Clubs raise age bar

They are 18, at the legal drinking age, and they want to go clubbing. You would think guys in this situation would be spoilt for choice, but no, at some nightspots they are too young to have fun.

Several popular nightclubs are only letting in older guys, those aged 23 and above, with some even restricting entry to men who are at least 25.

Young guys are inclined to be rowdy, with fights and drunkenness being the usual complaints. Plus, national servicemen, on a meagre allowance of about $600 a month, do not have the spending clout of working adults, they say.

Ms Tracy Phillips, marketing manager of Zouk, which admits men 18 and above, as does its other club, Phuture, notes: 'Eighty per cent of the incidents that happen in a club are started by men and these usually involve the younger ones.'

However, for the girls, it is a different story. The desirable eye candy factor of females means their age limits are looser.

Mr Kent Maranan, 20, who has just finished his national service, encountered the age restriction at Velvet Underground, where the minimum age for guys is 23.

He laments: 'Sometimes my friends want to go there but I feel shy because I can't go in. So because of my age, we have to change location. My then-girlfriend, who is also 20, would get to go in, but I couldn't.'

The dance club is one of at least 10 nightspots LifeStyle found where the welcome mat is extended only to older guys.

You have to be at least 21 to boogie at The Arena in Clarke Quay, and an even older 23 to get into IndoChine's Forbidden City at Clarke Quay or Supperclub in Odeon Towers. Also, you will not get to see the inside of Clarke Quay's Attica or Balaclava in Suntec City till you are at least 25.

When St James Power Station's mandopop club, Dragonfly, celebrated its second anniversary last Tuesday, 23 was the minimum age for men.

Club owners say they set the age requirements to better target the type of crowd they want.

Mr Michel Lu, who runs bars like Hacienda and Prive, says: 'It depends if you're after a certain demographic of slightly older guys. These people might not want to sit next to a bunch of NS guys because they can be rowdy.'

A spokesman for Balaclava, Ms Carol Wah, who is marketing manager of Imaginings Group which manages the club, says: 'Older men know how to behave a bit better, while the younger crowd is more carefree and things may happen.'

St James, however, does have a club for the young, called Powerhouse. Chief operating officer Andrew Ing explains: 'Powerhouse is a dance club catering to the younger crowd while our other clubs are for older people.

'The difference in the age restrictions of our clubs sends a message to the older adults that we are not just a place for the young and, vice versa, also tells younger clubbers that we are not solely for more mature patrons. It works both ways.'

In contrast to the guys, the minimum age for females at Dragonfly is 18. Women aged 21 and above are welcomed at Velvet Underground and Forbidden City; at Balaclava it is 23.

Zouk's Ms Phillips says: 'Clubs always want more women, so age restriction is less of an issue for girls.'

And in a blow to the male ego, Imaginings' Ms Wah says: 'Younger girls are always eye candy for men of all ages, but young men may not be so attractive, even to their female peers.'

However, St James' Mr Ing provides a ray of light: 'The discretion is at the door. We have let in younger guys before because they dress properly or can behave themselves. The minimum age of 23 is not the legal age, it's the door policy.'

Still, that may be of little comfort to the likes of Republic Polytechnic student Vincent Yeo, 19, who goes to Zouk or - until it closed recently - Ministry of Sound once or twice a month. He has been turned away from a club before and now has to check the age restrictions before going out.

The keen-to-club teen says: 'I don't see why some clubs have to limit it to men above 20 or 21, or even 23.'

Read -> Reader: Friend gang-raped after clubbing

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The top article was first published in The Sunday Times on Oct 26, 2008.