Crime
Madame JoJos, Soho
1960-2014
The “legendary” nightclub – once owned by p*rn baron Paul Raymond – seamlessly mixed the burlesque glamour of Soho with London’s contemporary music scene. Speaking to the Guardian after its closure, Marcus Harris, who co-ran the venue’s long-running indie night White Heat, described it as “a community of fringe culture”. The club’s 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. The council’s 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.
Herbal, Shoreditch
2000-2009
It was small (and sweaty) but Herbal consistently pounded out some of the best drum and bass in the capital, filling out every Sunday for Grooverider’s seminal night, Grace, as well as regularly hosting the likes of Goldie and the Metalheadz crew. Rather than join the party, Hackney council revoked the club’s licence following an undercover operation into drug dealing at the venue. Councillor Alan Laing said at the time: “Herbal nightclub had become a dive where drugs were dealt and taken quite openly ... There is no place for this kind of establishment in Hackney. End of story.”
Proud2, Greenwich
2011-2012
Following the closure of Matter, Alex Proud became the next investor to have a go at making a nightclub at the O2 work. After all, it did have a capacity pushing 4,000 people and a 24-hour drinking licence. But things turned sour after after a double stabbing took place in the club, leading to its licence being revoked. The licence was subsequently restored, but the business was unable to avoid going into administration.
The Fridge, Brixton
1981-2010
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. In the 90s, it was all about wild weekly party Love Muscle, one of the capital’s most renowned gay nights. It was the venue’s teen parties that got it into hot water, however, when police found evidence of underage drinking there in 2009. The venue stopped running the events to save its licence, but as a result lost a lot of money through cancelled bookings and by March 2010 was broke. The venue reopened as Electric Brixton the following year, but as owner Andrew Czezowski told the South London Press when it was put up for sale: “Whoever buys it, if they buy it, they are only getting bricks and mortar.”
Development
Cable, London Bridge
2009-2013
This cavernous 1,300-capacity club, located beneath the railway arches of London Bridge station, was as renowned among clubbers for its airport-style security as for its bass-heavy parties and rapid rise as a significant dance music brand. Its sudden closure came as a big shock to staff and owners; Network Rail turned up with angle grinders, cut through the metal shutters and took possession of the venue so it could go ahead with its station upgrade plans. Cable’s enraged founder Euan Johnston, who also founded nearby SeOne, said: “We were assured when we moved in that we would not be affected by the redevelopment and Network Rail have simply changed their minds ... We have been brushed aside at every level.”
Four Aces, Dalston
1966-1998
In what was, ostensibly, a simpler time for Dalston, the Four Aces was the area’s flagship club. A far cry from the likes of the Nest or Birthdays, the Aces filled an old Victorian theatre on Dalston Lane where it pioneered black music in the UK before becoming a permanent venue for rave promoters Labyrinth in the late 80s. Cue acid house, bucket hats, baggy T-shirts and lots of sweat. By the 90s, everyone from Desmond Dekker to the Prodigy had played there. Despite a big campaign to save it, the club fell victim to a compulsory purchase order from Hackney council to build a new cinema. The cinema was never built; now locals have a block of fancy flats to enjoy instead. But at least there’s still Visions Video Bar.
Bagley’s/Canvas, King’s Cross
1991-2007
Like a legal rave, Bagley’s was a huge multi-room warehouse club that held some of London’s biggest Saturday night parties. House night Freedom ran at the club for years and Philip Sallon’s Mud Club also took place there, as well as the puss* Posse Party, which included mud-wrestling. 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. Now the industrial area, which was once a high-density party hotspot, is the site of one of the capital’s biggest modern developments.
The Cross, King’s Cross
1993-2007
Speaking to Time Out after its closure, Billy Reilly, who ran a road haulage company in King’s Cross before opening warehouse venue the Cross, admitted that back in 1993 he, “didn’t know Judge Jules from Judge Dredd”. The huge venue, which filled six arches, brought a Balearic party vibe to a run-down corner of London, with club nights including Glitterati and Cheeky People. In one fell swoop, however, the Cross, Canvas and the Key were culled in favour of the regeneration of King’s Cross.
