They've recently opened a Thai restaurant in the week and food is so delicious and very reasonable. They also have happy hour all week and the cocktails are better than a lot of expensive cocktail bars that I've been to. 1 or 2 of the bartenders need to work on their customer service but the majority of the staff are friendly and helpful. A lot of the reviews seem to talk about the door staff - to stop the trouble you see along clapham highstreet on a saturday night coming into Aquum, I guess they do need to have some door policies and while i've waited to get in, i've seen the way some people talk to the door staff, even when customers have been spoken to politely and I wouldn't let those people in either!If you want good food and even better cocktails in a place open till late, go on a week day. Weekends are very different and it can get too packed on saturday nights but apart from that its still fun. They do have table service if you decide to buy bottles and the waitresses go out of their way for you. If you've got a bit of money to spend I'd recommend getting a table where you have your own space and personal waitress. In the end its a club in clapham, not a private members club in mayfair...

Went here a while back. I was meeting friends inside. I got to the door and was told they don't let guys in on their own. I said fine, but I'm not on my own - my friends are inside and I'm calling them out now to come and get me. In the end, it was about a ten minute battle to get me in. Ridiculous! When I finally got in, I found an over-priced, over-crowded pretentious dump. Wouldn't recommend AT ALL! They think they're up in Mayfair, and I think that's why they act the way they do.

So sad this place used to be a great place to go, we went many times and you were almost guaranteed a good night. Now it is awful, doormen and staff (particularly the door women and the coat girl) have become rude and pretentious. The people in the club are not much better, admittedly it's packed but I lost count of how many times people pushed and shoved us. Everyone seemed to have plenty of money but no manners!
We will not be going here anymore but I just hope the manager actually does read these reviews....but there have been so many bad reviews lately I'm guessing not!

AVOID THIS DUMP...

over priced, over crowded, over rated, and... well, just rubbish..

Only reason this place is busy is because it is open later than anywhere else. Barmen are rude, and unless you have a pair of breasts, expect to be waiting a long time for your over priced drink.

The only plus for me on my last visit ironically, were the very polite security and door man... Terrible venue, nice door staff... shouldn't it be the other way round?

I was at this bar last night, and I definitely won't be going back. I've never left a review on a bar or restaurant in my life but after last night I swore I'd review this one.

When we arrived, which was quite late, there was only 1 bar man. Understandably some things can't be helped, and the manager came out to help him as the wait was so long.

We ordered a double JD and coke and 2 single rum and cokes with the manager. There was an argument regards the double JD being a double and the person drinking it left the bar. After this, my fiancé ordered 4 shots for our friends' leaving do and paid £27 in cash for them assuming we'd paid for the whole round.  

After a while, one of the bar staff who worked there usually and just happened to be out with the group we were with, approached me suddenly while sitting at a table. She and the manager laid into me for not paying my bill. I've never been spoken to like that in a bar before, especially not by staff and managers. The manager took none of our explanation. When I gave him my card to pay again in order to carry on with our evening as it obviously wasn't going away, he threw the card back in my face. All for £11 of dark rum and coke that we supposedly hadn't pay for. If we didn't pay for it, it was a blooming expensive round of 4 shots!

The door man was really nice, as was the lonesome bar man, the manager however was not, and with an attitude like that it's no wonder it rubs off on some of his staff. I left in tears.

I wouldn't go back here if I was bursting for the toilet! And if I did, I wouldn't be paying £27 for 4 shots! They really need to reassess their whole policy and the manager.


The manager

Ambience was nice and the place was lively.
Would go back and sample more of the cocktail menu

When this bar first opened it was a nice change from all the other bars on the high street. Now not so. They seem to have something against guys. There was 6 girls and 1 guy with us and they gave us so much hassle about getting in, ridiculous. Continuously questionning whether we were drunk... yes we had had a drink but no we were not drunk and not causing any fuss or bother. Don't waste your money on this pretencious place!! Plenty of other good places to go.

Pretentious, rude and really bad service - Would not go back

Amateurs! Had a night out planned out in Clapham with friends, spent over 2 weeks setting it up, had our names in the guest list. Mixed crowd 4 girls, 6 guys.
Aquum = how to ruin a night out.
Still amazes me that bars in london that have 30-45 people outside it's door all cramming to get in bother having a guest list? Might as replace it with 'your not getting in cattle list'.
Never say never, but I don't think I will be returing to Aquum, they need to up their game if they want to be considered a desirable place for night out for drinks. Overall, the place looked like a scene from the only way is Essex, same old games that bars play..have big crowds outside our bar..makes us look great and hip but yet treat punters with utter 0% respect.

