City 'Feeling Rough As' After Square Mile Summer Party

Sadly I signed up to go to the party but was stuck outside in the 250 strong queue...The Brewery had reached maximum capacity by 1830hrs!! Shocking.

Exquisite Venue and super Party :) Thanks Squaremile !! Will you be putting up a photo gallery soon?

Very poor show by Square Mile events. What was the point of the guest list? It was abandoned in favour of a 'first come first served' queue. Our guest listed group abandoned the queue when colleagues, who had got inside earlier, came out and advised us not to bother.

It was pretty good night, the staff were brilliant, very polite and friendly. The gambling was also entertaining. As far as a fab Party, it was ok.

Disspointed. We turned up to a massive queue and were told that the venue was at capacity and we would let in on a "one in one out" basis. Along with several others we abonded the queue and went somewhere else. Bumped into some peple later on who did get in - they said that it wasn't worth queuing for.

Big disppointment. Whose idea was it to hold a summer party in a dark sweaty old brewery? I left after my two - yes two, count them - free drinks and was amazed to see people still queueing to get in. I guess we were all sucked in by a night that promised much and delivered very little.

Had a fabulous evening, managed to get their early! I have to say though, the highlight had to be a good half hour conversation with Steve the car dealer on the shiny metal he had parked outside! And yes, hoping for a picture gallery!!

I knocked back at least 20 free cocktails and still have both drinks tokens in my wallet.

Got to the Brewery about 20mins before it opened and there was already a small queue, by the time we were actully allowed in the queue was snaking all down the street. We were probably one of the first 30 to get hrough the door and were able to grab our drinks and get a great place to sit.
Excellent evening had by the both of us, watching the dances and the lady on stilts - how plesent to turn around and have a naked bum about 2ft from your face!
Kudos to the lady with the white hair and her dance routines and for getting everyone to get up and dance.
A good night and we look forward to the next one and to the photo gallery.

Have to say was somewhat disappointed. We left after our two drink token drinks as had messages from our friends that they couldnt get in and were giving up and going elsewhere. Have to agree with some of the comments above about the guest list - what was the point if it was a free for all in th end! and wasnt the best venue from point of view it was hot, sticky and uncomfortable with so many people in there. I'd like to know how tuffched managed to get their hands on so many free cocktails! No one offered us those!

No pleasing some people! it's a shame it was at full capacity so quickly, but isn't that bound to happen at a popular or in -demand event.......
I had a great night, so did my friends. Good crowd all round, thanks
! looking forward to some photos

Big dissapointment, it was supposed to be a squaremile party but most of the people in the queue were essex girls or wannabe finance guys. Why don't you give tickets to the companies which then provide them to their staff ?????

Big let down - if this is the best party of the year people need to get out more. Guestlist was pointless as the whole of London and beyond was invited meaning the venue couldnt cope with numbers. Free drink all night was two glasses of wine - which unless you drink like a snail lasted about fifty minutes and that ran out after an hour. Venue was dark, hot and sweaty - not really evoking a summer party.

Calibre of women was above average

I did not write above comment...apologies.
Party was good.

“I had a great time but I barely know where I am today,” said Susan Pilchard of Goldman Sachs, before adding, “I had a great time but I barely know where I am today.”
Quality journalism there guys...

Queued up for half and hour (even though we were all on the guest list) and then gave up. Can't see the point in a guest list when it ends up as a "free for all" - complete waste of time.

Waited in the line for 30 minutes at 6pm even though we had registered and were on the guest list and then all gave up. I can't see the point of a guest list is when anyone/everyone was allowed in and it was a free for all – huge waste of time.

Well we got there at 18:30, was told they weren't letting anyone else in, one in one out policy to apply. Since there were about 200 people in front of us we went for a drink at the nearest watering hole. We emerged an hour later and practically walked in. Had a very good time wondering around and taking in the sights. No free drinks but good atmosphere, polite and cheery staff, and people having a good time. Loved it.

had a great evening showing the cars, thankyou andy-b-malone for your comments the Porsche will be waiting www.shcars.co.uk

Queued for about 30 minutes. Didn't mind the wait but got to the front and realised why it was taking so long- it seems the 'queueing system' for the one in one out crowd only applied to those of us stupid enough to' join' the queue. It became apparent when we got to the front that others were just walking to the front then shoving forward whenever they were letting anyone in!

Bar staff on the top bar were great- bar staff on the bottom bar were slow and spent more time chatting to each other than serving. Not quite sure why the bar staff on the bottom bar refused to take our tokens & made us pay for our drinks then the top bar were still accepting them?

Other than the poor organisation outside and the slow bar staff, great night, great venue & great company! Will be hoping to attend next year.

City 'Feeling Rough As' After Square Mile Summer Party:
Don't make me laugh all lightwieghts then! 2free drinks only!
What was the point of a guest list?! Qing at 17-50 & when left at 19-00 qing down the road!
What was the purpose of this farce?

