NIGHTCLUBS, DISAPPEARED

Acid House

During the summer of 1987 Nicky Holloway Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, and Johnny Walker went to Ibiza to celebrate Oakenfold's 34^th birthday. There, they went to Amnesia, where the d.j. Alfredo played. They took ecstasy and had a collective epiphany. They returned to Britain with the intention of recreating what they had experienced. The clubs that Oakenfold ran included Project, Future, and Spectrum. The last was held in Heaven. In 1988 Rampling and his wife Jenni established Shoom in a fitness centre in Southwark. The club used a smiley logo. This became synonymous with acid house. In May of the same year Holloway opened The Trip in The Astoria on Charing Cross Road. He had serious doubts whether he would be able to fill the venue. He was aided by articles that appeared in both i-D and The Face. The Trip closed only ran for six months.

In August Tony Colston-Hayter used a large warehouse in Wembley to stage Apocalypse Now, the first of the large commercial rave. Some nightclubbers were alienated by its commercialism. However, Colston-Hayter was untroubled by this development. He was happy to be regarded as an example of Thatcherite entrepreneurialism. His publicist was Paul Staines (who subsequently became a political blogger under the name Guido Fawkes). The popular press became aware of the rave scene and were for the most part hostile towards it. There soon followed a series of large, outdoor raves. Many of these were located to London's M25 orbital motorway.

The Criminal Justice Act of 1994 gave the police powers to close down any open air gathering that was being attended by over 100 people who were listening to sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats .

Location: 157 Charing Cross Road, W1T 7RJ (blue, red)

The Bag O'Nails

The Bag O'Nails was in Kingly Street off Carnaby Street. During the 1930s it was London's first jazz club. Subsequently, it became a clip joint. In 1966 Rik Gunnell and his brother Johnny bought the business. They turned it into one of the principle fashionable nightclubs of 1960s London. The Beatles took to using it and in May 1967 it was where Paul McCartney met Linda Eastman.

One night it was where Long John Baldry persuaded Elton John not to marry. The song Someone Saved My Life Tonight on the album Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975) was written about the matter.

Location: 8 Kingly Street, W1B 5PQ (orange, grey)

Blitz

Steve Harrington saw the Sex Pistols play in Newport, South Wales. Soon afterwards he moved to London, where he briefly worked for Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood in their shop while it was called Seditionaries. The first wave of punk spent itself. A new movement, the New Romantics, began to develop. One of its incubators was the shop PX in Covent Garden. Strange became a sales assistant in the boutique.

His flatmate was Rusty Egan, who was the drummer in The Rich Kids. He appreciated that was scope for opening a club that would attract Bowie-outcasts but which was not punk. In autumn 1978 he took over Billy s, a gay nightclub, that occurred in Soho on Tuesday nights. He established a business model, whereby the club organiser took the money from the door and the club owner the profits from the bar. The door was run by Steve Strange, who was Egan's flatmate. The music included Kraftwork, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, and electronic music.

The following year the pair transferred the night to the Blitz club, a Second World War-styled bar in Covent Garden. Boy George was the hat check girl . Bowie bestowed his blessing upon the club by visiting it. He raised the profile of Strange and his associates by casting them in the video for Ashes To Ashes. Strange opted not to admit Mick Jagger, when the singer tried to visit it.

Steve Dagger, the manager of Spandau Ballet, appreciated that his band needed to align itself with a scene and appreciated that Blitz furnished him with one. The band soon signed an unprecedented generous deal with Chrysalis. Strange, Egan, Midge Ure, and some of the members of Magazine created Visage as a band. This had a major hit with Fade To Grey.

In 1981 Strange and Egan opened the Club for Heroes on Baker Street. The following year they moved to the Camden Palace, which had a capacity of 2000 people. The same year Strange succumbed to heroin addiction. By then he had developed a reputation for high-handedness. His fall from grace was swift. He returned to Wales.

In 2000 Strange was convicted shoplifting a teletubby doll. He was given a three-month suspended prison sentence. By then he had mellowed a degree. In the wake of the attention, he proved to be able to revive his public profile. In 2004 he reformed Visage.