Absolutely disgraceful door attitude. Guestlist won't even get you in, and if you're a guy and have ladies with you, that won't work too. The woman at the door is completely rude and on a power trip and needs to be taught basic manners. I will not be attending this establishment ever again and I would advise others to avoid at all costs. Places like this remind me what a joke our door service is sometimes.

Very materialistic place, Very rude girl at the door and service is no good. Place gets so full no space and takes 30minutes to Que for a drink. Atmosphere is terrible, everyone has unnecessary attitude.

I booked a table at Aquum on Friday as it was my birthday and a friend recommended it to me.
We were greeted on the door and escorted to our table which was fantastic.
Our waitress was great at serving as all night.
Overall we had a great time, great music, will definitely go back again.

This is the most horrible place I have visited. Bad location. Even though I have booked a table, I was told that they have no record of that. But still let us in. Inside the bar there was no one to meet us up. We waited for like 7 mins before we have found a waitress. The bar does not look like the one on the picture, thats for sure! I would not recommend going there cos even the food was terrible, as well as cocktails.

Me and my gfriends went to Aquum last Saturday for thee first time and had a good time. It was pretty busy in there and venue looked lush! The vip area was real cool, although it took a while to get a drink in (the concentrated on table service)! They could improve on that! Downstairs bar was fine though. Regardless, we are all looking to visiting again for another party - I think the Luv story School Horror night on the 29th Oct looks pretty cool, any excuse for us girls to dress up!. Yippee, can't wait! Xxx Deb

Not so great...

The staff are rude and arrogant and spend most of the time doing shots themselves or indulging each other in "banter" instead of concentrating on what they are being paid to do and serve drinks. All for a bit of fun, but fun in my books doesn't include waiting 30 minutes for a drink whilst watching the bar staff dance behind the bar and do shots.

The security all bar one which i believe to be the head security are monosyllabic and rude and the door girls really need an attitude makeover. I saw them turning away people who admittedly weren't "right" for the venue but in a rude and argumentative manner. There are ways of turning people away which aren't rude and don't make other customers feel unwelcome coming in. Come on girls, we all hate Movida for the unwelcoming attitude they give off, don't add Aquum to that category.

The crowd was very footballers wives, the tv series, one of the blonde busty girls in the VIP was cavorting around the VIP like she owned it, i think she knew the manager / owner judging by the way she was shoving herself against him. The word class i don't think entered into her head whilst she put a see through top on that evening. The guys were definitely better than the girls, unless you like that sort of thing. They were a lot more fun so not bad over all - beats infernos but thats not a hard thing!

Over all Aquum has a lot of potential, clear up the bad attitude on the door, get some bar staff whose main priority is to make drinks and you'll be on to a winner. You might have won Best New Bar but you aint there yet.

Saw some good review of this place, so went in there trying to booking an area for my bday, the assistant manager was very rude, also she told us the wrong price for booking an area, when i said my friend said it is £5 per head rather than £8 for booking, she said "oh that was long time ago", however she only emailed my friends during the week. why lying? why want to rip people off? its not a commission based job i hope!!very disappointed of the service, cant imagin have a good night there!!

I went to Aquum for a friends birthday dinner and was very disappointed with the level of service that staff provided. I was the first in the party to arrive and the hostess was quite rude to me upon entering the establishment until she realised that I was with the birthday booking. When our food finally did arrive the bread that was served actually had mould on it! As it was a birthday booking our orders were taken before hand. I had requested that my burger was cooked well done prior to my arrive and upon arrival but still my burger still came rare. When my burger was finally served everyone in my party had already finished eating. Then to make matters worse one of the hosts leaned over our table spilling a drink onto my food! Needless to say I never ended up eating that night! The staff were also extremely rude to a couple of men whom had sat at the end of our table stating that she 'would smack them in the face'! I would never go back there again even if their cocktails do taste quite good!

A fantastic place to have eat, drink, and party ! Also, I actually love the fact that this place gets very busy and packed ... its a sign of a very good place ... and of course all contributes to the great party atmosphere. Nothing worse than going to a club which is not full ! Keep it Aquum ... the more people the merrier !

I went with my friends on Saturday March 6th (2 girls and 3 guys). My intial impression was: 'It's a converted shop!' I didn't think it was that impressive from the outside, but I was surprised when I got in.

The music was a good mixture of catchy dance tunes, which got everyone bopping along and the crowd was was in the 25 - 35 age group. The interior look was white, modern and pleasant. I didn't see any attitude here from the people, but as a previous reviewer mentioned, it got pretty jammed at one point in the night, that it caused a standstill! The drinks are also on the pricey side.

