This Is What England’s Nightclub Smoking Areas Looked Like Last Night

Everyone knows the smoking area, rather than the club, is where the Actual Stuff happens during a night out. The arguments. The deep meaningful chats. The “have you got a light?” segway into flirtation. The telling other girls how much you like their outfits, to which they always reply: “Aw, thanks babe!” The brief moments of solitary self-reflection. You get the idea. The smoking area is where it’s at.

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Anyway, for reasons related to a virus, we’ve not had access to nightclub smoking areas for quite some time now – or, at least, not constant access. It’s been sporadic at best. Which has felt like a loss, because who among us, really, does not like to be therapized at 2AM by a stranger called Mugsie in a small concrete yard, all because one of you asked for a Rizla?

Luckily – or unluckily, depending on how the next few weeks pan out – smoking area chat is now back in full effect in England, thanks to “Freedom Day” (which officially fell on Monday the 19th of July at 00:00).

With that in mind, photographer Aiyush Pachnanda hung out around some clubs in Shoreditch and Soho to capture some of those late-night smoking area moments.

@daisythejones / @_yushy