Location: The Gargoyle, 69 Dean Street, W1D 3SD. In the basement. (red, orange)

4 Great Queen Street, WC2B 5DG (red, brown)

The Café de Paris

During 1920s and 1930s The Café de Paris was a nightclub of international renown. In 1924 it was where the American movie star Louise Brooks introduced the charleston dance to London.

The Caf was responsible for the presence of Coventry Street on the British version of the board game Monopoly. The game s streets were selected in the mid-1930s.

On 8 March 1941 the Café was struck by an aerial bomb. At the time, the establishment was full. Those who were killed included Ken Snake Hips Johnson, who led an all-black orchestra.

In 1996 The Caf de Paris re-opened.

In 2020 it was reported that The Café was going to close.

Location: 3-4 Coventry Street, W1D 6BL (orange, red)

See Also: BOARD GAMES Monopoly

The Cave of the Golden Calf

Frida Strindberg (n e Uhl) (1872-1943) was a minor Austrian literary figure and an ex-wife of the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Following an incident involving a gun in a hotel she moved from Vienna to London. In 1912 she opened The Cave of the Golden Calf to provide somewhere that performers and intellectuals might meet. Those who frequented it included Ford Madox Ford, Augustus John, Wyndham Lewis, Katherine Mansfield, and Ezra Pound. The Times newspaper regarded it as being too European in character for London. It lasted for only two years but had the effect of changing the character of London's nightlife. In 1914 she moved to the United States.

Location: 3-9 Heddon Street, W1B 4BD. In the building's basements. (purple, orange)

Crackers

George Power was the owner of Crackers. In 1979 he invited Paul Trouble Anderson (1959-2019) to become the first Black d.j. to work in the West End.

Location: 201 Wardour Street, W1F 8ZH (blue, purple)

The Cromwellian

The Australian heavyweight wrestlers Ray Rebel Razor Hunter and Paul Dr Death Lincoln established their entrepreneurial reputation by turning The 2i's coffee bar into the home of British skiffle. Together with a couple of fellow wrestlers - Bob Anthony and Judo Al Hayes - the pair went on to open The Cromwellian nightclub at No. 3 Cromwell Road.

Location: 3 Cromwell Road, SW7 2HR (red, blue)

Website: https://thecromwellian.wordpress.com

Danny's

Danny's was a nightclub in Hanover Square. It was opened in 1964 by the female impersonator Danny La Rue (n Carroll). The other performers who worked there included the comedians Ronnie Corbett and Barry Cryer. The club closed in 1972.

Location: Danny La Rue s, 17 Hanover Square, W1S 1HU (blue, purple)

The El Sombrero

The El Sombrero was a gay nightclub. Its drinks licence required it to serve food. Everyone who went in was required to accept a slice of white bread topped by a serving of spam.

The Establishment

The satirist and comic performer Peter Cook had been interested in political cabaret since he had made visit to Berlin as a student. He opened The Establishment club¹ in partnership with Nicholas Luard. Because the venue was licensed as a nightclub, it was able to circumvent the then extant official censorship of the Lord Chamberlain's Office. The American Lenny Bruce² and the Australian national treasure (Dame) Edna Everage were among the performers who appeared at the club.

Location: 18 Greek Street, W1D 4DS (purple, pink)

¹. The socio-political use of the word Establishment had been coined in 1955 by Henry Fairlie in an article that he had written for The Spectator magazine.

². Bruce's act may have fed into Cook and Dudley Moore's creation of Derek & Clive.

The Flamingo

Jeff Kruger (n Jeffrey Krugerkoff) (1931-2014) had been born the son of two East End hairdressers. He aspired to be a pianist but realised that he had insufficient talent. In September 1952 he and his father Sam opened the Flamingo jazz club in the basement of The Mapleton Hotel, which stood next to the Prince of Wales theatre in Leicester Square. Rik Gunnell opened Club Americana in the same facility. Mr Gunnell took over the Flamingo's nights. In 1957 the Krugers relocated to premises at No. 33 Wardour Street.

The following year negative publicity forced Gunnell out of The Mapleton. He made his peace with the Krugers. Prior to the advent of Mod, the club was used by Black American servicemen from the bases. The jazz club finished at 11. The G.I.s asked him to put on something else. They said they would be self-policing. For the first few months they brought their own records. The Flamingo started to stage rhythm and blues performances as well as jazz.

