‘Salsa by the River’ at The Groves Bistro and Bar, Souters Lane, off Pepper Street, Chester CH1 1SD is organised by Mike of FunkySalsa, and is a regular Sunday night event.They started in February and these nights are still going strong.
Beginners and Improvers classes are between 7 and 8pm, with dancing until 11.30ish or later depending on how many people are still remaining, and entrance is £3.
The night I went in July it had been raining, again…………… we had arranged to go early to have a drink outside beforehand, but all the outdoor seating was wet so that spoiled our plan!So we waited inside with our drinks for the classes to start.
The venue has a lovely setting, right by the river, with lots of seating outside, so on a warm summer night, it’s the perfect location.They also sell food here so you could go early and make a night of it.
I got roped into leading my friend in the class, but as it was cross-body based, I couldn’t make head nor tail of it, so opted to go back to my drink instead.We watched the rest of the class, but then promptly joined in the fun when the dancing started just after 8pm.
The area of the venue where the classes and dancing are held is a little on the small side, but although there were plenty of people there, we never had a problem with space.The dancefloor was perfect and every track that Mike played made you want to get up and dance.It did get a little too hot in there, which is a problem that many venues have, but the patio doors soon got opened which helped quite a bit.It had started raining again outside though!!
By 9.30pm it was really starting to get busy, with more and more people arriving.We had to leave around 10pm and when we did, the place was packed and the great tracks just kept coming.Ihave no doubt that this party would have continued rocking long after we left.
