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By Lawrence Enyoghasu
Residents, visitors and business owners on Social Club Road, Abule Egba, a popular Lagos suburb in Alimosho area of the city, agree that even if other roads in the mega city do not remain true to the names they bear, this one does.
This link road to other outlets in the town houses all the fun spots for a hedonist. In all, it has 24 joints, 11 hotels, seven fish-grilling spots, four suya stands, three Shawarma kiosks, and one social clubhouse.
Some of the bars on the road are Oluwatoyin Store and Bar, Kaykay Bar, Twins Bar, Kogi Bar, Godsown Bar, Larey Bar, Shahde Tommy Bar, Nikky Bar, Tom 3 Bar, Royal Village, Pekky Bar and Pzone.
Social Club Road a road well known in that sprawling part of Lagos sitting off the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. To access it, one can go through Abule Egba Road. That is, if you don’t mind the small traffic jam you are bound to meet. Caused mainly by motorists exiting the road, even on Sunday afternoons, the street always witnesses mild traffic congestions. Different cars could be seen parked in front of different joints where customers or clients had come to make some purchases. If you look well you would find out that most of them are interested in buying grilled fish, meat, or Shawarma. The different aromas from different grilled meat and fish assail your nostrils in a way that could make you salivate. 
Social Club Road bar owners welcome you with open arms. So, how did this place acquire its name? Gbenga Ashipa, a law enforcement officer claimed to have lived in the area for 15 years before moving out ten years ago. But he still visits and patronises bars in the area. He tried to paint the history of the place, but the history, as told by him, appears a little complicated and is often challenged. According to him, one Madam Gloria, also called Mama Nkechi, was the first person to start a bar in the area. Located at a strategic spot somewhere at the junction of the street with other streets, the bar appears to be the cynosure of all eyes
History of the place
Said Ashipa: “It was the woman that started a bar here. The place formerly belonged to a woman known as Iya Basira. But the woman called Mama Nkechi rented three shops and started playing music. She would invite DJs. At night, she would extend the space for her chairs to other closed shops to accommodate more people. That was when others saw it as a lucrative business. Mama Nkechi was the talk of the town then. She had about ten waitresses who doubled as call-girls. She would give them out to big spenders, especially police officers. The next development came when one man called Letua started another bar. We didn’t know the deal he brokered with a particular company producing some alcoholic beverages. He started selling the drink at N90, while Mama Nkechi sold hers for N110. As a result, most people migrated to his bar.”
But in a chat with the reporter, Mustapha Lati, owner of the bar, faulted Ashipa’s account and claimed to have started his bar before Mama Nkechi.
“I started with a snooker board,” he said. “One day, one of my customers said I should introduce beer. But I declined. In 1998, I removed the snooker board and started selling beer. I was using one shop but I now use about four shops. Mama Nkechi came in early 2000. I was the only one on this Social Club Road, aside the club itself. I was formally selling clothes in Katanguwa Market while my mates were going to school. I only finished secondary school. But the competition has grown more and the insecurity in the country has affected us severely. When we started, we could sell till the wee hours of the following day. But time has changed. We now close around 12 midnight or even earlier. To stay afloat, I do a lot of things. There was a time I brought Terry G and Olamide to this place. Fuji artistes that have played here are countless.” 
What makes the bars attractive to people
So what makes the place tick to the extent that people have continued to literally invade Social Club Road to catch some fun? Mrs. Ini Obong popularly called “Iya Calabar” said it is the good food. She was looking at it from a personal perspective. Her restaurant and bar is located not too far away from Letua’s. She explained: “At my restaurant, our trademark is good food apart from the drinks. We serve the best delicacies. No one here competes with us as far as good food is concerned. Before I opened the bar here, I found out that there had been about four bars already on the ground. But I needed to do something different. I started by selling food. I strove to maintain the standard because of the calibre of people who come here. Sometimes, companies order their food from here when they have special programmes. Some people also pay me to cook for them in their homes.”
