edit:

Artum - excellent: good sound system, great DJs, good dimensions to generate a party atmos, bar staff on point (though not always sufficient numbers).

Main area - decent eating options, good entertainment, music at times too loud so u have to shout/ spit at one person at...