In 1960 he launched The Flamingo's Friday and Saturday AllNighter. In 1962 Georgie Fame's Blue Flames started to play the club and became its principal attraction. The band had a three-year-long residency. In January 1963 the Rolling Stones took over the Monday night slot. The bands classic line-up played their first gig there. They proved to be a draw and but moved on. In 1967 the Flamingo closed down. Gunnell took over the Bag O Nails in Kingly Street. The following year he started to work for the impresario Robert Stigwood.

Syco Gordon, the brother of singer Aloyius Lucky Gordon (1931-2017), often played in The Blue Flames line-up. Lucky and the Antiguan promoter Johnny The Edge Edgecombe had been sharing the favours of Christine Keller. In 1962, outside The Flamingo, Edgecombe slashed Gordon's face with a knife. This started the chain of events that led to the Profumo Scandal.

Georgie Flame was playing to Black U.S.A.F. servicemen personnel. The U.S.A.F. authorities did not like the club. One night one of them was stab in it. This furnished an excuse to put the club off-limits. The following weekend, Mods then regarded it as being safe enough for them to go to.

Location: 33 Wardour Street, W1D 6PT (purple, blue)

The Granada Club

Duke Vin

Vincent Forbes (1928-2012) established a reputation on the sound systems of Kingston, Jamaica. His immaculate dress led to his being known as Shine-Shoes Vinny . In 1954 he and Count Suckle stowed away on a Britain-bound ship. He found a job with British Rail and settled near to Ladbroke Grove. The following year he established London's first Jamaican-style sound system. His first event was held in Brixton Town Hall. He assumed the name of Duke Vin the Champion . The name seems to have been assumed in acknowledgement of Duke Reid who was working in Jamaica and whose recordings he championed. The same year, at the Granada Club in Berwick Street, his sound system became the first to play in the West End. In 1958 he and Count Suckle participated in England's first sound clash.

Duke Vin played ska in West End nightclubs such as The Flamingo and The Marquee. Those who listened to him included Georgia Fame and Elton John. As reggae and rocksteady developed as forms, he played them. His grace continued to perform into old age.

Vin was of Maroon descent. He successfully claimed a large tax rebate from the Inland Revenue by claiming exemption from taxation under a 1739 treaty that had been concluded between Britain and the Maroons.

The Language Lab

Language Lab was London's first hip-hop club. It was opened by the hairdresser James Lebon (1959-2008).

Location: The Gargoyle, 69 Dean Street, W1D 3SD. Upstairs. (red, orange)

Le Discotheque

La Discotheque

Location: 17 Wardour Street, W1D 6PJ (orange, blue)

Le Duce

Le Duce's clientele were gay Mods. The music tended to be MoTown played from a jukebox. The preferred drugs were black bombers and purple hearts. One male-to-female transvestite used to get high by sniffing her wig cleaning fluid.

Location: 25 D Arblay Street, W1F 8EJ. Downstairs. (purple, blue)

Les Ambassadeurs

A Shadow Life

Prince Bertil (1912-1997) of Sweden was the third son of the future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden. In 1943 the prince was serving as the naval attach at the Swedish Embassy. It is reputed that one night he went to Les Ambassadeurs.¹ There, he met Lilian Craig (n e Lillian Davies) (1915-2013), a Swansea-born, working-class hat and glove model who was doing war work in a factory that made radios. She possessed joie-de-vivre. A romance blossomed. Following the war her husband revealed that he had fallen for an Italian woman and wished that they might divorce. The parting was amicable.

In 1947 Bertil's oldest brother, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, was killed in an air crash. The late prince's one-year-old became the heir-apparent to the Swedish throne. Bertil's two other brothers had already chosen to renounce their claims to the throne so that they could marry commoners. If he wished to wed Mrs Craig he would have to do the same. However, in the event of the child succeeding to the throne a regent would have to serve and if he had abandoned his royal status he would be ineligible. King Gustaf made it clear to his grandson that his duty to the continuity of the House of Bernadotte should trump personal happiness. The prince complied with his grandfather's wishes and retained his rank.

