to not give a monkey's about "the death of the nightclub"?

[FithColumnist]

Apparently, more than half of the country’s nightclubs have closed in the past 10 years. Reasons cited so far (sensibly) include extended opening hours in pubs, more rigorous application of noise pollution laws, the smoking ban and differing financial circumstances.

Back in the 90's and early 00's, a nightclub was the only place you could get a drink after 11, so like the rest of them I dutifully went out in suit trousers, "casual" shirt and work shoes every Friday night on the off-chance that my friends and I might fancy another beer after last orders and didn't want to be turned away by skinhead Neanderthals after queueing for an hour because of "no jeans" or "no runners". AIBU to thank the gods that those days are long gone, and I can now sit with my mates in our favourite pub, paying reasonable prices for drinks, not sweating and not having to shout over shit house music until 1 am if we so choose?

Girliefriend yep, I used to go to Lennons and Nexus. Happy days. Much preferred those two to having to get dollied up to go to The Beach in Ocean Village, dragged there by a different circle of friends.

Man, I'm old.

yes YABbloodyU

I was a crasher kid in the early 00s.
used to trawl the country going to Cream, God's kitchen, Gatecrasher before settling in to a weekly stint at Garlands and Society in Liverpool.

I bloody loved taken shitloads of Es, dressed in luminous cyber dog hotpants and sweatily dancing with randoms whilst swigging red stripe/evian by the gallon.

halcyon fucking days man init?

I admit I felt like OP when I heard the news article; I didn't feel like its a massive loss (aside from jobs of course) - after all if people aren't going to clubs then something has changed hasn't it?

But then. Then I remembered the handful of brilliant mad and hazy nights I had whilst a student in Swansea. ..the main ones being at a particularly marvellous funk club. Oh happy happy dancing nights!

Was the Limelight the one in a church? And what was that other church near kings cross? It might have been called the church come to think of it - full of pissed up Aussies with bin liners full of beer.

Aaah eastpoint we likely were at the same places then! I think the advent of huge venues like the MoS was the beginning of the end for the intimacy of small clubs. Back in the day I would see the same crowd at the Mud, then Limelight and even Stallions. You really felt part of a group but that was dying out by the late 80s.
Jazz at the 606 on Lots Road, ever? or Courtney Pine at the Jazz Café? I could actually walk home from there! Had to dodge the goths and punks from the Underworld though!

I used to love clubbing. I just love dancing the night away though. I hate late night bars where the music is too loud to talk but but you can't have a dance either so everyone just stands around posing. Maybe it's because I am getting older but I find nights out boring though. The evening never changes tempo. Going to a club gave me a new burst of energy. Feel sad for people in their early twenties that won't get to experience that.

Yes, in a Church, Hobbes! there was another club called Delirium I used to go to in about 1986 somewhere off Shaftesbury Ave, It might have been at the Astoria.

You are thinking of that place on York Way, next to Traffic which was a very cloney gay bar , quite hostile to women but I used to go anyway. Great music. We would walk up from the Bell which was at King's X, near the Scala. Did you ever go the New Depression at the Scala? blinding place . Getting all nostalgic now

want2besupermum Sadly I'm far too old to even know your favorites .... Max's Kansas City closed (and was turned into a supermarket) before 1985.......... but in 1980 it was at the NE end of Union Sq (19th st, opposite Paragon Sports) in NYC, and it was very alternative. There was a club in Hoboken we liked, can't remember the name.... Does the Clam Broth House still exist? Their Alaskan snow crab still makes me drool.

Yes to Delirium, weren't there two clubs which were in theatres after the show had ended? They took all the seats out. I think the Astoria was on Tottenham Court Road but it was a few years ago now so I'm not sure. I used to go to the Rhinodrome in Oxford, which was Piers Adams club while he was at Oxford Poly - he's gone on to great success since then. I've never been to Mahiki or Boujis though.

Apparently Leeds was popular for a northern night out at one time. When I was a teenager Mister Craig 's on Upper Briggate was the nightspot of choice. I don't know as I was never a clubber and never set foot in Mister Craig 's. I went to the Brutus Gold Love Train once or twice in the mid - nineties (now the Leeds Academy) but that was all.

scatterthenuns and bunbaker The money which used to be spent in clubs is being spent on something else, and I hope it's creating jobs which will not cause long-term hearing loss.

I haven't been out at night in 7 years. Please please tell me in that time all nightclubs have not disappeared! There must be some left, where on earth do people dance now?

There were clubs and then clubs though, weren't there? There were the tedious ones with dress codes, expensive drinks, groping men and crap music, and then there were the cool, no dress code, edgy ones where you went to dance the night away. I was student in Manchester in the late 80's, early 90's and I loved clubbing. I went to Indie nights at The Hacienda, The Ritz, 42nd Street, The Academy, and then got into dance music / rave at PSV etc. God it was brilliant, and fun and felt like I was part of a whole 'thing'. Didn't really help with getting a good degree though.

In the end, I discovered free parties, and went off being in the confines of a club - nothing beats dancing till dawn in a quarry in the Peak District with a sound system. I suppose all that's done with now too? I feel sad for the youth of today ... we had much more fun.

Yes it was bobby Browns!
cress Clam broth house is no longer sadly. I go to biggies for my clams back on Madison and get my mozz at Fiore. Georgios bakery is awesome but Carlos bakery sucks now sadly.

I was lucky to catch the tail end of proper hoboken. Now it's rather dull as everyone has a huge mortgage. No one here gets drunk let alone goes dancing. When we go out we are often the only non Spanish speakers. Meat packing has some super clubs but they too are dying out. They are also absolutely stupidly expensive. I hate the whole 'buy a bottle' service but I fully understand why they do it.