Velvet Rooms, Soho
1993-2003
Ibiza party man Nicky Holloway kickstarted this central London club – originally named Velvet Underground – after his previous project, Milk Bar, lost its lease. The venue hosted international DJs as well as some seminal club nights – such as broken beat fix Co-op and dubstep-founding FWD>>.
Crossrail
The Astoria, Soho
1976-2009
Not even London’s largest live music club could stand in the way of the Crossrail development. 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. The club was also hugely important for the capital’s LGBT scene, hosting sellout weekly bonanza G-A-Y, known for getting stars as bright as Kylie and Britney on stage, as well as for dropping balloons on everyone at regular intervals.
The Blow Up Metro Club, Soho
2001-2009
Crossrail dealt the West End club scene another blow, taking the scalp of the Metro with the same swoop of the sword that ended the Astoria. Also an important indie music club, the venue – a few doors down from Plastic People’s original address – hosted acts including the Klaxons, Kings of Leon, Courtney Love and Mika. Paul Tunkin, who ran the club night Blow Up, which took over the running of the venue in 2001, significantly raising its profile, said at the time: “It is another nail in the coffin for central London’s live music and club scene.”
Expiry of lease
Turnmills, Clerkenwell
1990-2008
Another one of London’s fossilised superclubs, Turnmills was the first venue in the UK to get a 24-hour dance licence. Its flagship night was Trade – the original afterparty. “We could party on until 1pm without worrying if the police were going to turn up,” says Smokin Jo, who was resident DJ at the night. “It set the tone for mixed gay clubbing and for techno music especially to become more mainstream. 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. It was the place to go.” Despite pioneering an “anything goes” party culture in London, by the late noughties, the buzz was fading. When the lease ran out, Turnmills left “amicably”, leaving the building’s owners to develop the site into an office block.
Decision by owners
The End and AKA, West End
1995-2009
A venue that just seemed to stick in the hearts of all who frequented it, the End was an intimate basem*nt club run by Mr C and Layo, tucked just behind High Holborn. For drum and bass legend Fabio, who hosted Swerve, the club’s midweek blowout, every Wednesday, it was one of the first clubs in London built by DJs for DJs. “It was like a small amphitheatre with the DJ the absolute centre of attraction,” he says. “There was no place to hide. 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. When a property developer came along offering to buy the End and its sister bar next door, AKA, they decided to accept the offer. Ironically, the development never happened and the club was eventually reopened as the Den and Centro. But the magic was gone – we’ve since seen the end for the Den, too.
Plastic People, Shoreditch
2000-2015
The new year started with a shock for clubbers, when renowned east London bass-cave Plastic People announced it was closing, pretty much instantly. According to its owners, “the time felt right to move on”. 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. “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. “A producer’s first booking at the club was a serious rite of passage. Behind the club’s infamous pitch-black curtains, the dance floor was like the vortex that drew you bodily and consciously into a completely free space. Some of the greatest nights of my life have been at FWD>> at Plastic People.”
Finances
SeOne, London Bridge
2002-2010
It was billed as “London’s 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. 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.
Mass and Babalou, Brixton
1996-2012
Bearing in mind this pair of venues were hosted within Brixton’s St Matthew’s Church, which leased the space to them, it was always pretty cheeky for Mass to host Torture Garden events in the crypt. Still, this wasn’t the reason the venues got turfed; the bailiffs were eventually called in as a result of long overdue rent and bills. Mass was a particularly important south London club, notably as the home of DMZ, which turned the venue into a pilgrimage spot for dubstep fans from way beyond the capital.
Matter, Greenwich
2008-2010
It was perhaps always a slightly over-optimistic proposition opening a nightclub in Greenwich, let alone one inside the Millennium Dome, but if anyone was going to have a good stab at it, then it would be the pair behind Fabric: Cameron Leslie and Keith Reilly. 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.