Further inquiries seemed to validate her point. Iyaafin Busayo Ade, added the sale of Ofada rice to running a bar. She said: “I don’t drink alcohol but that does not stop me from making some brisk business with food and drinks.”
A man called John Bull is into grilled fish. One of his patrons called Seyi Olajengbesi said the history of well-sauced grilled fish in the area started with John Bull He said: “There was a time he had about 15 apprentices working for him.”
But apart from John Bull, other guys are also into fish grilling and assorted businesses. One of them is Abimbola Kehinde, the CEO of Best Option Service. He also has some history behind his success. He chose to share it with Saturday Sun. He said: “I started this business in this area over ten years ago. That was after I graduated from the Federal Polytechnic Offa. I came to work with someone. The joy of the business is that you could meet with a lot of influential people.”
Asked about the social effects of the numerous bars and fun spots that seem to dot the place, he claimed that it is the landlords who are gaining more from it. He said: “Hardly would you see any person selling property located around this place.”
On the day the reporter visited, some commercial sex workers also seem to add to the fun of the place. They could be seen hovering around bars. But they avoided sitting at any of them. The few that decided to stand at a spot chose very strategic places like the Bedwell Hotel and Lodge, Kia Hotel Limited located at the entrance of Owode Street. Dressed in seductively skimpy clothes that left little to the imagination, they stood at some fun spots in front of New Oko Oba Central Mosque. Some leaned on the bonnets of some exotic cars parked in front of a nearby parish of the Redeemed Christian Church Of God.
One of the residents, who claimed to be in the know, revealed that the call-girls charge about N3000 for short time. But he assured that everything is negotiable depending on the individual’s bargaining skills.
Social Club Road bars are in a world of their own. To many, the road is one of the best places in Lagos where one can go to have fun at minimal cost. This is a result of the numerous bars scattered all over the place. There is plenty to choose from. As a result, stiff competition leads to the lowering of prices of many services and items.
The fun on the road includes side attractions from drummers and dancers. They could be seen parading the road to entertain customers at little or no cost. But, in the words of many parents, with the goings-on within the environment, the area might not be a good place to raise children and expect that they would stay morally straight. At Pekky Bar, customers could be seen being attended to by a young boy and an equally young girl. They were later identified as siblings. In their teens, the girl dressed in a tight-fitting cream-coloured dress, caused some lecherous customers to fix their gaze on her cleavages as she bent to uncork their drinks.
A resident, Debo Abiodun who claims to own a real estate company in the area, said most of the young ladies in the area are victims of fun-seeking clients. He said: “The bar business has to do with a lot of public relations. So most of these women use the girls to do PR. Some even go to the extent of using their daughters. One of the pioneers of the business in the area used her daughters to keep customers coming. Once you become a constant patron for a while, you have the right to approach her. Parents don’t send their daughters to buy things from shops here. They come by themselves.”
Why we come here, by customers
The Social Club, after which the road is named, is patronised by customers who come from very faraway places in Lagos. One of them is Chief Nnamdi Egbosele. On the Sunday that he visited, he claimed to have come all the way from Ikotun, Lagos, with a bevy of girls and some male friends. Asked why he came all the way from such a far place, when he could have elected to have his fun at similar spots like the ones on Akowonjo Road in the Egbeda area of Lagos, he said: “I knew about this place long ago. It is where the crème de la crème of Fuji and Yoruba socialites visit. Aside from the fact that they are good at what they do here, the area gives you a street feeling that you wish to have in your location.”
Another patron, Femi Fagbohun said he patronises the place because catching fun comes at a cheaper price in the place. “You can have the fun of your life here at a cheap price. The settings have all that one might need here. I have been coming to this place in the past 12 years and I have not seen any of their customers fighting. They sell classics here. You can connect. I don’t think there is any other place in Lagos that can give me that feeling.”
