Arriving here for the first time I was ready for another classic Belgrade apartment club. I was most pleasantly surprised that Chillton was such a good specimen. I arrived in front of an old, dilapidated building with a lovely entrance gate. I pushed the squeaky door and walked inside a dark, untidy corridor. Still without a clue where exactly the club is, I climbed up the stairs. First floor, then second. It was only when the smell of alcohol and weed filled my nostrils that I was sure it was there.

What was once a small lobby is filled with tables and chairs of different shapes and sizes. Most of the next room is taken by a pool table. The central room is where most people stand and where the DJs operate from. In the end, what was once a kitchen is now a bar with a corner for playing movies. All of the walls are covered in a mishmash of posters, photos, maps that have been added through the years of the club’s existence.

The atmosphere is shabby and chilled, with the appropriate musical background. The regulars consider Chillton to be an oasis of unpretentiousness, a safe haven where you can relax and be what you are – two things most of us really need in an overgrown, sprawling metropolis Belgrade is.

NB: There is another bar of the same name (and owned by the same people) downtown. It will be as cool as this one, just needs more time.