To ask when did The Young stop going to DISCOS

[Nofacedetected]

Lovely DD (16) is sat here beside us watching Netflix. When I was her age (in the 70s/80s) I would have either been at a disco or in the pub. Obviously, now young people have to produce id to get served, the latter is out but I think it's a bit sad the young don't go to discos.

Did you go? What do your teens do on a Saturday night?

EastWestWhosBest if that happened now I’d be panicking about who’d text their mum to let them know they were staying & making sure they knew I wasn’t the one that let them get drunk!
We had a lot more freedom

Not sure what you mean by "disco"?

Oh come on you lot, you're making me feel like Old Mother Time

“Discotheque” means "library of phonograph records" in French, and that term gradually came to refer to these clubs where records were the norm, rather than a band. In the early '60s, the word came into use in the United States, frequently shortened to “disco.”

So I'm not talking about the discos schools put on these days or nightclubs were booze is sold and drugs are dealt but venues were young people would go to dance. A DJ would play records and The Young would get up and dance. Boys too. Snogs would be had. But it was all about the fun of getting ready, seeing your mates, DANCING in the dark with the bonus of a snog at the end. Or not.

Oh soz - just seen some of the later replies get it

I hadn’t thought about this before but you’re right OP.

I was a teenager at the beginning of the century, in the Home Counties/London border. Every half term there would be a huge U18 disco in Camden Palais as it was then, as well as nightclubs In Watford, Uxbridge, Slough etc.

Most weekends we’d go to a pub that was rubbish for ID checks, or there might be a gig on in a local football club where our friends band would play. Once we hit 6th form lots of people would hire the local rugby club for their 18th which was basically their mates older brother DJing and everyone getting pissed on wkd. Then off to uni and hitting the disco/club several times a week. Even apart from that, we would go to the cinema or bowling, maybe Pizza Hut for someone’s birthday?

Of course now I have a young child and go to bed at 9pm but at least I have my memories

I'm also of the Rugby Club Disco era.
We had a girl staying with us to do 6th form and we went to one together and there wasn't room in the taxi she got in for me (aka she refused to let me in) so I had to ring my dad to come and get me at midnight. Did she think my parents wouldn't notice I wasn't with her? Eh? Still rankles and I'm in my 50s.

I remember going to under 18s nights held at some of the bigger clubs which finished at 11.30pm but were honestly so good you felt like a bit of a grown up and had a drink before hand (cider, MD 20/20 or WKD) and I went to my first club at 16 but ID wasn’t as strict as it is now. I’m talking around 2008-2010. We used to go to the pub or little event nights put on by local pubs and the ‘youth’ all used to gather. My favourite was under 18s night at Oceana or a place called the Picturehouse in Stourbridge ….everyone was into dubstep then!

I teach secondary and sixth form now and am amazed that their weekends are mostly spent in, there’s nothing for kids to do or go really these days and I’m not that much older than the

I'm 34. When I was 11-13 I used to go to a roller disco on a Saturday night.
I went to the 'unders' a couple of times which were a few hours in nightclubs for under 18s were they served soft drinks but obviously everyone got drunk before they went. They were full of creepy older guys actually, no wonder my mum wasn't keen on me going to them.
Mainly it was house parties though .

My DS is 16 next month and I think the last disco/party he went to was his year 6 leavers party. I remember being a parent helper and noticing that all the girls were dancing but the boys were just sitting on the sidelines looking at their phones.

He goes to an all boys school and pre Covid the PTA would link up with the PTA of the all girls school on the other side of town and put on an annual disco.

It was considered really lame to want to go so DS refused in Y7 and 8. Covid then put paid to any more being organised. I do wonder if he would want to go now if they were being organised. I suspect not.

At his age ( this would have been 1985/6) I was going to the under 18 night at the local night club once a week and going to lots of house parties at the weekends. I had a fantastic social life back then. We used to spend hours getting dressed up to go out. I was also going out on dates with boys and often enjoying the odd night out in the local pub ( can't imagine that happening now )

@Nofacedetected

Not sure what you mean by "disco"?

Oh come on you lot, you're making me feel like Old Mother Time

“Discotheque” means "library of phonograph records" in French, and that term gradually came to refer to these clubs where records were the norm, rather than a band. In the early '60s, the word came into use in the United States, frequently shortened to “disco.”

So I'm not talking about the discos schools put on these days or nightclubs were booze is sold and drugs are dealt but venues were young people would go to dance. A DJ would play records and The Young would get up and dance. Boys too. Snogs would be had. But it was all about the fun of getting ready, seeing your mates, DANCING in the dark with the bonus of a snog at the end. Or not.

I bloody loved a disco. The teacher training college I was at had a Sunday night disco and people came from far and wide as there wasn’t much else happening on a Sunday. It was all about getting ready and the dancing, not drink or drugs.

Ah yes op discos all the way here in the 80's, Wesley, Bective, Lake lands anyone mixing with the skas, cureheads and rockers with your spirits tucked into your bra strap. So sad young teens not experiencing this absolute carnage

We had club under 18s nights, and youth club disco in mid 90s where I lived.
Also disco Night at an ice rink like a PP.
It is a shame our lot don't get the same.
Do youth clubs still exist?