Mrs Craig was required to live in the shadows. The couple were able to enjoy periods of normality by spending time together at a small flat in Mayfair and their villa at Sainte-Maxime on the C te d Azur. In 1957 she moved to Sweden. The couple spent much of their time on the island of Djurg rden. Her existence was well-known to the Swedish media, however, they proved to be discreet. Despite his strong disapproval of divorcees, over the years King Gustaf VI had become fond of her. Her first public was at the celebration of his 90^th birthday in 1972.

Carl Gustaf succeeded to the throne in 1973. Bertil became the heir-apparent to the throne. His nephew made it clear that he should not renounce his rank. Three years later the king married, he then granted his permission for his uncle. The couple, now both in their sixties, finally married. Princess Lilian became a public figure at last.

¹. In fact, there is a degree of uncertainty as to where they met.

Madame JoJo s

Madame JoJo's opened in 1960 and was hosted by a Madame JoJo. It developed a reputation for being open to anyone who was willing to embrace its spirit. In 2014 the club's licence was revoked suddenly after a supposed serious incident of disorder . However, it emerged subsequently that plan's for the site's redevelopment had been well-advanced prior to the revocation.

Manor House

In the 1960s Manor House was a music venue. Those who performed there included Cream, Georgie Fame, Jimi Hendrix, and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Those who worked in the club included the cloak room attendant Richard Desmond. Through magazines, pornography, and newspapers he became a billionaire.

Middle Earth

David Howson and Paul Waldman opened the Middle Earth in the basement of a Covent Garden warehouse. Bands that played the venue included Pink Floyd, Free, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and Yes, as well as American acts such as Captain Beefheart and the Byrds. John Peel was one of the club's disc jockeys.

In 1968, following a drugs bust, Middle Earth relocated to the Roundhouse. The bands that performed at the venue included Jefferson Airplane and The Doors. In 1969 the Middle Earth's arrangement with the venue expired.¹

The Middle Earth was where the scene broke out into being a broader cultural phenomenon. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown was the stand-out group.

Location: 43 King Street, WC2E 9AA (blue, brown)

¹. The Middle Earth's final home was a bingo hall in Ladbroke Grove.

The Midnight Court

The Midnight Court at The Lyceum was the last of the hippy clubs.

Location: 21 Wellington Street, WC2E 7RQ (purple, purple)

Murray's Club

Percy Pops Murray and Jack May of Cabaret Murray's Club employed Christine Keeler (1942-2017) as a topless showgirl and waitress. It was where she met both Mandy Rice-Davies (1944-2014), Peter Rachman, and Stephen Ward.

Mandy Rice-Davies came to London. As a model she helped to promote the Mini. At Murray's Club she met both Christine Keeler and Stephen Ward.

Location: 16-18 Beak Street, W1F 9RD. Downstairs. (blue, purple)

The Q Club

Count Suckle

In 1954 Wilbert Count Suckle Campbell (1931-2014), Vincent Duke Vin Forbes and Lenny Fry arrived in Britain after they had stowed-away on a banana boat. Initially, they slept in empty railway carriages. Sound systems had been pioneered in Jamaica by the likes of Tom the Great Sebastian. Duke Vin and the Count had worked for him. Vin established London's first one. Soon afterwards the Count did likewise, using a system that was built by Mr Jackson . He took care to import releases from the United States and the West Indies. Initially, he played house parties and then gigs at Battersea and Brixton town halls. In 1956 the former stowaways had sound system clash in Lambeth Town Hall. Vin was regarded as having won the contest, however, Suckle had the more out-going personality which ultimately gave him a commercial advantage over his friend. Rik Gunnell heard of his reputation and hired him to d.j. at The Flamingo nightclub in Wardour. On his first there were so many people outside the club that there was a traffic jam. White musicians appreciated the character of the music that he played.

In 1961 Gunnell opened The Roaring Twenties nightclub in Carnaby Street, where Suckle was the resident dj. The Count appreciated that he was the principal attraction. In 1964 he opened The Cue Club (later The Q Club) in a former billiard hall in Paddington. He sought to make into an upscale venue. There, the party would start on Friday night and still be going strong on Monday morning. Consequently, it became popular with members of the music industry. It became Muhammad Ali's favoured haunt whenever he visited London. Stokely Carmichael, The Commodores, The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Little Richard, and Stevie Wonder all visited it.