Great venue but no appropriate for the number of attendees. Guess that there are not many venues of a size that could accommodate in the City? I concur comments with regard to attendance list – no point booking or telling people guest list closed if everyone and anyone can just walk in. Even people posing as press getting into the VIP area – no prior proper verification of credentials. Tokens ran out for genuine guests who arrived late because of work commitments.

Nice occasion and doubtless a lot of work went into this event but no the same atmosphere or calibre as last year – lesson learn for the future. None the less thank you for the occasion and all the efforts that went into this bu Square Mile and sponsors.

You couldn’t even arrange a piss-up in a brewery!!!! - and now I know where that saying comes from.!! It was apparent that it was some sort of weird ploy to get as many people as humanly possible to check out the venue and promotional stands and to make claw some money back buy selling over-priced drinks at the bar. No canapés as advertised, no food to even buy. Two free drinks allowed per person, both drinks were consumed within 30 minutes. There was more room in a cattle cart. An army of masseurs were on hand if you fancied a massage at a cost of “pay for whatever you think it’s worth” . There wasn’t any free cocktails, they were obviously nicked as you were supposed to exchange a cocktail for a token. It was pure pants - end of. And some people, probably utterly unaware, are now condemned as thieving scally’s. Complete waste of time.

I agree with the above comments, why promote a SUMMER party and have it in a dark, sweaty venue. I was thinking it would be in an outside venue prehaps with a BBQ put on. You marketed the party as FREE drinks when you got two drinks tokens.

I think guy who said he had 20 x free cocktails must have been at a different party either that or someone was buying them for him. The champagne and wine tasted like "cat P*ss" sorry to be so frank but it was god damn awlful. I would have never have paid for it.

However the entertainment was good, top marks to musicians and other entertainment provided. To me the whole party was like a mini expo promoting other companies, not a summer party!

Shame!

Ann, bearing in mind that squaremile.com is a media company, I suspect the purpose of this was simply to get as many people signed up to squaremile.com as possible which you had to do to get the meaningless ticket/guest list place. They make money from advertising and the more readers, the more they can charge. Simples!

If they had stuck to guest list only it would have worked. However, letting people in who weren't on the list is beneficial as hopefully they will then go and check out and register with squaremile.com.

Last year was fantastic as you really had to be on the guest list to get in. I had a great time, even ending up pictured on their post party review and unbeknowingly gave an interview that was broadcast on SkyNews!

I hope next year they stick to a guest list.

Maybe Square Mile, you could hold another party in a week or 2 for just the people who were on your guest list?!!

throwing a good party everyone likes - several thousand pounds; doing it on the cheap and badly, that gives your business a bad reputation - priceless

* This comment has been deleted *

I agree with the above post! Very enjoyable evening, very well organised, thanks very much to all the team at square mile. - Bob

Soirée très agréable! Merci beaucoup

* This comment has been deleted *

Arrived outside the venue at 1750 and was in the door by abut 1805! Staff were friendly and efficent and although you didn't need you credntials checked the two drinks token idea worked as otherwise you'd of had people souly at the bar rinsing it!!!! Was nice to see the venue and sponsors and sample the hospitality and do some networking. I agree there's lessons to be learned but coming from a travel/events background that's part of the game!!! Well done on the whole :-)

Congratulations to the Square mile staff!!!!! Brilliant job :)
(IT glitch on prevous comment- deleted by accident- oops)

It was a real "far queue" to anyone who arrived after 6.30pm. I saw the pavement, nothing more.

My friend and I were two of the genuine, non-gatecrashers on the guest list and what a total farce. Don't know what planet the bloggers with positive comments come from ( probably a gatecrashing, opportunistic/ friends of press/ organisers/ staff one ). We got there as soon as possible after work to wait almost an hour in the baking sun to get in and then to be told it didn't matter to check if our names were on the guest list. After walking around for ages looking for the elusive free drinks we were told you needed tokens from the front desk for free drinks which we hadn't been offered at the front desk. Went back and had to complain persistently just to be given one token each ( in spite of them all apparently having run out ), which we found wasn't enough for all drinks, but due to the oppresive heat of a smaller and less ventilated venue than last year we used our token for a small bottle of beer which was a notoriously rubbish Czech one. Made it last as long as possible and then left extremely disappointed. Noticed people without wristbands getting into cordoned off Press area. Why weren't we told it was first come first served for queue and tokens or you had to have a friend in the press so we didn't waste our time turning up. Biggest impression though was that too many people were deliberately invited or just let in off the street so as to maximise profits through selling poor quality alcohol at extortionate prices aided by deliberately understocking tokens. Sure profits are also reason venue was rubbish because cheaper than last year ( didn't appear bigger than last year ). Who organised this sham - TFL?