I went to one last night. I’m 40s and I’d say there were plenty of customers around my age there, several older. I think my age group still loves a discotheque.

First proper nightclub I went to I was 15. Girls could get in anywhere really. My mate had big boobs and we dolled ourselves up, smiled nicely at the bouncers and we were in.

My 17yr old son stays in every single Saturday night and watches TV / does his weights / makes his Tiktok videos for his channel. I was never home at that age. He’s not a drinker, so he only goes out to play 5 a side 3 times per week. Hope he starts to get out a bit more next year when he starts Uni

Pre-Covid, the only equivalent round here is the ermly primary school discos (actually called that).
Infants from 2 -3.30, Juniors 3.30-5.
Pay £1 for PTA funds. Weak squash and tiny packet of sweets included in the price.
On the last Thursday before each half term holiday.
Agadu, Baby Shark, YMCA, as well as some current hits. Lots of knee-sliding as well as dancing.
Kids dress up.(or down) - quite an eye-opener at times.
Nothing like that once you hit Y7, sadly.

I'm mid 30s and there were no "discos" for teens. I suspect with rising costs (rents, business taxes & health & safety, plus maybe requirements about having a certain number of staff on hand supervising minors?) it's near impossible to do without charging too much.

From about 16 upwards it was house parties where older friends/siblings would help get booze, or we would try to get into places that were lax on ID but I think that's become less common as many young people don't drink anywhere near as much alcohol as we did when I was a teen.

The teens where I live seem very sporty and spend a lot of time doing that with friends.

Had similar conversations. When I was 15-18 (now mid 40s) a local pub had a disco in its function room. They were extremely lax about age we used to go most Fridays for dance and have some cider (boak cannot drink that now). It was rural and in the middle of nowhere. Doesn’t seem to be anything like that for our teens. They go to each other’s houses or the park which is actually more dangerous as totally uncontrolled at least in the pub adults vaguely in charge.

There were school discos when I was senior school. The local youth club (not really a disco, it had a pool table etc) was not encouraged by most middle class parents. The kids who went there were the ones from struggling families, mostly those who were naughty at school, so it had a very bad rep.

I was 16 in 2000. I went out to clubs, it was brill! Didn't really drink much, but had a great time.

I think nowadays they're stricter with ID so it's harder to go out underage, and don't forget that many venues are v strict due to covid (not to mention the fact that they've been closed for 18 months so fallen out of favour with young people - 18 months is a long time when you're only 16).

Idk where you live but there are no discos in my area. Haven't been for a long time. Which is probably why the teens don’t go lol.

Discos were at their prime in the mid to late seventies, just right for my teenage years. Nightclubs were often disco-style, but all I can remember is smoke, booze and older men with hairy chests and medallions trying to make a pass at obviously underage girls.

The eighties brought in the cocktails, clubs and raves. The nineties continued with clubs, house and raves. Then I got way too old for it all.

My kids went to discos. They were dances at primary school. So, to answer OP's original question, the disco died at the start of the eighties.

I think what you're describing, especially when you say not a club, doesn't exist anymore and probably hasn't for nearly 30 years plus. Clubs serving alcohol took over as venues for music and dancing in the late eighties/early nineties and whilst many of us were underage clubbing back then from 16 onwards, they have been increasingly strict about age rules since the 2000's. So no, there is nothing outside of that for teens anymore and hasn't been in over a quarter of a century. I'm only late forties but when we look at how things like this have changed, yes, we're old - the type of socialising teens do now is a very, very different world.

I used to love a nightclub in the 80s with my big perm.! I wasn't very trendy but I liked a dance and a drink.
Good times.

I’m early 40s so born late 70s

My town used to have a disco - it was even called “ Disco” and children at senior school went to it. Probs up to about 14?? After that we were defo trying to use fake ID for the pubs that allowed young uns 🤣

The disco was so popular that even when it moved to the sports centre in my town (and away from the hall in a nearby village) it was still referred to as “ Disco”

It’s not around now and this thread has defo made me think, who were those adults in charge?? Who booked the sports centre and took the money? Looked like parents helping but I don’t remember anyone I know helping / being involved…..weird! It must be a permissions / safeguarding etc thing these days as to why some of this stuff seems to have died away.

My nephews have certainly never been to a disco like that…..lots more staying in, gaming and some house parties (which we also had plenty of! House parties I mean, not gaming!)

Local A-level college also ran an under 18 night at the local nightclub ever now and then…..like an older version of a PTA fundraiser at school really 🤣🤣. But obviously most of the students were going to that nightclub with fake ID on the weekends anyway! 🤣

No one wants the trouble of being responsible for them now I'd guess.

Also, should have said - this was only run every month maybe?? Or even less than that…..was quite a treat!

Slow songs at the end, defo people snogging…..

I sort of can’t even remember how we knew it was going to be on……word of mouth? Paid at the door…..quite weird now I think about it. I wonder if my Mum can remember anything, bearing in mind I would have been asking for her permission to go!