Limber up for party Island

What's the difference between Island and Ireland? Very little when you say it out loud. So when trying to find out if any of my friends have visited Island, the new West End club, I find I'm the only one among them not to have visited the Emerald Isle.

Sitting in the arches under Charing Cross station, the Island was previously known as Soundshaft.

Reopening in its current incarnation last year, it now boasts two rooms and a crisp, powerful sound system, and it's one of the few venues to hold a 6am drinks licence.

I decide to pay a visit for the launch party of record label House-Trained, which will be running a monthly night here. Their motto "no s*** on the floor" and logo of a dog carrying headphones shows a cheeky sense of humour.

Back in the day I spent my 18th birthday at Soundshaft, so it's with great excitement and misty-eyed nostalgia that we approach the venue.

We arrive at 1am, avoiding queues outside (£15 entry) but it's a different story inside. There's a bustling cloakroom queue but because we're in the main room, which surrounds a large oval bar, we can take in the sounds of Mancunian DJ duo Audiowhores playing Basement Jaxx's Fly Life as we put away our coats.

The VIP balcony - for which we have been given special wristbands by the organisers, but which is sometimes open to the public - makes a good vantage point for the dancefloor, while leather sofas provide the ideal place to cosy up.

We order drinks - beers and spirit with mixer both cost £4, while a coke is £2 for tonight's designated driver. As we ease ourselves into our surroundings, downstairs a woman in a burlesque outfit clambers into a ring hanging from the ceiling.

JC, who helps book Saturday nights at the club, explains Island has been growing busier since the closure of The Cross at the end of 2007, with nights such as Kidology (formerly held at The Cross) beginning to relocate here.

And it's easy to see why. The club has great sound and an attractive interior - think stencilled walls and exposed brickwork - and tonight's crowd is a mixture of smart and clubby, the age of those getting busy on the dancefloor ranging from early twenties to late thirties. It's a friendly, relaxed atmosphere and also fairly mixed, as my female friends find out when they're chatted up by men and women.

Kashia, a Polish circus performer, seems keen on my friend Elena, edging me away so her friend can take photos of them together. Eventually getting the message that she's not going to get anywhere, she leaves us be.

But when I bump into her later, I find myself dancing with her and she wraps her legs round me. She's clearly as friendly as she is limber...