RICHARD BELL’S sophisticated side (yes, he does have one) is impressed, if also a little perplexed, by new ‘club’ Camera.

The turning of the new year is supposed to be a momentous occasion, but if I’m honest, mine are always a bit of a let down.

You gear yourself up for a huge party with all your best friends, attempt to consume as much alcohol as is humanly possible, and then sing Auld Lang Syne (or at least a drunken version of it...).

Eventually of course the year manages to kickstart itself, but for me, the hungover malaise tends to drag itsef into the first few weeks of January.

However, this new year has been very different.

Perhaps it’s something to do with the fact that this new year signifies the turning of the decade, as we leave the noughties and enter the teenies (is that what we’re calling it? I really have no idea).

Or maybe it’s because in terms of clubs, there are rather a lot of new things available to the residents of the city.

One such new venue is Camera, opened up near Thirst Lodge, replacing that awful rusting and rotting sign that only ever served as a reminder that there was once a Bar Med there.

Camera however is a very different sort of a place and truly doesn’t fall into the category of ‘just’ a club.

In truth, it’s a casual dining venue, offering good food at reasonable prices, and bottled beer at slightly less inviting prices while music that is very slightly too quiet to be able to dance to provides something of a classy ambience.

The joint itself is actually extremely impressive. One thing that really surprised me was how nice the floor is; a white marble or at least a white marble effect. Fantastic sofas and tables spiral out from the central lowered area, which at some point will be opened up as a dance floor but for the moment is creatively cut off from the general public by a series of rather attractive drapes, giving the entire place an excellent focal point. It really is a fantastic job they’ve done, but in all honesty it’s actually rather dull.

It functions in much the same way as the Living Room does, providing for the affluent young professional crowd, but for someone like me it doesn’t work too well.

It’s a pre-clubbing venue, but before I go out I like a fun environment in which I can get myself in the mood for a big night out, and Camera just isn’t that sort of place.

It’s a fantastically stylish venue, make no mistake, in which you can have classy drinks with classy people and feel very classy as you sip them, but if you’re looking for a fun night of drunkeness and meaningless conversations with pretty girls you don’t know, then this probably isn’t the best place.