SOUTH Eatery and Social House socials was a small-sized restaurant that transformed into the host of one of the most talked about on Nigerian Twitter, SOUTH Social nights, biweekly on Fridays starting anytime from 8 p.m. and ending well past midnight. On Sundays, SOUTH socials hosted speed dating events, games, Sunday brunch with Chef Obubu, and a host of other activities. There was no affordable event for the nightlife-hungry young person like SOUTH social night. Friday night would get you started with their legendary long island iced tea ( there’s long island ice tea in Lagos, but nothing like the one sold at SOUTH), and you’d be buzzing for the rest of the night.
Before SOUTH South Socials became the place for Friday night parties, Chibuzor Iwobi (Chibby) and his friends used to hang out at the restaurant on Fridays. After his first night there, he knew he wanted to be there more often.
There was no intention for SOUTH to be made home to the beginning of a new nightlife culture, but word of mouth travelled. In 2019, the bi-weekly SOUTHSouth Socials had gone from being a small hangout for a friend group to a free-for-all. There was no marketing campaign, just organic word of mouth, great music and affordable drinks. The success of SOUTH parties attracted Johnny Walker to host two activations at the venue.
Then the pandemic hit in 2020, and SOUTH had to take an extended break. When the party continued in 2021, it took off with more vim than Chibby or anyone else could imagine. Everyone and their friends strolled into SOUTH for a promised night of fun. Pictures from the parties were all over the internet, and FOMO travelled like wildfire. Although the owners of SOUTH wanted to put a minimum spend on tables, Chibby focused on affordability and a good time. “The fragility of the naira,” he tells me, made him heavy on the option of cheap thrills. He understood how ₦200k last week could quickly become ₦5k the next week. Even with limited funds, you still deserved to have a good night.
SOUTH was a tiny space for a party, too small for the crowd it attracted, but its smallness was also its magic. Everyone wanted to be a part of the experience, even with the heat that came with the experience; many, like me, would still return fortnight after fortnight. There was nowhere you could enjoy music, dance until your feet hurt, run into all the people you’d slept with or planned to sleep with, work colleagues, enemies, and friends like SOUTH. That place was for everyone — egotistical tech bros, tech founders, people looking to network, and anyone who wanted a kiss or two before the night ended. It was the best way to end long work weeks of meeting deliverables and jumping on “‘quick” calls; it was the perfect start to a weekend of debauchery.
There’s a popular conception in Lagos that having a good night out has to be expensive. Bottles, tables for you and your friends, an air of exclusivity. That’s what the other popular places offered, along with noisy hype men spewing condescending or sexist shit. But at SOUTH, there was no class system; you danced with who you came with, grew into the sweltering heat, and maybe tasted the sweat of the person next to you.
When the news broke in late 2022 that SOUTH socials, the restaurant, was getting sold, everyone who’d been there once or was a frequent goer panicked about the uncertainty of affordable nightlife in Lagos. Even with the presence of blooming clubs in Lagos, with the likes of the Library, Vertigo, and several others, nothing existed quite like SOUTH. My first thought, even as someone who never goes out, was, “What happens next?”. Who could reenact the shift in nightlife like it had been done at SOUTH? The building left, but the party didn’t. When SOUTH Social Eatery & Social House, the restaurant, was sold, the party moved to a new location, a beach.
Recreating the SOUTH Ssocials experience will take a lot because despite what it was, the building it was born and nurtured played a huge part in why it was what it was and what the experience represented. Nigerians who went to secondary school in Nigeria know what social night means. The nighttime party you have depends on how tolerant your school is and how many social events are allowed for teenagers. A part of SOUTH socials sort of rolled back the years — albeit in a more mature fashion.
When SOUTH Fridays needed a new home, Chiby knew then that there was no better place than Moist beach. It’s much bigger, unlike the space issue people complained about with the previous venue. He’s kept the drinks at similar prices, but while he’s had no control over the entry fee to the beach, people still attend the party.
South at the Beach, as it’s called now, is not quite like SOUTH at SOUTH Eatery & Socials House. The beach space is bigger; you can make your way around quickly without making eye contact with someone you’ve once slept with. The drinks are still strong, and there’s food. Which makes me wonder if the availability of food or access to food at night-outs is underestimated. When you talk about going out with friends on a Friday night, the first thought is music, drinks and a good time, but hardly ever food. But I digress.
Although Chibby has established his reputation as the king of lit #TGIF parties, he hints at his rep ending with the millennial population and current working class Gen-Zs. His work to redefine the party experience will continue to thrive on multiple levels as collaborations are ongoing with several brands to bring the best parties to everyone. Exclusivity will come with some of these parties, though. SOUTH South Socials might be gone, but a bridge between the exclusive and the accessible is forming.
The migration of culture from SOUTH the place to SOUTH the event is one that will live in the memory of the millennials who were partakers in the remodelling of party culture in Nigeria. It’s the party that paints the renaissance picture of your future when you show your grandkids that you were the “IT” girl. Blurry photos, blurry nights, drink in hand, your naughtiest outfit and memories of the nights when all you wanted to do was drink and dance. When we tell the stories of our “Southern” nights, they’re told with nostalgia. Although the beach is the party’s new home, there’ll never be a place like SOUTH Socials.
