Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
BULAWAYO nightspot managers and owners experienced mixed fortunes during the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) week with some saying business was brisk while others said it was low compared to last year.

Many nightspots had beefed up their entertainment in anticipation of an influx of people during trade fair week.

Nightspots such as Club Eden, Groove, Safari, The Lounge, Lagondola, Cape to Cairo, Hustlers, Café Baku and Walkers were a hive of activity during the week

Groove Night Club proprietor Dave Johns said they had a better trade fair week than last year as they were busy from Tuesday up until Saturday.

“We opened on Tuesday and every night we had a lot of people coming to our nightspot. This trend continued until Saturday. Generally the week was busier and business was better than last year,” said Johns.

At Club Forty 40, DJ Mzoe said there was no change as compared to last year during the same week.

“It was a bit busy this year, but not comparable to last year. Our busiest days were Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Friday was affected I think because there were other places patrons wanted to visit,” said Mzoe.

Last year, Stop Over held a show involving South Africa’s kwaito artiste L’vovo but the show was attended by a small number of people.

Patience Udenwa, the manager at the nightspot, said this year was not good although their restaurant recorded brisk business.

“I think on a scale of 10 I will give it a 4 as this year was worse than last year where we recorded brisk business. This might be because there’s no money circulating. However, our restaurant this year had good business during the day,” said Udenwa.

Horizon Night Club had radio station ZiFM holding shows and live broadcasts from Thursday until Sunday and Joe the OG said the turnout was not as expected.

“To be frank it was fine but not up to our expectations as people who organise the programmes at clubs. We thought that it’ll be like New Year’s Eve, but it was just like an end of month weekend,” said Joe the OG.

He said Judgment Yard’s show on a Thursday last week had a huge turnout which was a major highlight for the period.

The city was a hive of activity last week during the trade fair period, with shops such as Innscor outlets opening till late. Cars were parked outside most nightspots and inside they were all packed with patrons. Most nightspots closed early morning.

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