'It's the little things that add to your Zouk experience'

When he first joined Zouk at 23, it made his friends envious.

"You're working at Zouk? That is awesome, it must be so fun," Mr Rexx Lim, now 40, recalls his friends telling him.

"They used to ask me what it is like to be able to see hot women every day at work," he laughs.

Mr Lim, who has been with Zouk for 18 years, is one of the longest serving staff of the Zouk management team.

The popular home-grown club celebrated its 25th anniversary last night with a big party at its Jiak Kim Street premises.

The Silver Jubilee, featuring shimmery decor at the club's different dance floors in Zouk, Phuture and Velvet Underground, was the last anniversary party for the nightclub at the warehouse venue.

It will move to a new home in Clarke Quay later this year.

Mr Lim, who works as a technical manager in the maintenance team specialising in audio and visual lightings, says: "I can't believe we are celebrating 25 years. Time really flies when you're having fun."

He adds: "The pressure of working in the scene of partygoers is quite stressful.

"My job is to ensure that everything is working well but when it breaks down, all eyes are on you to fix it as soon as possible.

"Nobody wants his night interrupted by anything that can potentially spoil the fun."

Five years ago, Mr Lim was in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

"The music and the visual effects suddenly shut off at about 1am and everyone started to jeer.

"All eyes were on me to get it fixed. Imagine being in that position, it was tough and definitely extremely pressurising.

"I had to stay calm for the 10 minutes in order to solve the problem, and I managed to do it in the end, but it felt like the longest 10 minutes of my life," he says.

"The moment the music and visual lighting came back on, everyone just went back to party mode but the relief I felt was just indescribable," he exclaims.

Mr Lim, a father of a four-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, says: "In the 18 years I've been with Zouk, I've seen the party scene change.

"But the one thing that has remained the same is that Zouk tends to be the place youngsters choose to let loose at, I am sure my son and daughter will be one of these partygoers one day too."

The one thing, he says, that hasn't changed is the service that Zouk aims to provide - a good time.

"We want every one of our customers to come here and have fun.

"The smallest things, even my job of creating the dance mood, are overlooked most of the time but it is the little things that we hope will add to a person's Zouk experience.

"If I ever do leave this place, I will most definitely miss it."