Suckle had grown in a Kingston. He had known the gunman Ivanhoe Martin, who was the model for the character that Jimmy Cliff played in the movie The Harder They Come (1972). The Count knew the difference between right and wrong and sought to always act honestly. Upon one occasion a gangland figure tried to shakedown the nightclub owner for protection. The Count bought him some drinks and then locked him up in a room. Subsequently, the criminal returned and became a free-spending customers.

In 1981 Suckle changed the club's name to the People's Club. The younger d.j.s whom he featured included David Rodigan and Tim Westwood. He failed to extend the club's lease. Therefore, his landlord became free to sell the building. As a result, the People's Club closed in 1986. The Count had enjoyed the money and the women that the Q furnished him with. Each year he would update his Rolls-Royce to the latest model. However, he freed himself from a considerable portion of his wealth by gambling at a spieler that Georgie Rousso ran on the Edgware Road.

Location: The Q Club, 5a Praed Street, W2 1NJ (red, yellow)

The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties was a nightclub that existed in Carnaby Street in the 1960s. Lloyd Coxsone was the d.j.. The Beatles frequented it. Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames had a residency there. It was where he heard for the first time many of the songs that he went on to perform at The Flamingo. The Jamaican-born trombonist Emmanuel Rico Rodriguez (1934-2015) had learnt to play the instrument while a pupil in Kingston's Alpha Boys School correctional facility. He was asked to work with Fame. The brass player taught the pianist the bluebeat sound. Fame incorporated it into his music and thus the mainstream of British pop.

Count Suckle not only played obscure imports from the United States, he also spun ska records from Jamaica. The likes of Mick Jagger, John Paul Jones, and The Animals paid close attention to what he played. He disliked the way in which hard drugs were being used in the club and also at the way in which when the club was raided by the police its West Indian attendees were treated. He concluded that he wished to have greater control over his destiny.

Location: 50 Carnaby Street, W1F 9QA (orange, brown)

The Roxy

In 1975 Andy Czezowski was involved in the financial side of SEX, the clothes shop that Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood ran on the Kings Road, Chelsea. Mr Czezowski watched Mr McLaren assemble the Sex Pistols. During 1976 he decided to have a try at music management and took over running the band Chelsea. The band's singer Gene October told him about Shageramas, a down-at-heel nightspot on Neal Street. Czezowski took over the club and reopened it in December 1976 as The Roxy, London's first punk nightclub. The house D.J. was Don Letts, the manager of Acme Attractions on the Kings Road.¹ The vendor made up for the paucity of Punk records by padding out his sets with Reggae tracks. In May 1977, having become aware of what was going on in their property, the building s owners compelled Czezowski to close the club.²

Location: 41-43 Neal Street, WC2H 9PJ (blue, brown)

See Also: POP & ROCK Punk

¹. Subsequently Acme Attractions became Boy, a shop that sold punk clothes.

². Gene October was replaced by Billy Idol as Chelsea's singer. The band was renamed Generation X and October was allowed to have the Chelsea name.

The Scene

Once Radio Caroline had been established Rohan O Rahilly's opened The Scene in a market barrow storage space in Ham Yard that had previously hosted Cy Laurie s Jazz Club. It was where Georgie Flame saw The Animals play there for the first time.

Pete Meaden realigned the future Who with the Mods. He adapted a number of their songs, notably I m The Face, helped get them signed to Fontana. He changed their name to the High Numbers. Subsequently, they dropped him and hired Lambert and Stamp, and reverted to The Who.

Location: Ham Yard, W1D 7DT (purple, orange)

The Speakeasy

The Speakeasy was a Prohibition-themed late night drinking establishment. It was owned by David Shamoon, an Iraqi who also owned Blaises. It opened in 1966 under the management of Roy Flynn. It soon became popular with rock musicians. In 1969 Flynn left to manage the band Yes. He was replaced by Tony Howard who had been the booker at The Bryan Morrison Agency and N.E.M.S.. He was joined by Laurie O Leary.