Manchester was my stomping ground as a teen. I loved the Hacidna. It was such a special place. I remember going there when I was 15. I was so thrilled with the music I didn't order a drink as I knew I couldn't handle alcohol. Everyone including my older sister were taking lots of drugs. Never touched the stuff and I had zero problems dancing away until the next morning.

I think the next generation is missing out. I think it led to a lot of creativity and stamina building.

The K is still going strong, ijustwannadance! I love it there And I think Garlands is open again now Birds

Well have a dance for me next time you're in there Intrinsic
Happy days.

I never made it to snobs either! Whenever me and my mates planned to go it was always shut!
Ahhh the academy that and eddies i really miss.
The academy will always be my all time favourite music venue too.
All this talking i really miss costa now.
Next to go will be scruffs.

My parents were quite strict so i wasnt allowed to go into clubs when i still lived at home.

I never went clubbing until i was 30. ive never been interested in drugs and ive never been drunk but i love music All i wanted to do was dance. I was on the dance floor for 3 hours one time.

I used to be obese (im not now) and i firmly believe if i had danced more when i was younger it wouldnt have been so bad. Im 42 so the right age to have been part of the acid house scene. There was a club called Memories which i think is still around. H2Os closed several years back. Im in a small town in Essex where there arent any clubs now.

Horses for courses, innit.
I quite liked going to a nightclub sometimes, for the dancing. Grew out of it in my mid30s.
Go to the pub or a restaurant with friends first to get something to eat, then go onto the club for dancing and so on. But this was back in the days when it wasn't quite so extortionate pricewise.

Mind you, it was sometimes a bit of a pain if you were quite happy in the pub you were in and not ready to call it a night but didn't want the noise of the nightclub. We were lucky in our town that we had a pub with extended licensing hours, and a dance room as well - so we could usually have a pretty good night there (but it still stopped serving at 12:30 and kicked out at 1) and walk home - best option!

TBH though, I'm kind of glad that clubs won't be around as much when my boys grow up - they were starting to become too much of a druggy scene even before I stopped going (not my thing at all)

The last time I went to a nightclub was for my 30th last year. I would have preferred to stay in the pubs/bars but got pursuaded. £12 in, a vodka and lemonade was £8 (and this is up North, not London).
Nowhere to sit, all the seating areas were cordoned off for prebooked parties. Attempted to dance and got pushed around, no room at all.
My days of clubbing are over! I am not as boring as I sound, I love a good night out, party/pub etc but I am not paying a fortune for the priviledge!

God no, I am over joyed I have two dds and would not like them to go to some sleazy pick up joint and would much prefer them to find other ways to enjoy their youth.

Sadly Astoria was closed and then bulldozed to make way for the new Crossrail station. It was a great nightclub and mid-sized rock live venue. I saw so many great bands there.

I used to love dancing. I could go for hours. I went to a variety of student nights, indie, metal, goth, rave, techno nights in the towns I lived in and the mighty Slimelight in London. The Slimelight was so big there were plenty of nooks and crannies for goths to plot and connive against their enemies or greet and hug their friends. More adventurous behaviours occurred in the uni-sex toilets. The place was pumped full of dry ice and everyone looked like beautiful dark elves. It was glorious. It is still going so I hope that some people are still experiencing a magical world there as well as having a bloody good dance.

Towards the end of the crusty-techno era I also used to go to the Whirlygig in Camden. Towards the end of the night they would bring out a silk parachute and we'd all sit underneath whilst volunteers waved it up and down over us. Gentle chillout music and flashing lights made us all feel extremely mellow and happy whether people had taken drugs or not.

I kind of miss clubs full of people on E. I have never been hugged by so many complete strangers in my life and when people stopped taking E and went back to drinking alcohol fights started breaking out and people vomited on the dancefloor which is just eww. I was the designated 'straight mate' and I would look after any one having a bad time on drugs or alcohol but wasn't needed more than once or twice, thankfully.

Unfortunately my old mates all settled down, had families and stopped going. I grew fat, single and old and couldn't face walking around London that late at night on my own. I have to dance in my living room or shuffle gently on tube platforms (embarrassing) instead.

I think that clubs catering towards an alternative culture are still around if you know where to look. However, there are probably fewer of them because there is more competition for your time and money. Also the music scene is very fractured and dispersed. It is hard to imagine a group of 20 people all loving the same music going over to the nearest city on a bus together although I hope I am wrong.

I am not particularly sorry that the high street flesh palaces are going though. It used to be dangerous walking past them if you looked different. They often needed the police calling at the end of the night too.

TL: DR - Sorry for the essay. In short: Good times. I'm sad if it is going but other things are taking their place which I hope will produce their own fond reminiscences in later life.

I remember getting the train from York to go to Leeds to Majestic. Is that still there?

As far as Im aware the 3 nightclubs in York are still there, but there are more pubs now that are open later that you do have to pay to get in (unless they have been turned into nightclubs - which may be the case)

Majestyk, as it was spelled latterly, was co-located with Jumpin Jaks, a big basement bar. Both have been closed for some years. In fact there was a fire in the building quite recently. It's damaged but still standing .

Sisterofmercy, I love your essay! I was always more into live music and festivals, but I had some truly life-changing nights at the Warehouse in Leeds, the Orbit in Morley and the Whirlygig. MrRinky loves Drum & Bass and is mourning the slow death of Fabric.

Those kind of clubs were inspirational cultural events, not dumps for townies to have an after-hours pick-up or a fight, and their loss should be mourned.