Overall, it was not a bad night out, which is a good thing, as I'm finding that the more I go out, the more it's about damage control, especially with when the club has the right to refuse you entry based on anything. This place is worth a try and I'm tempted to come again.

went to aquum on Friday night, 12 march. 2nd time there and it was pretty cool as i remembered. get on the guestlist to avoid paying the 5 pounds entry.

2 DJs for the night with slightly different styles so kept up the vibe. the crown was pretty cool and sassy, but down to earth enough to welcome everyone. age group at the late twenties to mid-thirties, so well behaved and a healthy amount of champagne drunk. not a dressy crowd though some people pull out the stops.

open till late, and if you had enough house, you can pop into one of the many other bars on the high street.

Went to Aquum on Sat 6th March... I do love this place but have to say was pretty disappointed the fact that the venue was packed full to the absolute brim and the door staff were still willing to let people in!!! You could not move without having to literally move people out the way.. Not to mention trying to get a drink at the bar..Why is it that venues over exceed their capacity?? It's such a shame as I really do like this place but will not be visiting any time soon.

Went to Aquum this weekend and was brilliant fun after a recommendation from a friend of mine who works in PR. It was my boyfriends birthday so there were loads of us including half his rugby team so was slightly worried about all of us getting in but had no problem at all.

The staff were lovely and some hot bar guys who all looked like they were having a lot of fun!

will be back very soon for my birthday!

Good work Aquum!

Aquum USED to be great about a 6 months ago and has steadily gone downhill. What used to be an upmarket place in comparison to other venues, Aquum used to attact young professionals and trendy stylish types. NOW, Aquum is full of larger lout chavs and trashy women. They seem to be just letting anyone is these days spurned on by increasing their income by as much as possible. Not helped by the barman standing on the bar pouring shots into peoples open mouths, a scene more familiar to bars like Revolution. Drink prices have gone up, as has the entrance fee. £8 on a Sat to enter. For a bar that tries to distinguish itself from others with a VIP section for those who feel the need to spend £500 Aquum needs to remember it's in Clapham and not Central London.The music is good, a mix of RnB but mainly funky House and although I used to be a fan, the crowd is getting a bit rough around the edges. I've seen two big fights during the last month on seperate occasions and one incident included glasses getting thrown across the dance floor. For somewhere more sophisticated and classy do not go to Aquum.

I think this bar THE coolest places to open in Clapham since Lost Society. We were there on Saturday night and the atmosphere was electric, we even got a free shot from the handsome bartender, who poured the shot out of the bottle while he was standing ON the bar! The bartenders are amazing, some of the tricks they do with the bottles is very impressive and entertaining, very Tom Cruise like! A very professional run outfit with an amazing sound system and lovely decor.
xx

What a SUPER venue, we had the most fabulous time and will definitely be returning soon! The staff were attentive and the cocktails were particularly delicious. I would recommend anyone venturing into Clapham to go forth and sample the delight that is Aquum.....you may never want to leave - we didn't! In fact we are considering asking for a room there!

LadyElisba

I LOVE Aquum! We went there last Saturday and had an amazing evening. The staff were super friendly and ensured we all had a great time. I really enjoyed the music too, all of the songs were tunes we could dance to and I will be heading back in a couple of weeks for a few more cocktails. Thanks for a fantastic weekend!

i had SO much fun last weekend its taken me a few days to recover!

Everything was perfect, friendly door staff, HOT bar staff and the waitresses were nice compared to the usual bitchy ones the west end clubs seem to find!

there was a group of 10 of us and they had no problems fitting us in at short notice although next time we shall probably book a guestlist!

Full of local claphamites and reformed westenders who don't want to have to pay huge prices anymore!

such a good atmosphere and would recommend it to anyone wanting a wicked night out!

Where can i find the pictures Aquum?!

Extremely disappointed with this place. A friend of mine tried to pre-arrange a guestlist last Saturday but when she phoned up she was told there wasn't one and that we would just need to turn up.

So last Saturday got there only to be told that they were fully booked and that we would need to be on the guestlist. However I suspect some of the faces in our party 'didn't fit' if you know what I mean. Asked if they could make an exception as it was my friend's birthday but were turned away. Apparently it 'just wasn't happening'. The girl on the door was polite enough however. A real shame though as some of the people I saw going looked like complete chavs. I'm a city lawyer and we were all planning on spending quite a bit. Still though they didn't appear to need our custom so we went elsewhere.

Great fun - will be back!

Nice addition to clapham high street!

Saturday night was wicked fun! Really really busy but we had a table in the VIP for a friends birthday so had enough space!

good atmosphere and good fun so was exactly what we were looking for on a night out. Really reasonable prices drinks wise so didn't spend nearly as much as i normally do when i go out in the west end.