The Speakeasy closed in 1978.

Location: 49 Margaret Street, W1W 8RA (purple, red)

The UFO

The UFO Club was a commercially-run countercultural nightclub.

Joe Boyd wished to establish himself as a producer, while John Hoppy Hopkins had set up International Times. They decided to open a nightclub to generate an income since neither of the ventures looked likely to do so in the short-term. They brought in Dave Howson who had been one of the organisers of the Technicolor Dream event that had been staged at Alexandra Palace. The club opened at the end of 1966.

The UFO opened at the end of 1966. A number of technical matters were addressed by Jack Henry Moore (1940-2014), an expatriate American who possessed a wide variety of talents. One was the fact that the Blarney Club s dance floor was sprung. Therefore, when people danced records tended to jump. Moore used reel-to-reel tapes to supply the club's record music.

The Blarney Club was an Irish dance-hall that was located next to the Berkeley and Continentale cinemas. The night would not start until after the above cinema had closed.

Mr Gannon, the owner of The Blarney, ran a soft drinks bar within the club. Early in UFO's history some of the nightclubbers were smoking marijuana. Mr Gannon took Boyd and voiced the opinion that such might be occurring. Boyd, worried that UFO might be about to be expelled from the premises, declared Well, Mr Gannon, I can t say this with absolute assurance, but I certainly hope you are mistaken. Well, that's as may be, and that's as may not be, Joe. But all the same, I think it might be a good idea to turn on the fan.

One unanticipated figure to attend the club was Jeff Dexter. He was a prominent mod who was the DJ at Tiles, a Mod club on Oxford Street. His subsequent embracement of what he found presaged the conversion of a number of other mods.

The band agent Tony Howard had previously played a leading role in relieving Boyd of his involvement in Pink Floyd. However, he looked favourably upon UFO and asked that some of his bands might play there. As a result, the likes of Tomorrow and the Pretty Things did so.

Pink Floyd's song Arnold Layne (1967) was a hit. The Underground was stating to become a youth mass movement. The club moved The Roundhouse, which was a far larger space than The Blarney Club. However, the district was in large-part working class and Irish in a way that the West End was not. People who looked as though they were going to the venue started to be picked on by people who had been drinking in Camden Town pubs. Michael X was contracted to run the club's door. His services were expensive.

The larger capacity of The Roundhouse meant that managers started demanding higher fees for their acts. Commercial promoters were becoming willing to pay these. The overall increased expenditure meant that Hopkins and Boyd started to lose money.

Location: The Roundhouse, 100 Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH (blue, brown)

The Blarney Club, 31 Tottenham Court Road, W1T 1BX (purple, brown)

Joe Boyd

Joe Boyd grew up in the United States. He appreciated that he would not be a good musician but determined to lead his life around music. In 1965 he was a sound engineer at the Newport Jazz Festival when Bob Dylan went electric. Boyd moved to Britain, where he soon became an eminence grise in the folk and emerging psychedelic scenes. He set up Witchseason Productions. The acts that he was involved in his various capacities as promoter, producer, etc. included Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah, Nick Drake (1948-1974), Fairport Convention, Family, Incredible String Band, John Martyn (n Iain McGeachy) (1948-2009), Pink Floyd, the Pretty Things, Soft Machine, and Ten Years After.

The Vortex

In May 1977 The Roxy, London's first punk club, was forced to close by its landlords. The punk mantle was taken up a few weeks later by The Vortex, which was based in Crackers, a disco on Wardour Street, Soho. It closed in March 1978.

Location: 201 Wardour Street, W1F 8ZH (blue, purple)

The Wag Club

An O Neills-branded pub occupies the premises that used to be occupied by The Wag Club, a nightclub that was opened in 1984 by Chris Sullivan, who had been a student at St Martins School of Art. The club was the archetypal hip club of the mid-to-late-1980s. It was a venue where the worlds of fashion and pop music were able to mingle fruitfully.

In the 1930s the building hosted The Shim-Sham Club, a noted jazz venue.

Location: 33 Wardour Street, W1D 6QT (purple, blue)

David Backhouse 2024