Does anyone remember the days of dancing around your handbag?

[LivingitLarge]

I am watching Top of the Pops 1977 and reminiscing.

I told dd that in those days (70s/80s) we used to put our handbags in a bag pile on the floor and all dance in a big circle around the bags. I got a strange look 😐. Does anyone else remember doing that?!

Yes! and also leaving your bag and drink trustingly on a table while you went off to dance.

And yes to desperately not wanting to be the one not asked to dance when the slowies came on at the end, but seeing someone you really didn't fancy heading towards you and thinking 'please don't ask me, please don't ask me' and having to make any excuse not to dance (heading to the ladies, feet hurt, boyfriend had just gone to the bar, about to be abducted by aliens......). Mind you, I remember being in a club one night where my brother's mate was the DJ. I was happily snogging on the dance floor when he suddenly came over the mike saying 'Wine, does your mum know you do that when you're out?' and identified me by what I was wearing. I brazened it out but I could have decked him at the time. Happy days 😁

We probably danced around our handbags next to each other as I frequented the same places at the same time

I meant to say on my previous post what a fantastic thread this is, it's brought back so many happy memories on a Sunday morning of places we used to go. Who remembers Cinatras and Cinderellas in Croydon, or Faces in Gants Hill, or L'Aristos in Colchester? My god we used to get about - thankfully one of our crowd drove so we used to squeeze into her car and head off out and she'd have to round us all up at the end of the evening to get us home via the kebab shop (because we were always hungry!).

I never danced around my handbag......

I remember the toilets at the Hacienda. They were VERY communal and you could tell when there were heightened issues with Ecstasy because they used to turn the water off. But the music and atmosphere there were out of this world, so it was probably a small(ish) price to pay.

The bouncy dance floor in The Ritz was always a talking point.

We did this in the early 00's in Australia. I was never wearing enough clothes to fit a phone or wallet in anywhere.

I went on a very rare night out recently to a bar where we were much older than the crowd there. Everyone was taking photos, setting up areas for pictures, lining up their drinks for the camera. I thought what the fuck is the happening. How fucking boring.

Yes to Manchester late 80’s/early 90’s. I remember the bouncy floor in the Ritz & that you could see the ceiling move from the cloakrooms underneath. Also remember the big queues for the Hacienda and how we sometimes gave up and went to the Venue which was in a cellar nearby. What was the club where you went over a bridge to get in to called?

Oh yes! Seo libh cannai... and those few lines in the middle that everyone only mumbled as no one could remember!! It always made me tear up a bit, especially the 'faoi bhfoid bheith saor' bit but that was less to do with national pride and more to do with the 5 bottles of Ritz I'd just knocked back. I always kept my coins in my pack of Silk Cut blue and my note in my left bra cup. No handbags for me!

Any one remember the Guinness ad with the guy dancing? Best marketing ever, everyone would form a circle around someone's pint on the floor and do the silly dance.

I lived in Manchester in the 80s too! Loved the hacienda but not the queues. It wasn’t a dance around your handbag type place though.

DS22 and his friends go out - but more variety - local pubs, meals,
gigs - clubbing less frequent but they still do it (obvs things closed for a while 2020-21). The girls tend to wear trainers and don't take handbags though . And also they seem to have always socialised in mixed-sex groups .

We used to actually smoke on the dance floor

Royals and Piccadilly 21 were certainly dance around your handbags places. Hacienda not so much.
When The Hac was converted to flats I was peripherally involved in the project abd it was very odd being back there but wearing a high vis jacket and safety boots

You never got asked for ID did you either unless looked really young. I used to go to an under 18 disco on a Wednesday when I was 16 with a young neighbour and over 18 on a Friday with friends.

I miss those days, fantastic music, we were always out at some disco or other. It made work more bearable knowing we were out that night.

You can thank me later when you can’t get the tune out of your head again

We used to do this!

Dont dare dance any more…probably end up filmed and shamed on social media. Much better when clubbing was anonymous.

I used to moan at my mate for coming out in jeans, trainers etc to Oscars at Longleat.
Then when we weren’t let in to the main club we had to go to the back door to the rave side until the middle doors were opened later in the night

…….

Somewhere else another mate was stopped because of his designer t shirt. He tried to dispute the dress code as all staff were in t shirts
Someone gave him a bolero jacket to get in, and the staff had great fun all night watching for whenever he tried to take it off

I saw this just a few years ago at a wedding!

I knew a close friend of the Noonan family who ran the door so it was never really a problem if there was a queue, but nobody got in free. And if you weren't in acceptable gear, that was a no-no too, whoever you were.

It definitely wasn't a round your handbag place. The dancefloor was actually tiny, but I did like the raised area at the back. That just seemed to have a different vibe.

Really great days. I'd gladly teleport back to the early 90s.

Tuxedo Princess, revolving dance floor, triples for a quid. Oh yeah!

@LaMaG OMG RITZ ! Horrible gassy stuff . And to get around licencing laws , discos had to serve a meal . So up to hotel canteen where for your ticket , you got served Smash , maybe sausage or stringy chicken , tinned processed peas in a Styrofoam tray with plastic fork . Some drunker country lads would cadge extra tickets to eat in order to soak up the drink they reckoned. Fun times !