The brand name is constantly evolving and the club continues to survive despite numerous threats of closure. A producers first booking at the club was a serious rite of passage. I will be following developments closely. It was where world-famous artists like Adele and The XX cut their teeth, and was a gem of the North London nightlife scene. Behind the clubs infamous pitch-black curtains, the dance floor was like the vortex that drew you bodily and consciously into a completely free space. All rights reserved. It was like a small amphitheatre with the DJ the absolute centre of attraction, he says. One for you beer and one for the otherThat place was magic. Have to confess my favorites were Frantic at the Academy, and The Fridge. Bagatelle Card Club - One of Colonel Sebastian Moran's clubs in the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty House. It hosted huge weekend parties that were at hit with House music fans. Anyone who is anyone has DJd there over the years (as the endless MoS series of album releases testifies), including Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong and Armand Van Helden. We put a swimming pool onthe terrace one night, fairground rides another. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Great article. By the 90s, everyone from Desmond Dekker to the Prodigy had played there. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Great article Tom. It was in King's Cross's golden triangle of night clubs which all shut down in the face of the area's redevelopment. Cramming into clubs packed with big hair, booze and pounding music was a rite of passage in the 1980s and into the 1990s. Former DJ Magazine Deputy Editor Tom Kihl investigates what happened to the clubs that once dominated London's nightlife. Memorable days and nights. Where to find the February issue of Kentishtowner, Where to find the January 2019 issue of Kentishtowner, Where to find the December issue of Kentishtowner, http://www.amazon.co.uk/CROSS-1993-2003-Jonathan-CUTTING/dp/B0010786KI, http://wharferj.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/stealth-the-blue-note/. 10. Im surprised The Gardening Club wasnt there. Madame JoJos, Soho1960-2014The legendary nightclub once owned by porn baron Paul Raymond seamlessly mixed the burlesque glamour of Soho with Londons contemporary music scene. Limelight in London opened in 1985 in a Grade II listed former Welsh Presbyterian church in Shaftsbury Avenue in the West End borough of Westminster. Or did that go the way of the marbles?! Many a themed student bash was hosted at London Bridge's notorious Cable Club in the mid 2000s. Heads of whistling into the sunset. Simon brought the three nights that were being run at Sublime, Beatfix, Cargo and Voodoo and moved its DJs (including Peewee Ferris, Nik Fish, Craig Obey, Bexta and Kate Monroe) into Home's Friday night. Plastic People, Shoreditch2000-2015The new year started with a shock for clubbers, when renowned east London bass-cave Plastic People announced it was closing, pretty much instantly. With a capacity of barely 200, the vibe, somehow, always kept its intimate, non-exclusive air. Still, this wasnt the reason the venues got turfed; the bailiffs were eventually called in as a result of long overdue rent and bills. Hilarious times. If the Mayor grants planning permission for a huge development of flats opposite Ministry of Sound, club bosses know their days at the Elephant & Castle bus depot cum internationally renowned temple of DJ culture will be numbered. Special times in special places all round though. The street was home to the 1980s Batcave nightclub where regulars such as Robert Smith, Marc Almond and Alice Coop. But it was torn down in 2009 to make way for the new Elizabeth Line. Back then, the huge 2,000 capacity venue was a Saturday night lockout and one . We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. When record producer and DJ Paul Oakenfold went to Ibiza in 1985 to celebrate his birthday, he hired a villa and invited then-unknown DJs Nicky Holloway, Pete Tong and Danny Rampling. 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For drum and bass legend Fabio, who hosted Swerve, the clubs midweek blowout, every Wednesday, it was one of the first clubs in London built by DJs for DJs. This former gin distillery was home to one of Londons all time greatest club nights: Trade. In the past 15 years, some of best-loved venues of the London club scene have shut their doors, for reasons ranging from crime to gentrification and Crossrail. I remember one of their selling points was drinks at pub prices. It was where world-famous artists like Adele and The XX cut their teeth, and was a gem of the North London nightlife scene. The clientele these days is more likely to include the sons and daughters of sheiks and potentates quaffing Cristal and dancing to mainstream RnB but the restaurant area (yes, this is one of those kinds of nightclubs) still sees the odd A-lister float by when theyre in town. When it opened, the Fridge was the club of the New Romantics - Boy George was a regular - before becoming famous for its nights hosted by Soul II Soul. I worked at AKA for many years. And some ex-boxer DJ? Im amazed u didnt mention that John Newman was the father of both Danny and Paul Newman. Were you a Crank? The End on a Friday and Turnmill on a Saturday were more my thing. In 1979 it was from this Covent Garden spot that the New Romantic movement came forth to rescue England from a music scene of lumpen post-punk mediocrity. have always wondered where he is now and what hes up to. The regulars often spent hours preparing for the night, and the morning the night morphed into. Sat 30 May 2020 17.00BST I walked into the toilet and my brother was stood at the urinal. I played at the cross several times .. 