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I've been to some of the best, big city clubs in Atlanta and some of the biggest dive bars in rural areas, and the thing about it is, you have to know what you're getting so you won't be disappointed. I came on a Friday night with my friend who I was here to visit. She and I used to tear some clubs up when she lived in Atlanta, so it only stood to reason that she should show me what the nightlife is like in lil old Lancaster!

If for no other reason, I loved it because of the price! $6 to get in, and $3.50 for a mixed drink?!!! Unheard of where I'm from! The music was a bit old, but they did mix in some newer stuff that impressed me, and the crowd was very lively. None of that too cool to dance thing happening here! All in all, I got what I expected out of a smaller city nightclub. I didn't think it was dirty or dangerous, but maybe my perspective is different since I hail from the Dirty South. I would definitely check this place out on a Friday night if you're looking for hip hop music and dancing!

Fair warning: this place is cash only! It sounded a lot worse to me before I knew the drinks were half the price of what I am used to paying. Haha.

I post this only as a warning for the visitors to Lancaster, the locals all know The Village.  Sadly, most of its reputation as a dump, a hellhole, a dive, a great place to get fall down drunk and into a fight, is well deserved.

The long time owners of The Village are stuck in a time warp.  Its not uncommon with Lancaster businesses.  In some senses, it's the charm of the city.  In others, such as The Village, it's one of the few games in town, so on it rolls, inexorably into continued mediocrity.

In my eight years so far in Lancaster I've been The Village five times.  In each of those visits I've encountered at least one thing where I wondered to myself, "Why the hell did I come back here?"  That's the kind of consistency most businesses strive for but not necessarily generating that kind of reaction.

The Village has framed itself, for decades, as the cheap dump to get drunk in.  Any visit there will likely find a handful of people staggeringly wasted.  You'll also get meet some locals who hang out there and add to the overall creepy feeling of the place.  Look, I'm no naive idealist.  It's not uncommon to find wasted people at any given bar, club or live music event.  At The Village though, it's worse.

You'll generally find the sound to be anywhere from average to abysmal.  This is, in part, because even though The Village has been a going concern for decades, they don't own a sound system and regularly rent one.

Most of the lighting in the place doesn't work.  Note the copious amounts of dirt, dust and past party detritus hanging from said lighting.  When you see something like that CBGB's you think, "ambience".  When you see it The Village you think, "Would it kill someone to clean that crap up?"

The Village has a mostly worked and much abused Saturday Night Fever style illuminated dance floor.  In another place it would be quaint and retro and adorable.  At The Village, once again, it's just stalker creepy.

Finally, when you visit The Village you'll mostly see a small and oddly recurring group of Lancaster's C-Level cover bands.  Every once in awhile they'll book in some faded national act or some regional band that didn't know any better.  If you think you might stumble into a nascent Springsteen hammering out a set or something like that, you won't.  The Village is mostly powered by $1 and $2 drink specials and is mostly empty until late into the evening.  The Village is the place folks go to finish their drunk and maybe stumble home with some stranger they'll regret giving their legal name to in the morning.

Sound like your kind of place?  If so, I heartily encourage you to visit The Village.  Want something more?  Sadly, there aren't a lot of great choices in Lancaster.  Which is just another reason why a dinosaur such as The Village hasn't already been turned into oil.