Not as odd as it looks... honest

I moved house from Balham to Shoreditch a year ago, after many happy years in south London. Since then I've been back to my old stomping ground plenty of times, as lots of my friends still live there. However, nights out south are always at pubs or house parties, because, let's face it (and I speak as someone who loves it south of the river), where dancing venues are concerned, it doesn't come close to east London.

But after calling me a "turncoat" one too many times, my friends set out to prove me wrong with a new night called Press>Play that takes place on the third Friday of each month at Smoke Bar Diner in Tooting Bec. Yes, Tooting Bec. My friends told me there was dancing to a mix of house and pop classics and a hats and masks theme that night, which appealed greatly to the dressing-up fan in me. I signed up before you could say "delays are occurring on the Northern line".

I ventured out and bought a butterfly mask while my husband Tom created a Barry Manilow mask out of a record cover and some elastic. Blue Peter eat your heart out. With some beers for the Tube journey, we headed back down to our once-native south London.

Smoke Bar Diner is an impressive venue: vintage leather sofas, Seventies coffee tables and letter-boards nestle in the main bar and two large yet cosy nooks. To add a little colour there's a mural of a tropical beach scene near the dancing area that has a DJ booth through what looks like a serving hatch. It's the best bar in Tooting, although to be fair it hasn't got much competition (my Tooting friends will ignore me for months for saying that).

We arrive and meet our friends, who have taken over one of the nooks and are sprawled across the corner sofa. I decide it's a rum and coke night, and order accordingly (£4.50). Tom opts for beer (£3.20).

The place is crowded, although nobody is actually dancing yet. Around half our contingent are wearing hats and masks and I also spot trilbies, cowboy hats, a builder's hard hat, some wigs and flirty little eyemasks. There are more record-sleeve masks too; our friend Mike has come as Burt Bacharach. Genius.

The DJ and promoter for Press>Play is Eames, a local music producer (real name Angus Wilson) who's wearing a Press>Play mask. Having played at The End, Herbal, Trailer Trash and Plan B, Eames tells me he wants to bring a proper dancing night to Tooting Bec for somewhat selfish reasons - so that he can play good tunes and just wander home again. Sounds fair enough to me and judging by the general excitement in the air, the Smoke regulars are right up for it, too. The music is billed as "jump up party gems, left-of-centre house and Balearic attitude", and it doesn't disappoint.

At about 10 o'clock, the dancing gets going thanks to some uplifting tunes from Prince, Glimmertwins, Chemical Brothers and Roxy Music.

I'm up as soon as people start moving, and grab my friend Camila who's wearing a policeman's hat for the night (it amusingly does the nee-nah sound when you press the crest).

We throw ourselves around and are soon joined by our pals the two Sarahs, one of them wearing a trilby with a feather in it, the other sporting a cowgirl hat and sheriff's waistcoat. The dressing- up aids, though minimal, are enough to let the silliness come out, and soon we're dancing like nobody is watching.