4 me one of best uk clubs where i played great memories , I have the Cross book. And while theres nothing worse than the club bore going on about how the music and the parties were so much better back in the day, we should give these classic institutions more reverence. migrated from the Milk Bar around the corner, Danny Rampling ruled wednesday night, and Jon Pleased took over the tradition.Shoom, Pure, Glam, Pleased the weekends fun used to begin on a wednesday,,,,OMG !! The place was a really important hub for the fledgling dubstep family, says 6Music DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, who went to FWD>> religiously in the mid-2000s. There is no place for this kind of establishment in Hackney. Depressing isnt it? We WERE there, we DID live it, and now were sentimental old bastards. I completely agree would be a fitting tribute to see them all immortalised appropriately in some way. It was the venues teen parties that got it into hot water, however, when police found evidence of underage drinking there in 2009. Glad to have been part of that London dance scene. Then of course there was The Fridge, Studio 33, and some fantastic railway arch clubs buried away around London (Imperial Rooms in Camberwell New Road a particular memory). Speaking to the Guardian after its closure, Marcus Harris, who co-ran the venues long-running indie night White Heat, described it as a community of fringe culture. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. the cross in king cross the best partyever is vertigo italian style, thanks Joel glad you like Electric and the Van Dyk show smashed it. In Berlin you can rave for days at the Berghain without ever having to leave and in Madrid no one hits the "discoteca" before 4am. For a year or so, this was an explosion of androgyny, increasingly bizarre and fabulous homemade fashion and lashings of clunky, proto synths. So blessed to have lived through that experience and a special mention to my ex Alan and DJ Chris McKoy. SeOne, London Bridge2002-2010It was billed as Londons biggest nightclub, a 3,000-capacity venue set in a vast set of arches beneath London Bridge station, known for big-name Saturday nighters as well as regular Moondance raves. But I will never forget the fabulous nights and camaraderie that I shared with friends and total strangers whilst waving my hands in the air like I just didnt care x, I met my husband at The Cross in 2004, now happily married with kids. . I half remember a night at Bagleys sitting in an ice cream fridge next to the dancefloor. Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas this year was truly magical and a top clubbing moment, but some periods of your life can never truly be repeated. Turnmills building being totally destroyed is the ultimate, inexcusable vandalism though. 2. When the lease ran out, Turnmills left amicably, leaving the buildings owners to develop the site into an office block. lol, The tranny on stilts Today, bar the indefatigable fabric, its secret warehouse parties all the way invariably cold, austere and over crowded, with awful sound and non existent facilities (one toilet between 500, anyone?) With increasing interest in the 'pink pound', gay pubs and clubs proliferated in London and other cities and towns across the country. Councils across London are cracking down on late night licences. So sad to see it all boarded up. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. We do have to move on though and surely there are opportunities for a new generation of people who want to create new nightclub venues, with fresh ideas. I stood at one and there was one in between us, unmanned. Nights spent on the VIP/guestlist gate were also quite entertaining as was the office at 5am in the morning when I went to pick up my wage before driving home to my university campus in Watford. morning, Available for everyone, funded by readers. It wasnt always such a corporate machine, however. The clubs licence was suddenly revoked after a serious incident of disorder outside the venue, in which, according to the police report, bouncers used baseball bats to fight off a customer who had been throwing bottles at them. It was around 2000 and I remember those times as probably the best of my life. Big small club! We set the standard for many years I wonder.. What can we create next >?? Or many others, would not stop writing and remembering about them. I love this article! The arcade room downstairs It was 2 for a beer which was great value at the time. My walk to work takes me past what used to to be the entrance to Turnmills every morning it never fails to bring a smile to my face when I think of the good times I had there. The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. Went to all of them, I think Turnmills shades it for me for atmosphere, but I probably