As I drove in last night and at the entrance-Duke!!!! and I looked up; it was the Managing Director of the biggest Custodian Firm in the country with trillions in assets under his control
How is your London show coming up, he enthused. I said fine. He hugged me and said, I’ll be there, cos I may be in London
I moved towards the little hall and, as expected, every Friday, it’s filled to the rafters.
The smokers are sat outside, and the innards are filled with middle-aged rompers
As I approach the bar – Edgarrrrrr, it’s the Group Head Corporate Comms of a top 5 Financial Institution with a marketing budget in excess of N500b
Duke, how you dey? My brother, you don leave me, I say to him, and he says, “How can?”
You never buy my book, wey your Chairman get five pages inside. How much be the Book? N599k, I mention- consider it done, he screams over the loud music
My phone rings, and I check, and it’s the biggest independent Investment Banker in the land. He had just given me the largest corporate sponsorship for Zik&Obey, and his firm is my advisor on the N2b Capital Raise for our firm
I rushed at him. His table was filled, and he introduced me to one of the biggest new industrialists in town, and I hugged him
Then as I meandered into the hall, pushing past writhing bodies, Edgarrrrrr- it was the CEO of one of the biggest rental firms in the country, and I hadn’t seen him in years, and we hugged
Then I managed to sit down only for Emeka to scream Edgarrrrrr. Ohhh my God, Emeka owns VCP, the huge Hotel that bestrides Ajose Adeogun in Victoria Island
He was looking well and handsome – Oh boy come and greet me na, he don tay. I go come my brother, and we hugged
That is Liquid Hub, the tiny but simply very powerful watering hole where middle-aged but well-heeled Lagosians go every Friday to network, jump to 80s music and generally just have fun
The entertainment scene seems to have passed my generation through; the music, the fashion, the vibes seem not to worry about us despite the fact that we have the deep pockets that water it
Their shows, concerts and events ignore our needs, blast crazy hip hop sounds that we know nothing about, and then bastardise our Afrobeat and call it Afrobeats, leaving us in the lurch and now even fill up their bowels with semi-nude netizens and all sorts of drug-addled patrons that leave us in an arrogant nose-lifting snob.
Liquid Hub provides us with our own fun. Fully clad very serious professional women looking for where to have fun without being labelled, high powered executives with fine taste in wine and spirit and then you throw in Shalamar, Kool and the Gang, Gap Band and whatever it was that rocked our Literary and Debating Society days or our house parties in the 80s and you have a compelling pull of the very influential in that little ‘Kiosk’ off Kingsway road in Ikoyi.
It was my bestie – Tosh who first took me there. She was amazed that I hadn’t heard of, nor had ever visited the place, and she said – Duke, make we go hang out
My first experience was eye-opening, as it came across like a cross between a British Pub and Muyiwa Majekodunmi’s Jazzville
Ohh my God, anybody who didn’t rock Jazville at Onike Yaba in the 80s and was of middle-class parentage was simply a nerd
Jazville gave Nigeria Alibaba, Edi Lawani, Ebony band, Tunde and Wunmi Obe, who led us in a cacophony of madness which saw us jam to the beats of the day, after which, we crawled onto the quiet and sleepy Majoro street and continued the talk
Liquid Hub offered that same feeling. It pulled together people of the same generation, same background, same outlook into a shared nostalgia all mired in beautiful food, good music, tasty wine and simply delicious meals
What you have is now a platform for fun, networking and healthy engagement
Everybody feels they know each other, and it’s true cos the bond of the 80s music remains thrilling
Last night, as Shalamar summoned us to – make that move, I thought of Ronke
Ronke is the proprietor. I have met her twice at the place, and we have talked and greeted each other
I didn’t see her last night, but that didn’t stop me from wondering how she got the magic
Running a place like this comes with a certain formula that is invincible
You can’t touch it, but you can only feel it.
Any attempt to go for a ‘bigger’ place, cos of the tiny nature of the place, which also sees it bursting to its seems, would ‘kill it’ – ask Jazville
Then I hear there is another exclusive one called Liquid Hub Plus and that’s for members only
I’ve not tried to go there nor apply for its membership, and I dont think I would be interested cos I know for sure that the unadulterated fun that goes on in this one simply cannot be replicated there
As I stand up to leave, I carefully watch the bodies as they shout – listen to Shalamar get up and go for it- and shake my head in full wonderment at the amount of power and influence Ronke pulls in every Friday with such a simple formula
Then as I drive past to make a turn and drive through its frontage, the DJ blares – last night the DJ saved my life… I jump out of my Mini Cooper, leaving the door ajar and rush into the little place to thank the DJ for saving my life with dance steps that captivated audiences in the 80s.
If you haven’t witnessed the magic of Liquid hub, then you havant started your midlife crises, I swear. Maddddd.
Come and beat me
Duke of Shomolu
Last modified: July 25, 2026
