IN this era of Netflix and Amazon it’s not often you end up in a video rental store, but that’s exactly where I found myself one evening last week.
Why? Because it turns out Oasis aren’t the only Nineties icons making a comeback. Everyone my age — the infamous Gen Z — are going bonkers for everything retro.
Gen Z writer Tom Bryden visits the new 90s Bar Experience BUNGA 90 in Soho[/caption]
Tom went to wet his whistle at the bar[/caption]
Tom with a brick phone by the bar[/caption]
We’re so in need of a blast from the past that an entire Nineties-themed bar, disguised behind what looks like a video shop, has opened up in London’s West End.
So I popped in to see what all the fuss was about.
The owners of Bunga 90 have clearly done their market research.
Just the other week I reported how all things Eighties, such as cassettes, mullets, film cameras and even landlines are back in fashion.
So it doesn’t surprise me that the next decade is also proving popular with those of us born this century.
You oldies — anyone over the ancient age of 35, that is — had the glory years of Britpop, record-breaking movie blockbuster Titanic and pints under two quid.
Even the more mundane things somehow seem exciting compared to how we do them now.
Take watching a film at home.
Back then, you had to get your backside off the sofa and down the shop.
It must have been something of a ritual, walking back home, VHS tape clasped in one hand and snacks in the other, while cold beers waited in the fridge.
Nowadays? It’s slump, scroll, keep scrolling, start watching something, get bored, go on your phone — and repeat.
I can’t be the only one who has spent more time looking for a film than watching it.
So, stepping into Bunga 90, I’m met with shelves of tapes and walls covered in retro posters — all bathed in a warm, pinkish light that makes everything look straight out of an old MTV video.
The classic films are all there on the shelves — Pretty Woman, Happy Gilmore, Human Traffic, Jurassic Park and more.
The bar has an adult movie corner[/caption]
Tom enjoying a Smashed Hits under a poster of Nineties staple The Backstreet Boys[/caption]
The young Sun writer is perplexed by this VHS[/caption]
You’ve even got a corner dedicated to the kind of movies that normally get stashed under a bed.
Saving Ryan’s Privates, anyone?
Classic Nineties tunes ring out through speakers, interrupted every now and then by the sound of a dial-up internet tone.
Brick phone
An old PlayStation — yes, the original from 1995 — is plugged into a TV that’s deeper than its screen is wide, with games such as Crash Bandicoot and Gran Turismo to go along with it.
There’s even a whiff of popcorn.
At last I’m told my VHS is ready and I’m ushered to the back of the shop, to what looks like an old-fashioned Pepsi-vending machine.
Turns out it opens, and I’m stepping straight into the main bar, where the cocktails literally come in the shape of icons like Britney and the brick phone.
There were also Bacardi Breezers — the retro drink having been brought back this summer, ten years after it was discontinued.
Nor did I have trouble resting off the booze thanks to the Nineties teenage bedroom that’s been half reconstructed, Backstreet Boys posters included.
The fact it was packed with young people like me, and older ones enjoying the flashbacks to their teenage years, proves the Nineties has something for everyone.
I’ll admit, we can be a lazy bunch sometimes, us Gen Zers. Recently, an ad for a new piece of tech went viral across social media.
It was for a small pendant with a computer inside — an AI-powered “companion” designed to get to know you and replace your friends.
But given this is the way the world is going, we will need all the Nineties we can get.
It was a time when you could let your hair down without embarrassing pics and videos landing on social media.
So here’s to giving the decade the love it deserves — and if you want to start celebrating, why not crack out an alcopop?
Fill up on retro drinks[/caption]
A Mr Blobby music desk[/caption]
Tom getting his groove on[/caption]