had my best nights out at the End. London's night-time economy is estimated to contribute 17-26.bn in . After all, it did have a capacity pushing 4,000 people and a 24-hour drinking licence. The End and AKA, West End1995-2009A venue that just seemed to stick in the hearts of all who frequented it, the End was an intimate basement club run by Mr C and Layo, tucked just behind High Holborn. For more news and featuresabout London directly to your inbox sign up to our newsletter here. Want the best food, film, music, arts and culture news in London sent straight to your inbox? I lost my marbles in all of these places in the 90s. Andy Warhol, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, Village People's Randy Jones and Tom Cruise were all names seen at the Atlanta club, which closed in 1985. The demise of so many iconic spaces, proper clubs, remains a tragedy for a city that still considers itself a capital of European partying. And since the turn of the Millennium some of our city's best party establishments have had to close. So goooood memories!!!! I lived in London back in the late 90s early 00s and went to all of these clubs. Astoria in Charing Cross Road was London's largest live music club for years. Luckily they are putting up a great fight, so Ministry wont find itself demolished just yet. 7. 1. RM 2HTCTTN - Ace Cinema, Alexandra Avenue, Rayners Lane, Harrow, London, 1983. 9/10 you lose 1 point for making me feel old! It most certainly is me. Great article. The smell of leather was unmistakeable! The historic venue, which hosted game-changing concerts from the likes of Oasis, Manic Street Preachers and Nirvana, was bulldozed in 2009 to make room for a bigger ticket hall at Tottenham Court Road tube station. It was almost impossible due to vibration from the soundsystem Later feeling sick in the stomach because of the same reason. Copyright 2023 London Belongs To Me Ltd|All Rights Reserved|More info: With your agreement, we and our partners (click on 'Find Out More' below for a list) use cookies or similar technologies to store, access, and process personal data like your visit on this website, IP addresses and cookie identifiers. Thanks Julian. thanks for the article, spent many crazy nights/days in all of these places, Velvet Underground aside. First there was Matter and then there was Proud2. He was a sound guy actually. It hosted huge weekend parties that were at hit with House music fans. People may rave about London's nightlife, but compared to other big cities, clubs and bars shut early and are expensive. Proud2, Greenwich 2011-2012Following the closure of Matter, Alex Proud became the next investor to have a go at making a nightclub at the O2 work. Perhaps its biggest night was FWD>>, which moved there after Velvet Rooms closed, and the club played a significant role for the the whole dubstep scene. So many wonderful memories, so many great pills. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section. The club was renamed Canvas in 2003, when Billy Reilly took over the club, also opening the Key and the Cross next door, creating a golden triangle of clubbing in N1. I DJed at the Cross 13th birthday and was given a copy of the book on my way out. Boy George worked the cloakrooms, Spandau Ballet played their early gigs here and you simply (for better or worse) would never have heard Ultravox or Visage were it not for the Blitz Club. Something went wrong, please try again later. The duo ran the popular basement club in Holborn for years. Because of the sleazy, druggy, mischievous late night vibe (exactly what makes such haunts so exciting), we tend to reduce their cultural significance. I think great venues have heritage. New venues although arguably more suitable in some considerations like Matter just dont possess the necessary special ingredient like the late great Turnmills anymore. By the mid-1990s the venue was no longer used as a cinema, instead functioning as a music venue, nightclub and snooker hall. The spot is now a lap dancing club called The Red Rooms. The works. But sadly it never recovered from the initial closure and was put up for sale in 2010. Stir some memories with these photographs from the '90s Birmingham club and rave scene. The councils motives were questioned soon after, however, when it was revealed the club had already been ringfenced for demolition and development over the next few years by the owners. The West End establishment started out as a burlesque club but later became a staple for Central London's "fringe-culture" community. Limelight in New York, which closed in 2001, was in the media in 1996 when Michael Alig was arrested and later convicted for the killing and dismemberment of Angel Melendez, who frequented the New York Limelight - the 2003 biopic Party Monster, starring Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green, was based on this event. Pretty sure the very last ones got dished out at the end of that rather special final bash, Xmas 07. Hailed as Kilburn's "last late night venue", The Good Ship announced its closure to the dismay of comedy and live music lovers across London in September 2017. What I would say is be glad we are the ages we are. I remember Bagleys that was a long time ago. A former Goth club with 2/3 rooms over 2 floors. The article was well written and