Well, what an interesting club poll we had this year with all the drama of a soap opera unfolding. This year we had the biggest polling vote ever with 6337 votes logged comapred to last years 3755!

The first two weeks it seemed TRADE would be the undisputed king of the poll as it sat comfortably at the top until both JUICY and MATINEE surged forward after a successful email campaign to club members. FACEBOOK became an important tool to drum up votes from clubbers as well as the clubs own mailing lists.

While TRADE, JUICY and MATINEE fought it out at the top for number one position, both DTPM & HARD ON (the outsider of the clubs, but with a loyal fetish following) sat in the 4th and 5th positions.

Things really did not heat up until the IP's were unblocked to allow for shared IP users to vote, or simply to allow others to vote again or add or change their vote. This is when we noticed sudden surges in the voting. JUICY in particular jumped a couple of hundred votes overnight with MATINEE following suit. The battle was on for the number one club as hundreds of votes were added to both JUICY & MATINEE within the last week of voting. We also saw marked increases in TRADE's vote. Eventually DTPM & HARD ON end were kicked out of the top 5 by ORANGE who also mysteriously jumped up in votes with HORIZON scraping in 5th place.

This is when the accusations of cheating started, assuming from the loosing parties. Someone suggested the IP block was being by passed by using proxy servers. Seen Queen decided to test this theory by using an online proxy server service and downloading software that gave us access to proxy servers. Both attempts to increase votes by this method failed. The online method accessed the Seen Queen site, but when we tried to vote the system would just freeze. The download method had similar results. We are internet savvy here at Seen Queen, and our attempt to alter votes by proxy server failed. If people were using evidence of voting surges as attempts at others cheating, then from the evidence it seemed everyone was cheating at an equal rate. Points to the enthusiasm for trying to put your clubs first; a dedicated clubber is should be a treasured person. Despite the record breaking votes logged, we took all the necessary steps to prevent false vote logging and despite the enthusiastic voting, we believe we have behaved with integrity and fairness in keeping this poll fair.

In any case, despite the fanatical voting the poll remained consistent throughout the entire voting period with the top 3 clubs being consistent throughout. In our opinion MATINEE, JUICY and TRADE are the true a-list clubs of London always being busy with a fabulous crowd having a fabulous time. These clubs are the ones we would recommend to any visitor if they were visiting London with pride.

This year there are three Seen Queen awards. The first award goes to the WINNER of the poll. There can only be one and that is MATINEE. The second award is called the HOT CLUB award and is given to the runner up and second runner up that being JUICY & TRADE. These clubs deserve their own award for being voted within the top 3 in a group of elite clubs. The third award goes to the clubs that made the TOP 5, and that is ORANGE and HORIZON. Also, due to lack of votes certain clubs will now be removed from our permanent a-list group in order to keep the clubs listed on Seen Queen the best, as voted by you the site visitor.

Below is a table of the TOP 10 CLUBS of 2007 with comparative positions from previous years

ABOUT THE TOP 5 OVER ALL CLUBS.

1.MATINEE (24%): MATINEE had what could only be called a bumpy and amazing year in 2007 taking London by storm and then deciding to move from their original venue AREA to the FRIDGE and then on to FABRIC. In 2007, their parties we were well attended which helped cement their popularity. Comments in the 2007 club poll expressed how it took a club not from London to be voted the best club of 2007, indicating that perhaps London no longer leads the world in cutting edge clubbing. Matinee increased their share of the vote by 9% from 2006 making it the most successful winner over the history of the Seen Queen club poll.

2. JUICY (21%): Juicy really battled it out for the number one position over MATINEE. After being voted BEST CLUB OF 2006 (but third overall of all clubs and events of 2006) this year there could only be one winner award and JUICY wanted it. Being part of the FIRE group many comments on the poll attributed JUICY's voting success more to it's promoter ANDREW HARRIS who is use to having his clubs gain top awards. An aggressive mail out campaign and a lot of late nights for the promoter paid off as JUICY was just beaten at the post by the mighty voting power of Matinee's own database. Juicy remains one of London busiest and best a-list nights transforming FIRE in to Andrew's own vision of what a club should be like every 1st and third Saturday of the month. JUICY's share of the vote increased by a massive 11% from last year.

3. TRADE (14%): Trade fans came out in full force to push TRADE into the third position. Once again, its birthday party saw it becoming one of the most loved of all clubs with a loyal if not fanatical fan base. It's irregular party events are often looked forward too giving TRADE it's comfortable 3rd place and a 3% increase in the voting share from 2006.

4. ORANGE (10%): The ORANGE has had it's ups and downs over the years loosing it somewhat legendary after-hours status to become a Sunday night to Monday morning club. The club is not what is was; with Andrew Harris being drafted in to change it's fortunes last year with some success and then replaced with Edna later on in the year. Never the less, the clubs retains a loyal following reflected by it's vote as the fourth most popular club in the 2008 poll. It still is the place to go on a Monday morning mostly supported by the advance looking and progressive styles of David Jiminez & Gonzalo's RAW, a club within a club. ORANGE also had some very successful party event last year by teaming up with RAPIDO and FEDERATION to bring to London two very memorable nights. Come Bank Holidays and the ORANGE really comes into it's own- this is the type of thing it was born for and excels in. ORANGE increased it's vote by 5% this year showing there still enough JUICE in this old girl who has been with the London scene for over 9 years!

5. HORIZON (5%): HORIZON became the counterbalance to JUICY, being FIRE's other successful Saturday night club. Attracting a more mixed, straight and younger crowd HORIZON is all about having fun in the many rooms that FIRE has to offer. The club is enthusiastic and energetic and fronted by scene diva MEGAN. Horizon's reputation for a place to go for a big, fun and trashy night out is well cemented in the London psyche, and despite it's slow to get going in the poll it gained just enough votes to slip into 5th place displacing the now discontinued DTPM.

WE at Seen Queen could not agree more with the TOP 3 clubs, these event being the strongest and best London has to offer. We can proudly recommend them to our friends, peers and over seas visitors as the places to BE SEEN to experience the choice of London clubbing. Below are the AWARDS that are allocated for this CLUB POLL 2008 awarding the BEST CLUBS OF 2007.

CLUB POLL 2008 AWARDS

THE FULL CLUB POLL 2008

To view the full club results as seen when voting, including percentages each club had of the total vote, number of votes and all comments made...please click on the link above.