Will be back!

I went to Aquum last week and had such an awesome night. I had some friends down from Australia and wasn't sure where to take them and was recommended Aquum by a friend and decided to take a chance. My friends had a really great night and we loved it so much, we went back there the next night!!!! Definitely think i will become a regular!

My friend organised a table and guestlist for us last Friday night for a friends leaving party and we had such a good time! We weren't originally planning on going there but so glad we did as we were really well looked after by all the staff there.

Really good atmosphere and really good fun which i think is lacking in a lot of places at the moment!

Go there if you want a good fun night out with some of the hotties that live around Clapham!

This is an astoundingly bad bar. If you have ever had the misfortune of going to this place, you will know what I'm talking about. Everything about it screams tacky - cheesy r'n'b music, white furniture, awful faux chandeliers - ugh! Also, a very ugly crowd - in every sense of the word. One for the chavs from Croydon, Streatham and Collier's Wood...

Absolutely recommended best cocktails in town! They actually do good deals for groups of people. Defo worth a visit

Having never heard of Aquum before, or its guestlist policy, I went there for a friend's birthday. If it is an attempt to bring the west end to Clapham then they failed. The clientelle are chav-tastic weekend millionaires who don't realise what a high end club actually is. It has a dated interior that has been lifted straight out of 2002 yet still attempts to be trendy and actually comes accross as incredibly pretentious.

We actually were some of the 'lucky' people to have a table, yet neither the club nor the guests seem to see the irony in paying £150 for a bottle of vodka (complete with firework attached to the bottle - oh how very Chigewll) and then have it brought over with your very own plastic glasses! Are they really saying the clientelle of this wannabe high end club (complete with velvet rope doorstaff) can't be trusted to drink out of a real glass? I think that tells you everything you need to know about Aquum.

If you are one of the disgruntled many who didn't manage to get in then don't be concerned just go somewhere better - Weatherspoons perhaps, they even trust their clients with glass.

Went to Aquum as Id been past it and thought it looked quite swanky! Went on a Tuesday night and they had a live band playing fronted by a really good female singer. Really enjoyed it. They said they play there every week so waiting for my next Tuesday off to go back! venue is really nice. Drinks are great, they have some fab cocktails and they make a bloody good amaretto sour! seen some good reviews from different nights.. definitely worth a visit or two!!

Had a good time here last Thus, trendy venue looks real cool and is open late & free measures which is cool. The place is decked out like a winter wonderland, its quite unique. Will go there next Friday for Love Story as those parties play cool funky house and is always a laugh for us girlies!

I went to Aquum on Friday night and unexpectedly walked into two for one drinks... bit of a brucey bonus.
I thought the music was what you would expect in a West End club, not really what the others in Clapham normally play, but being local I suppose its a refreshing change.
I saw some of the reviews on this site about not getting in, and after my visit to Aquum I must admit I do think they are a little bit unfair on the bar, especially as I saw a loada unsociable people being turned away quite politely only for them to kick off unreasonably! I think they are just trying to select the right crowd, and people who don't get in are obviously not right! West end clubs have been doing this for years.
I had a good time and so did my mates, we will be back.

Visited last night, with a group of good friends. All I can say, is anyone who gives it over 3 stars must work there!

A crammed chav fest. Full of people who are publically pretending to be on £100k+ yet are only on under £25k and rely on credit cards to get through the month.

Best avoided! The only good point I can think of was the lack of broken glass on the floor (my 'glass' was actually plastic, so maybe that was why).

Bar staff were polite but didn't seem to kow how to make some of the drinks on the menu.

So to conclude, not so great.

Joe

Went there last night for a few drinks with some friends. It didn’t seem too bad a place (some of the reviews on here sound a little harsh - maybe some of the people trying to get in were too drunk to even stand?). The bouncers seemed quite polite (though we did arrive early at around 8pm), as did the staff.

Drinks were expensive, but where are they not expensive on Clapham High Street. We had some food and I have to say it was good!

One other thing which was refreshing was they were strict about keeping people away from reserved tables which makes a nice change.

Music was definitely not to my taste, but everyone else seemed to be enjoying it, though it was a little loud.

The décor does look a little tired, and white is rather chav.

The only problems I would say was it was a little crowded, and full of rather portentous people, or people clearly trying to be someone that they are not, and judging by may of them, with an IQ of less than 50 (think Tim Nice But Dim)! Average age of people in there looked to be around 28-35.

I recon if you are having a get together with lots of people, and want to make the best of it, reserve a table in the cordoned off area, then you will have more space; otherwise there may be better places.

Overall pretty standard for Clapham High Street.