for a change the comments are a nice read as well. club uk was awesome, so was the complex, leisure lounge, the cross, turnmills, home in leciester square, camden palace, ku club in leicester square.. All gone I was there though so the memories stay ! Bagleys moody security also trying to half in your gak. In the early 2000s it incorporated the successful Pitt Street club Sublime in the late 1990s, run by Simon Page. The Cross, bouncers nicking you gear *unts. 3. next. Its the perfect lunchtime read. R&B Clubs And Events In London. But in London most places turf revellers out well before 4am and there's a severe lack of "after hour" options. When Limelight fell out of favour as a celebrated nightspot it was sold and in 2003 became a Walkabout bar. In the 1980s some clubs opened up in Earls Court, where the rent was cheaper. Despite quality residencies from the likes of Hospitality and a body kinetic dance floor, the club eventually closed due to financial difficulties, blamed on delays with the upgrade to the Jubilee line. Ah. At the Astoria I met a bloke who ended up being my significant other for a decade. Best crowd ever! I have one precious copy, sadly. From the weekly FWD>> nights, where the UK bass scene emerged, to the broken beat nights Co-op, this was a club that managed to evolve and change while somehow remaining the same for over 20 years, a run that ended only when long-standing manager Charlotte Kepel felt the time was right to pull the plug in 2015. The energy and the hedonism of the club gave a new life to the scene and other clubs sprung up trying to emulate Trade, giving more choice to clubbers. Ive had experiences at all of these nightclub venues and brought back many memories reading your article. 10. Gaz ran a weekly night there from. Bob Geldof had his stag do at Limelight before he married Paula Yates, George Michael (pictured here in 1992) was often seen at Limelight with a woman on his arm, Inside the former Welsh chapel which was once home to the Limelight nightclub. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Nice read Scary thought that Ive actually worked at all of them!!! I frequented all of these bar Velvet and had many a great night in all. Hey Janine, I remember you well! MoS is an institution, still respected by much of the dance music cognoscenti but derided in many quarters for having long since become the Bluewater of nightclubs; mostly now populated by coach parties from Essex. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. End of story.. Those Cranks days were the era that I fully embraced the concept of the 3-night sleepless weekender and other wonderous, if slightly unprofessional, ways to fill the hours between shifts. Sign up to our weekly email. A bare room with the most rudimentary of bars at one end (cans of Red Stripe or nothing) in a Hoxton basement, the place came to prominence in the Nineties and Noughties as an incubator for dubstep and for possessing one of the greatest sound systems ever owned by a nightclub. We had amazing nights, including joint parties with labrynth and raindance. Cans of beer THANKS. However, its worth taking a moment to remember that nightclubs, by their very essence, shouldnt outstay their welcome. To order the clip clean and high res visit http://www.kinolibrary.com. If you screwed up, you were thrown to the lions. After 14 years, however, its owners wanted to move on, saying they wanted to leave on a high. RIP Turnmills, Im glad I was there to experience it. The Blitz Kids were the gang who unofficially ran the club, with members included Gary and Martin Kemp from Spandau, dance choreographer supremo-to-be Michael Clark and Siobhan Fahey (later of Bananarama). People from across the capital will flock to Herbal, an exposed brick warehouse which regularly hosted big name DJs. Will come back around and write more. Rather than join the party, Hackney council revoked the clubs licence following an undercover operation into drug dealing at the venue. Visibility. In the 1950s and 1960s, especially with the growing popularity of the Gateways nightclub in Chelsea, . You had, in all probability, just left Turnmills, the first club in the UK to receive a 24 hour license. Sorry the plaque should be pale blue with a Dove on it. As you pointed out Fabric is the benchmark for a well organised, respected, profitable club in the modern era but you only have to look at the demise of Pacha to see what a dangerous game financially it is nowadays. Despite the epic interior, or perhaps because of it, the venue struggled to pull in the punters during its later years, blaming the recession for its eventual closure. Velvet Rooms, Soho1993-2003Ibiza party man Nicky Holloway kickstarted this central London club originally named Velvet Underground after his previous project, Milk Bar, lost its lease. Great article. Memories from each venue for sure. Great article, and Ill second and third and fourth what has been said here. The massive venue had a 24 hour drinking licence and a 4,0000 people capacity. Great article and very sad reading. Fictional clubs. For me it was just a little bit over a year that I lived in London. Arts charity Stone Nest began to restore and redevelop the former chapel into flexible performance space for theatre, dance, music, video and performance art in 2012.