Randall is propping up the bar. He’s an hour ahead of his allocated headline slot but this is of no concern to the superstar drum n bass DJ. “I wanted to come down and soak up the vibes, there’s always a good crowd down here and I’m playing after D-Bridge; he’s a tough act to follow so I need to check the crowd.”

The legendary AWOL co-resident and purveyor of trademark rolling mixes that seem to last longer than the original tune, is right on a couple of counts. D-Bridge is indeed a tough act to follow – with his deep, uncompromising selection. And he does need to check the crowd – because we can’t help but think there should be a hell of a lot more of them here, especially with the chance of paying a paltry six quid to hear one of the founding fathers of the scene.

Busy without ever getting riotous, and with a second room that saw less action than an army reservist, Darklight, run by a promotion duo that happily decree that their night is generally ‘by students for students’, are feeling the pinch out of term time.

Co-promoter Jack was quick to speculate on the state of local clubland. ‘I’ve been quite anxious about it – but it’s hard to tell until the students come back. Every promoter in town is gritting their teeth and waiting for the students to return. I don’t know if it’s the weather but there just seems to be fewer people around than last summer.’

That hasn’t deterred the Darklight boys from ploughing ahead with their philosophy of offering big line-ups in small venues. With South London collective Vicious Circle booked for a late August slot and further dates planned for October, there’s plenty of reasons for Darklight to think their future is bright.