Design Focus: Sugar Cube

Number 34 Queen Street Glasgow is an address with a long-time association with Glasgow’s clubbing fraternity. From CPL’s Planet Peach back in the day via Cube and latterly Milan, this basement space has lent itself incredibly well in meeting the needs demanded by a late night venue. The new occupant is Sugar Cube, which opened last month, a joint venture between business partners Brendan Hegarty and Paul Hislop. Their working relationship started in the city’s west end, when they built up the successful Boho, and it wasn’t long before they decided to bring a little bit of their sparkle to the city centre.
And sparkly it is. Most of the walls in the four-roomed club have been covered in a glittery material sourced, like most of the interior’s fixtures and fittings, either locally or from the internet with a design concept conceived by Paul and Brendan. Paul explains, “We began by consulting an interior designer and in all fairness some of her ideas were great, and we ran with one of them. But in the end it boiled down to us knowing exactly what we wanted, so we took over the reins and came up with the rest of the concept ourselves.”
The duo then engaged Urban Life Contracts Ltd as the main contractor on the job, and they delivered the job on time, and to Paul and Brendan’s specifications.
The club has two entrances after the office premises next door was annexed in the days of Cube, and the main entrance is number 34. Number 44 can be used independently as an entrance for VIPs. Once down the stairs which take you in from number 34, which have been finished off beautifully in a grey slate tile, you are in Room One. The sparkly paper stands out because it constantly twinkles in the light. The bar, also, thanks to the brick-shaped mirrored tiles (the only hangover from the designer) that sprawl up the back bar and across the ceiling of the bar. The floor, as throughout, is screed concrete and the various booths – including a mammoth U-shaped one for hires – have been upholstered in tasteful white leather. And there is a big emphasis on table service. “Hospitality is immensely important to us and table service is a mainstay in the club,” says Paul. “Whether it’s a VIP, hire or regular paying customer, this is the ethos we began at Boho four years ago, and it’s an integral part of what we do here. It’s natural in London, but Glasgow still lags behind.”
There is also a DJ cubbyhole looking onto the dance floor and ‘fat beam’ laser lighting that picks up the glint in the wallpaper, and the gallery of pictures hanging on the wall. Paul sourced them on line, and they’re a bit saucy, with some featuring Pamela Anderson in various poses. One with a pig.
The club is oddly shaped and labyrinth-like, but by removing a few walls and repositioning the cloakroom, there is now more of a flow-through. Room One segues into Room Two via the cloakroom, and mini shooters bar, complete with furry walls and plasmas (inspired by the Russell Brand film, Get Him to the Greek) and into Room Two.
This is the most interesting part of the club from a design standpoint. The island bar that was is now against the left-hand wall as you enter. The colour scheme is black and red, and the sparkly paper is black, but no less as glinting, like a black sapphire. Add to this a giant Regency-style bed in charcoal blue with a Plasma screen above it, and a cage for dancing, and you have something very interesting. And judging on reactions from the opening night, the customers agree, with Room Two dominating in much of the feedback. The ceiling and the granite bar are both black, and there are laser lights installed instead of the standard drop down lights, because the ceiling in here is a lot lower than in the rest of Sugar Cube. The cage, incidentally, contains a peep-hole in the wall through to another plasma screen. And I have to give a mention the amazing cube-shaped lights that hand next to the bed and above the bar. Like giant dice, they have been put together using a gold-coloured frame and then shaded using strings threaded with clear glass stones.
Next door to this, via a corridor with a door off to the toilets, is what is called the overspill, and is the smallest of the four rooms. This time, pink sparkly walls greet you, a white Perspex bar, squidgy white leather cube seats and odd-shaped low tables. There’s also a touch-screen karaoke and lots of premium products behind the bar. This would be ideal for a hen party and, like the rest of the club, no detail has been overlooked. My favourite part about this area being the chandeliers, encased in clear cylindrical covers.
Continuing along the same corridor and via a chaise lounge and big black-frames mirror, round the corner and you’re in the VIP area. It has one large U-shaped booth for hiring out, and various other seating, upholstered in black leather. It also has a dance floor and little nooks and crannies with high-backed chairs and tables and the sparkly paper. But the jewel in the crown is the bar. Sponsored by Belvedere vodka, the naked trees associated with the brand have been etched into glass all around the stainless steel bar and beyond, and there’s a grey-bluish tint to the lighting, and it looks simply stunning. And this also happens to be co-owner Paul’s favourite part, too.
I have to say that out of all its previous incarnations, this is the most opulent I have seen the place looking. The space has been utilised imaginatively and freed from clutter, be that walls in obtrusive places, giant peaches or too much red leather padding. This brings airiness to it, in so far as you can in a basement. It’s also incredibly cool, so Sugar Cube will have no bother packing them in.